Blasphemous 2

The Spanish development team The Game Kitchen presented us with the first parts of the Metroidvania game Blasphemous in 2019 and it was an interesting experience with its dark world inspired by the Christian heritage of Spain and a unique atmosphere that distinguished it from other Metroidvania games in this aspect, but the experience was simple in many aspects and in a way that led to some … The limitations that prevented it from reaching the level of great games like the classic versions of Castlevania, the development team returns after 4 years with the second Part, and now that we have experienced and satiated this adventure, it is time to present you this review.

The Story

The story takes us back to the plagued land of Cvstodia, and we will once again take on the role of the hero, the penitent, to try to stop the latest attempts to spread the scourge of the curse known as the Miracle stop The beginning of the story leads the player to believe that it began immediately after the end of the first part, as it refers to the event that occurred at the end of that part. However, the reality may be different, since the game world is very different from what we remember, and some of the areas that we will revisit will look very different in terms of their state and location on the map, and it seems that the events actually only begin after decades or centuries! In any case, the game retains much of the mystery of the first part, but is even more mysterious. While the first part gives an overview of some of the characters, be it through texts or short dialogues, the second part introduces us to strange characters and describes the torments that they have to go through in many cases without the slightest explanation. Sometimes and the story were not among the strengths of the first part, and of course they are not among the strengths of the second part, but the strangeness of the game world and the lack of justifications make us pay attention to what is happening in this world around us happens to get as much information about it as possible and think about possible explanations for what is happening.

Visuals and Audio

The game again presents the same beautiful audio quality as in the first part, but this time with a more perfect visual quality. Despite maintaining the classic 16-bit graphics, this time the animation is smoother and more beautiful, paying attention to the details of the movement of your character and the movement of the monsters and characters you will encounter. Designs were also presented. The environments are more complex and contain more details than in the first game, whose environment designs were rather simple.

Gameplay Improvements

The graphical improvements are good and add more aesthetics to the experience, but the gameplay style improvements are the most important thing the player will notice in the second part. With the continued focus on simplicity of gameplay style, more options and variety are added to the experience in several aspects. This time you don’t use one weapon, but have a choice of three. The first weapons are the hammer with great power and slow blows, the sword that balances strength and speed and the two daggers that prioritize speed over striking power. As you explore the game world you will get the remaining two weapons, and this time the weapons’ evolutions and abilities have become more useful and likely to be used during battles.

Magical Abilities and Enemies

One of the shortcomings of the first part was the presentation of magical abilities, which took longer to implement than necessary and left the player vulnerable to attacks from enemies and death. In the original version we did not benefit much from these abilities, but the second part addresses this problem and gives us fast magical attacks that are carried out almost directly. These abilities were very diverse and useful for use against various enemies, with the ability to use more powerful magical abilities, especially in critical situations. These skills, in turn, require a longer application time, and your battles with opponents will depend on ebbs and flows, as in the first part, but the enemies are now spread out. In a way that makes the fights less routine and pushes you more to move around and deal with more than one enemy at a time. One of the downsides was the placement of the enemies and the way they appeared in some areas in an annoying way, putting the player in tight areas with close quarters in such situations making it impossible to escape death, but it isn’t the negative, that it is repeated in a way that spoils the experience.

Exploration and Side Content

As you explore the game world, you will find many tools, such as rosaries, with which you can improve your character’s resistance to certain types of damage or give him other characteristics. There are also altarpieces that give you certain advantages or reduce your consumption of the magic energy meter and other applications that make you feel the importance of using these tools. Unlike the first part, the use of such tools was of limited use most of the time.

When it comes to the exploration aspect, which is a staple in genre games, this installment stands out from its predecessor, where the exploration experience was very limited and does not change after the first few hours of play. The second part takes advantage of the skills you acquire during the experience to enhance the exploration experience, such as: B. the use of the double jump and the ability to… dash through the air, and the game uses the three weapons when exploring. Each of these weapons has a special ability to help you explore, such as the hammer’s ability to ring a bell that opens mercury doors or forms platforms for you to jump onto, and the weapon you initially select , determines the areas you can explore The Leaders. The types of traps that stand in your way during exploration have become more varied. Falling into some traps does not mean death, but rather your return to the previous platform with the loss of part of the life meter, which is one of the annoying problems in the first part, occurring many times in the parts of jumping between platforms that require precision led to death.

Conclusion

One of the exploration shortcomings of the first part is also present in the second part, namely the problem that you have to keep returning to certain areas due to the lack of fast travel points and spend a lot of time exploring, which is very annoying because you may not be able to enter an area , because a certain weapon or ability is missing. It’s not earned and sometimes it’s not clear which area you can reach your destination from, meaning you have to resort to searching areas and trying to see if you can get through them before you get to the right one Find area.

Side Content and Completion Time

The side content of the game is extensive compared to the first part and there are many secrets and side missions that require a close look at the environment or make you want to explore because of the rewards that you get in return for the extra effort are very generous, as they give you excellent skills or qualities that are not there. They’re basically available to you as you play, and many of these missions are fun and require some thinking to solve or collect the associated tools.

Due to our interest in side missions and secrets, we completed 98% of the game within 30 hours, and it is possible to complete the game within 18 hours if we focus on story missions. We can say that Blasphemous 2 is built on the strong foundation of the game The first part has significantly improved the overall experience in various aspects. This may be due to the level reached. The presentation of some elements is less good than in the first part, but they are elements that cannot be compared with the significant improvements and leaps compared to the level of battles and the aspect of exploration. There is no doubt that you will like the second part more than the first part.