I think this is my nominee for Average Game of the Year for 2019.

Things I loved:

+ The backgrounds are great to look at, especially further along in the game.
+ SOME bosses are interesting enough

...and that's really it.

There's a lot of stuff it does fine, but it also flubs things a bit because I feel like it's trying to be both a Metroidvania and a Soulslike game without really being strongly in either camp in a good way. I could write a long diatribe about prevailing issues with the game, but for how very average it felt, I feel like I'd rather just go play something else now, instead.

I'll have more to say about it later, but this is a game that you come to more for the mood and the world and the lore in it than you do the gameplay. It's a perfectly serviceable game - not rewriting the book or doing anything brand new, but providing enough of a challenge as you go along that you can feel good about getting better at combat and overcoming bosses.

But more than that it's a mood piece - Castlevania mixed with Dark Souls and all wrapped up in a thick, musky layer of Catholic guilt. Each new foe suffers on Earth for the sins of mankind. They mutate and deform. They punish themselves and gain strength through the pain. It all clicked into place really nicely when I found out the game was made in Spain.

If you're unsold on the game, my suggestion would be to watch someone play through the first boss. Once you get to the part where the character scoops a helmetfull of an enemy's blood up and then places it on their head, so the blood pools out over their body, you'll probably know if you're into what this game is putting down.

Spawned from the depth of a convent full of dead brothers, armed with a sword which impaled a guilty god-fearing woman, set out to crash the Church ruling over Cvstodia by dismembering its minions in graphically brutal ways, so the Penitent One rises and begins his blasphemous crusade.

Produced by the Spanish team of The Game Kitchen, Blasphemous was developed utilizing all of the studio’s knowledge about their historical heritage, from the catholic domination and the holy inquisition to recreate a game that would feel as grim, corrupted and uncomfortable as living during the medieval times of witch hunts and executions might have felt. Relics, equipment and collectibles depict with their lore a frightening picture of a world where religion has taken over not only people lives but also their minds, in the name of a faith that should give hope but at what price. All around the game map people are living in penance and fear of God, seeking atonement for their sins, whichever they might be, and being punished both by the environment and by themselves.

Even enemies and bosses are curiously shown to use flog and other torture instruments both on the player’s character and on themselves, so the theme runs deeply within the game. As per why they do this, the plot is complex and multi-layered but simple on the surface: stylistically it heavily borrows its narrative from the tradition of games more interested in building a setting and letting its characters, item descriptions and visual clues to do the narration, rather than having a clear cut and linear narrative. There is no need to spoil anything, as the general premise of the game as well as its synopsis are enough to know what to expect. Everything else, from the symbolism to the themes of the game, is better to discover for themselves.

Another huge inspiration for the game is obvious, the old school metroidvania style of interconnected areas with secrets, mobs, recurring enemies, checkpoints and impressive bosses that block the players path. A huge difference, coming instead from the souls-like inspirations of the game, is how there is no linear path to follow, nor areas blocked by a lack of abilities, keys or requirements. At any given time, since the beginning of the game, the map would sprawl to multiple areas, some arguably easier than others, but each identically opened to the players’ decision as per where to explore.

Technically speaking, Blasphemous is very impressive in its depiction of a fantastical and eerie medieval European setting. The pixel art is detailed and charming to look at, there are many details both in the platforming areas, in the enemies and the backgrounds to look at, so to discern what their story and lore are. Aside from a few non-game breaking glitches and rare hitboxes fault it also plays very responsively to the players inputs. The soundtrack also relies on music fitting for the Spanish and religious environment, with sacred choirs, classic guitars and other tunes to accompany a horrific journey toward a paradise that looks more like a hell.

When you riff off of something in design philosophies according to gameplay and themes it's really important that one actually hold true to that foundation and/or offer something actually unique. Salt & Sanctuary understood 2d spacing and level design when it came to a slow methodical action platformer. Blasphemous seems intent on knowing nothing at all.

What's the point of having a disgustingly powerful parry and dodge when the enemies have ridiculously slow attacks and are placed in such easy not very interesting locations? What even is enemy placement here? What's the point of making platforming punishing for failure when the platforming isn't interesting? Why copy the structure of ringing the bells at all?

I had to ask myself these questions while I played a lot as I searched for an answer on why I was playing this game at all other than the indie buzz that barely caught my ear. (4.5/10)

The presentation- amazing pixel art with great and fluid animations, and an interested setting that takes from spanish catholic symbols and themes and twists them to creepier highs- was what pulled my attention to this game.

After getting the "true ending", 12 hours later, I'm satisfied with the experience, mostly thanks to the aforementioned setting and presentation.

Gameplay-wise, there's nothing really outstanding about it, for better or worse. The platforming sometimes felt a bit uninspiring and unpolished. The combat was fun and tight, and the progression felt good and rewarding.

Indeed, the most memorable moments are the boss fights. Visually stunning, twisted, and creepy creatures that provide the biggest challenges, all backed up by this religion-gone-super-creepy imagery made for a very good experience.

Just wish the rest was better polished.

Tolles Design, Setting, Atmosphäre und Animationen. Das Gameplay hingegen ist zäh und repetitiv. Man hat drei Standard Angriffe die man mit der Zeit aufleveln kann sodass sie mehr Schaden und Reichweite erhalten, Variationen hingegen bleiben aus. Dadurch verwendet man zu 99% immer dieselbe Attacke während der Rest meistens absolut nutzlos ist. Selbiges gilt für magische Fähikeiten. Es gibt auch passive Fähigkeiten die gewissen Schadensarten reduzieren, jedoch sind diese so gering das man überhaupt keinen Unterschied spürt.
In diesem Spiel wird einem auch nichts erklärt, so wusste ich erst nachdem ich gegoogelt habe, wie ich Fähigkeiten Slots freischalten kann und das auch erst kurz vorm Ende des Spiels.
Die Story hat zwar ein originelles Grundsetting aber erzählerisch bleibt es mal wieder für Souls Likes absolut kryptisch und nichtssagend wenn man nicht alle Dialoge und Gegenstandsbeschreibungen auffschreibt und stundenlang sich an einer Analyse versucht um die Story zu begreifen.
Das Gegner/Level Design ist auch teilweise extrem frustrierend, z.B. das Bibliotheken Level, wo man unbesiegbaren Geistern ausweichen muss und dabei jedesmal von Zombies mit Büchern abgeworfen wird, die einen zu 99% immer treffen wenn man die Leiter runtergeht nur um am Ende in ein Juggle-Loop zu geraten zwischen Geistschaden und Buchschaden. Und wenn man das dann endlich geschaft hat, gesellen sich noch unendlich spawnende fliegende Köpfe dazu. Das war der Punkt wo ich erstmal ein halbes Jahr Pause gemacht habe.
Fazit: Eines von vielen Spielen die mit ihren optischen Reizen und einem spannenden Setting locken, wo die Enwtickler am Ende aber dabei das Gameplay vernachlässigen und zudem nicht begreifen, dass eine originelle Story Idee noch lange keine gute Geschichte ist. Zum Leid aller Spieler ist das produzieren von Spielen mittlerweile so einfach geworden, dass sich zur Zeit jeder talentiete Grafiker denkt er müsse seine Kunst in Videospielform bringen.

I can't recall a game that has disappointed me as much as Blasphemous.

From the first time I saw this on kickstarter I fell in love, the art style was just so gorgeous I got caught up in the hype. When I finally got my hands on the game I quickly realized the art was pretty much all it has going for it. In terms of the actual gameplay it's the most bland combination of metroidvania and souls-like possible. Completely uninspired map design, very bland combat upgrades, a complete lack of traversal upgrades, very little enemy variety, bad bosses, and I could go on.

The only appealing thing about the gameplay to me is the stinger move, which I can't remember what this game called it because it was so bland. I really can't overstate just how big the rift between the quality of the art and the quality of the game is here.

You'd probably be better off just taking some screenshots and making them your desktop wallpaper instead of playing the game itself.