It is somewhat ironic that despite spending years complaining about Souls-like games, I find myself playing them relatively often. This is mostly a side effect of the fact that most recent Metroidvania games have taken cues from the genre, choosing to implement things like limited healing or “bonfire”-style checkpoints. I enjoyed Blasphemous for a while when it was released, but the Souls-like combat ultimately turned me off. Blasphemous 2 is similar to its predecessor, but as all good sequels do, it has grown into a whole new religious experience.

I say that Blasphemous 2 is a religious experience because religion is interwoven with it. Like the first game, Blasphemous 2 is set in a world highly influenced by the iconography of Roman Catholicism and Spanish culture. I’m not going to go into too many details about the opening of the story, because that would lead to spoilers relating to how Blasphemous 2 connects to the first game, and spoilers of the overarching story being told.

Regardless, you find yourself back in the shoes of The Penitent One, taking on grotesque creatures spawned from The Miracle, much like the original game. What is different in Blasphemous 2, is that you no longer have a single sword/weapon to accompany you through your journey. Instead, at the start of the game you choose one of three weapons, with the other two weapons being placed at certain parts of the map afterward. Each weapon has a purpose regarding traversal, but it also has its own fighting style as well.

The world of Blasphemous 2 is much bigger than the original game, and there are a lot of grotesque yet beautiful environments and enemies to encounter. Just like in the original game, you heal using Bile Flasks, which are similar to Estus Flasks in Dark Souls. I’m not a fan of this mechanic, simply because I’m not great at the limited healing of Souls games. However, Blasphemous 2 gives you enough tools at your disposal to succeed most of the time.

There are times when you’ll get caught between an enemy and the wall or die due to some frustrating series of attacks that you couldn’t dodge. However, this doesn’t happen often, and I find that most of the time I can learn enemy patterns easily enough to survive. Boss battles are a spectacle. Each one will test your understanding of Blasphemous 2’s combat systems, and I found that some took me longer than others.

For example, in the pre-release build that I’ve been playing, after fighting the first major boss for over 3 hours, I succeeded. However, I talked to an NPC more times than I should have afterward which caused the game to freeze. Because I didn’t save prior to that, I had to fight the boss again. However, I had accumulated a sort of muscle memory from those previous 3 hours, so I defeated that boss again in a fraction of the time.

I’m not normally a fan of Souls-like bosses. Normally they ratchet up the difficulty and deal increasingly ridiculous amounts of damage. I’ve played over 30 hours of Blasphemous 2 and have (thus far) explored about 90% of the map. While there are some challenges that are openly hostile to the player, most things are fair if you are paying attention and learning to utilize the tools given to you.

Because Blasphemous 2 is bigger and more open than the previous game, I ran into a few instances where I wasn’t sure where to go next. There are many times when you’ll run into insurmountable obstacles that require you to gain new traversal abilities before you can continue. In some respects, I think Blasphemous 2 (unlike the first game) has much more Metroidvania DNA in it than Souls-like DNA.

It is refreshing to see this refining of the Metroidvania formula. However, with that in mind, I have run into several Souls-like quests that I have accidentally completed in the worst way possible. As such, I can already see people wanting to dive into a New Game Plus or multiple playthroughs for this one. You might call them repeated sermons if you are so inclined.

Progression is very interesting outside of gaining new abilities via your Metroidvania exploration. By killing enemies, you gain Tears of Atonement (money), but you also fill something called your Martyrdom gauge. By filling that gauge you receive Marks of Martyrdom, which you can use in a variety of ways. One notable use involves upgrading your weapons. In this regard, Marks of Martyrdom can serve as skill points on a skill tree.

There are a variety of other uses for them though. I don’t want to include much more in that regard because one particular use involves an NPC that has its own quest chain. In the spirit of keeping this review spoiler free, you’ll have to find out about that for yourself. I do want to mention a particular combat-related thing before I wrap up.

If you die in Blasphemous 2, you drop a “guilt fragment” that is essentially like dropping your Souls in Dark Souls. Each time you die a fragment drops, but part of your Fervor gauge decreases. You can (and should) return to the spot you died and pick it back up to restore your Fervor (magic) gauge.

However, there were times that I would pick my fragment back up and my fervor bar wouldn’t be restored to its proper length. There is an NPC that can wipe away your guilt, and I assumed at first that the residual guilt not being restored was due to a bug. I was mistaken, this is by design to ensure you are returning “to town” to talk to NPCs regularly. At first, it will be small amounts of residual guilt not restored, but eventually, it’ll be noticeable.

Overall, I really like Blasphemous 2. It has some rough edges, particularly with the bugs I’ve reported like a room that randomly killed me, which I have reported to the devs and the post-boss freeze. However, the art style is macabre yet beautiful, and despite my frustrations at times, the gameplay feels smooth and enjoyable. It plays surprisingly well on Nintendo Switch too. If you liked the first game or you like games like Hollow Knight and Ender Lillies, Blasphemous 2 is something that should be on your radar.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Blasphemous 2 was provided by Team17 for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Blasphemous 2

$29.99 USD

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Gorgeous Yet Grotesque Art Style
• Difficult but Fair Combat
• Smooth Controls
• Engaging Characters
• Immersive Exploration

Cons

• A Few Minor Bugs