A largely inoffensive sequel. The changes are not plentiful nor mind-blowing, but I can't complain since it held my interest to the end.
The overall experience goes from "been here, done that" to "oh, that was neat", but never really ventures beyond either end of that range. For every cool puzzle, there were 10 moments of jank I felt in the combat, where I'd get stun-locked into an instant death. Taking damage (and definitely getting stunned) upon simply making contact with the enemy should have been reevaluated. Blasphemous 1 had this issue too, but you'd expect an improvement in a full-on, numbered sequel. That's actually a large problem in general here, that this feels like Blasphemous 1, but just... more of it. It's not really a sequel as you'd come to expect from video games.
I'm not a fan of the cutscene direction; the art style feels too clean for the aesthetic the games have been trying to capture. At times it ventured into "way too anime" (disparaging) and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. The lack of real emotional or mechanical difference in the endings was something I was disappointed by. Either you have the item that gives you the cutscene, or you don't. Either way, the final fight is the same, and very easy. Neither ending here achieved much of anything for me. You either save everyone by defeating the final boss and ascend to heaven, or you... save everyone by defeating the final boss and ascend to heaven, except this time you get a cutscene with all the characters from the first game.
I know for me, the cool setting and characters were not enough to save the game from its faults this time. I enjoyed it, but it hardly leaves the impression that Blasphemous 1 did. Hopefully they continue to support the game with DLC and post-launch updates, just like the previous game. They've still yet to top everything that was introduced in the Wounds of Eventide update.
The overall experience goes from "been here, done that" to "oh, that was neat", but never really ventures beyond either end of that range. For every cool puzzle, there were 10 moments of jank I felt in the combat, where I'd get stun-locked into an instant death. Taking damage (and definitely getting stunned) upon simply making contact with the enemy should have been reevaluated. Blasphemous 1 had this issue too, but you'd expect an improvement in a full-on, numbered sequel. That's actually a large problem in general here, that this feels like Blasphemous 1, but just... more of it. It's not really a sequel as you'd come to expect from video games.
I'm not a fan of the cutscene direction; the art style feels too clean for the aesthetic the games have been trying to capture. At times it ventured into "way too anime" (disparaging) and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. The lack of real emotional or mechanical difference in the endings was something I was disappointed by. Either you have the item that gives you the cutscene, or you don't. Either way, the final fight is the same, and very easy. Neither ending here achieved much of anything for me. You either save everyone by defeating the final boss and ascend to heaven, or you... save everyone by defeating the final boss and ascend to heaven, except this time you get a cutscene with all the characters from the first game.
I know for me, the cool setting and characters were not enough to save the game from its faults this time. I enjoyed it, but it hardly leaves the impression that Blasphemous 1 did. Hopefully they continue to support the game with DLC and post-launch updates, just like the previous game. They've still yet to top everything that was introduced in the Wounds of Eventide update.