The Game Kitchen's Blasphemous opens with its central protagonist, the metal-masked Penitent One, last survivor of the Silent Sorrow Massacre, staggering to his feet atop a mass grave of bodies, each one an exact replica of himself. Here is a hero caught in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, charged with lifting a great curse that’s descended upon the land of Cvstodia. Sword in hand, he makes his way down a flight of steps, surrounded on all sides by crucified bodies and mounds of broken, rotten corpses wrapped in twisted thickets of thorn. From here he must venture forth on a solemn pilgrimage to seek the Cradle of Affliction and discover the seed of his anguish hidden behind a sacred door in the Mother of Mother of Churches.
Blasphemous has been wowing its many Kickstarter backers for the past couple of years with screenshots of the sumptuous pixel art-style which brings to life its incredibly detailed world, a world filled with twisted religious iconography, grotesque enemies, brutally warped boss battles and imposing landscapes dripping in blood, filth and decay. From its opening level set around the dusty Spanish-styled village of Albero and onwards across the Wastelands of the Buried Churches to the Desecrated Cistern – a festering, toxic labyrinth that descends into the foreboding depths of Jondo – this really is spectacularly well-realised stuff.
Of course, without gameplay to match, all this beauty would be for nothing, and so it’s fortunate that The Game Kitchen has pulled something pretty special out of the bag here; a heady mix of Soulslike and Metroidvania, with the rules of life and death governed in much the same way as FromSoftware’s titles, whilst the backtracking traversal and pixel-perfect platforming falls much more into the classic Metroid mould.
In terms of that Souls influence, there are bonfires, here known as Prie Dieu, at which to rest and recuperate your energy, resetting enemies across your current level as you do so. Estus flasks are replaced by Biliary flasks, upgradeable by finding and refilling empty ones scattered across the game world. You have a magic bar, here known as Fervor, which charges as you attack enemies, the twist being that each time you die a little of the bar becomes lost until you return to your place of death to retrieve it or pay to have it restored at a place of penitence. Speaking of currency, Tears of Atonement replace souls and are, happily, not lost upon death. As well as cleansing your guilt, they can be used to buy some of the various trinkets and abilities you can equip as you advance through the game, as well as the offensive skills you unlock as you level up your weapon.
Making your way across Cvstodia to carry out the Three Humiliations required to gain entry to the Mother of Mother of Churches, the Penitent One has only one weapon at his disposal: the Mea Culpa sword. Despite this initially disappointing lack of choice in terms of weapons, it turns out that concentrating on one means of combat has enabled The Game Kitchen to ensure it’s a tight and satisfying affair, embellished with lots of bespoke little animations that really drive home the delicious brutality of engagements. Every foe you encounter can be stunned and then ended with an outrageously violent finishing move, each one beautifully animated and entirely unique for every single enemy type in the game.
Alongside your sword, your move-set is comprised of a magic attack (several of which can be found and equipped as you progress), a dodging slide which makes you temporarily invulnerable and can be added to with its own powerful lunging attack, and a parry with which to deflect incoming strikes, opening your adversary up to some horrific retribution. It’s very much Dark Souls sans a stamina bar, losing the need to take time to recuperate in favour of a protagonist who can carry out endless combos which, nevertheless, require the same patience and forward-planning as FromSoftware’s encounters if you’re to be successful.
The ebb and flow of combat is further enhanced by how uniformly well-designed the different enemies you encounter across Cvstodia are, each coming with their own smart set of attacks that you’ll need to learn to defend against in order to proceed. Priests in the Archcathedral Rooftops, for example, wield long, stabby candleholders and need to be dodged just before they lunge, giving you a clear sight of their exposed flanks. The exploding disease-ridden ghouls in the bowels of the Desecrated Cistern, meanwhile, will continuously reanimate unless you find a nearby bell-ringer and cut them down. Each new area is stuffed full of new challenges and there’s much more to combat across Cvstodia than just hacking and slashing your way through all-comers; you’ll need to change up your attack style and make use of the many trinkets and abilities at your disposal if you hope to get anywhere.
You can equip Rosary Beads to bolster your attack or defence, or perhaps give yourself a boost against certain types of magic or elemental attacks. Initially, you’ll only be able to equip three beads but there are a total of nine notches to unlock as you progress. There are also religious relics to wear around your belt which very cleverly open up traversal options by letting you see hidden ledges, for example, or perhaps hear the final thoughts of the dead who lie scattered around levels.
The Mea Culpa can be also powered up in various ways, with longer combos, more devastating lunges and various other explosive attacks all unlockable at hidden shrines. You can also add special hearts to your sword to embellish its power – however, quite cunningly, each of these comes with a negative effect. The Heart of the Holy Purge, for example, will increase the rate at which you attain Tears of Atonement at the cost of the use of your health flasks. There’s also a delightfully macabre set of collectable body parts to find throughout the world, with great names such the Cervical Vertebra of Zicher the Brewmaster or the Coxal of June the Prostitute, which can then be displayed in a (rather unsettling) underground chamber area.
Platforming is also uniformly precise, satisfying stuff which manages to avoid becoming an annoyance as there’s plenty of variety and death is almost always a result of your own mistake rather than the game being unfair. Stabbing your sword into rock faces and walls in order to make your way up mountainsides, timing your jumps through huge, slicing blades and traversing fiery pits and cauldrons filled with lava makes for some really tense sections, especially when you’re also trying to fend off some horrendous magic-shooting banshee or floating angel head at the same time.
Topping all of this off are a handful of truly memorable boss battles against ludicrously-named, screen-filling creations. Our Lady of the Charred Visage is a hideously deformed floating head with bullet-hell styled magic attacks, whilst Exposito, Scion of Abduration involves you dealing with the attacks of a severed head attached to a wooden worm whilst avoiding the clutches of a giant blindfolded infant, its face drenched in blood from its gouged-out eyes. None of these ghastly encounters outstay their welcome or come anywhere close to being as soul-crushingly difficult as those seen in a FromSoftware game, but they’re massively enjoyable affairs nonetheless, testing your skills and forcing you to utilise every trick at your disposal.
Once you’ve completed the Three Humiliations and opened the great door to the final area of the game – very much Blasphemous’ Anor Londo moment – you may think you're almost done, but are instead blasted with a barrage of mini-bosses, main bosses and tricky mixes of enemy types – alongside some pretty exacting platform sections – on your way to the final encounter of the game, which took us somewhere in the region of 25 hours to reach.
The story here is a much more easy-to-follow affair than you may be expecting on the outset of things; Blasphemous wears its lore on its sleeves much more than a Souls game, although this too is a world filled with strange secrets, sad stories and bizarre characters to meet as you make your way to its dénouement.
Small complaints come in the form of a map which can’t be zoomed in or out, which means it’s sometimes a little bit of a pain to study in handheld mode, something which is exacerbated by the fact you’ll find yourself scouring it quite often later in the game to ascertain where you should be headed next. Indeed, the game does suffer a little from being overly obtuse as to how you should proceed at times. There are several points where you’ll need some to present some bizarre artefact or other to a certain NPC in order to further things along, and we found ourselves at a loss on several occasions as to how we should move forward. There’s also some very iffy voice-acting from a few of the characters you meet on your pilgrimage, although nothing nearly as bad as some of the merchants from Dark Souls, it has to be said.
In terms of this Switch version, everything runs at a silky smooth 1080p/60fp whilst docked, with that resolution dropping to 720p in handheld mode. Over the course of our time with Blasphemous, we encountered no hiccups or slowdown and it really does look absolutely stunning, especially in handheld mode, where its pixelated lines look that little bit smoother.
Conclusion
Blasphemous is a beautifully crafted Soulslike/Metroidvania action game set in a delightfully unhinged, deliriously gory world filled with well-designed enemies, satisfyingly meaty combat and some truly memorable and grotesque boss battles. Platforming sections are uniformly well-crafted and the whole thing comes together to create one of the most visually arresting and solidly enjoyable action titles currently available on Switch. Spanish developers The Game Kitchen have created a nightmare world in Cvstodia, one that will truly test your combat and platforming skills and leave you begging for more come that final bloody battle.
Comments 81
I really want this game. And I am waiting for physical. I think the team said somewhere that they will consider it after release!
The game is so sinister and beautiful. Can't wait!
@Zuljaras It's been on my radar too, saw it on steam then saw it mentioned for Switch so I've been holding off.
Backed it, so I'll have a download code for it.
"Mother of Mother of Churches" = "Grandmother of Churches"?
Not sold on it, yet. If there is a physical release, fully patched, I'll try it at some point. Feeling burned from Bloodstained's Switch release so I'm pretty done being part of the "paid beta tester" crowd.
Physical release please! This has my name all written over it. Loved the trailer as well with the excellent music. £5 I can't wait anymore for a physical release, buy it digitally, only to be followed with a physical release announcement.
It's good that the Tin Man found work after the whole 'Oz' debacle.
@Zuljaras yeah I’d rather have physical too. The game is gore-geous.
I actually hadn't heard of this game until yesterday when I saw a streamer I like to watch play this. Looks quite good.
I read about this when it was first announced, then forgot about it. Glad it turned out good. May pick up if the price is right
Oh boy, another one for the list. When shall I play all those?
Yeah! So happy to hear this game is great and it runs at 60fps! Can't wait to play it on my lovely Switch : )
Is there a easy mode
as soon as I'm done with Astral Chain this is next! Or maybe Creature In The Well. Or maybe Ori... Damn!
Easily a day one, now to decide on PC vs switch.
Was on the fence between this and FF VIII, but the price was a key factor. $25 is a bit too much for me, gotta wait for a sale or get it on PC. Happy to see the game surpassed expectations!
Yeah I knew this would be great. Very different from their previous game The Last Door, but it looks just as creepy. These guys really know how the crank up the dark and mysterious atmosphere in 2D games. Looking forward to this one.
@Fake-E-Lee Yeah I love that aesthetic too. Looks very fire and brimstone medieval inquisition, instead of that Victorian gothic look of Bloodborne.
Yeah this is some of the most unsettling art I’ve seen in a game. Skillful pixel work too. I’m in for the eventual physical release.
Day one purchase for me, been waiting since I first saw some gameplay. Will probably kick my arse but will give it a go just for the look of it!
As much as I want this it will have to wait with the busy september.
Use some common sense developers and don't release everything at the same time!
@Mr_Muscle I hear you and acknowledge your frustration but this one thankfully runs well and on par with other versions. People need to stop downvoting for valid opinions. Yeesh
This is the first of me hearing about this game, it looks amazing and going by this great review, it is. I need to be sensible with all the games I'm buying though, there's no point buying a game then not playing it for 2 or 3 months then seeing it on sale in the Eshop. Happened to me too many times already. So onto the Wishlist Blasphemous goes for a certain purchase sometime nearer Xmas.
Another Metroidvania? As if the platform wasn't saturated with them already...
Just kidding, I love Metroidvanias and I will always take more if they are good enough! A 9 huh? You have my attention. Although, it seems to be trying a bit hard at the whole grimdark thing for my taste. I'll have to look into this one.
At least this game is reviewed by someone who can appreciate a game like this. IGN gave it a 7. Sounds quite low because someone couldn't remember the combo combination.. yeah seems solid to give a lower score because of the simpleton mind
A better Metroidvania game than Bloodstained. How did this happen?
Nice Roots Manuva reference 👍
@retro_player_22 if the music is even better it will score better. Bloodstained felt a little short on that department. Nothing of that OST needs to be owned to be relistened just like Castlevania Symphony of The night. That OST is so awesome I keep returning back on youtube to relisten to those. Bloodstained just... no memorable
They really like this overly hard hardcore gamer stuff around here.
Oh man i wish there was a physical release!
Also 1080p& 60fps? Take note Bloodstained developers.
Sweet. There’s a Hollow Knight-sized hole in my heart right now that this looks like it might be able to fill.
@Alucard83 IGN reviewers love this kind of game so I do give their review a little more trust than NL which (if we can all be honest here) has a tendency to hand out high reviewers like candy on here. Need I remind of their Mutant Year Zero review?
All over this!! Like the art style and love a challenge so bring it on.
Love the look and theme in this game, just knowing it rans perfectly on switch makes it a day one buy for me( had in mind buying it on ps4, it is kind of building to much dust now a days).
Just finishing my black eagles run, I will start this one.
@MsJubilee It's a 2D game. Is rather more difficult to get a UE4 3D title to run well on old mobile hardware.
This one looks super crazy, but I will wait for a sale and then might snag it.
This game looks good! I'm stingy nowadays when it comes to download-only titles, but I definately need to check this one out.
I really want and need this.
I really do, but with the full packed September Im going to wait, and hope for a physical treatment.
I'm so ready for this game, can't wait!
Of all the names they could choose, it’s funny they chose Custodia (ok, with a V but you’re still going to pronounce it with a U) and Albero, which respectively mean “case” (for example your Switch carrying case) and “tree” in Italian 😂
@Mr_Muscle @joezilla83 If I had to guess, I'd say that the downvotes for Mr_Muscle aren't being given because of his valid opinion but because his statement makes no sense in light of the review. Bloodstained had many problems, which were noted in reviews, and weeks and weeks later, it's still not fixed. That's a completely different issue than a game that is released in good working order. His comment simply makes no sense; that's why he's being downvoted, I'd wager.
Little things like potentially changing a map-zoom based on user feedback (if the dev wants to do that) are not part of users being "beta testers" but merely quality of life choices the dev might not have considered when making the game. The game isn't in need of patching, and it isn't deserving of your anger against Bloodstained or any other game that was released unfinished.
@sixrings they call it "funky kong mode", these days ...
A definite buy for me. Looks killer
@Zuljaras - agreed.
C'mon LRG.
Is that you, Kuato?!?
Wow looks amazing! Wishlist bound because my backlog looks like a prison sentence!😬🤣
@Keldorek I hear you. I actually love bloodstained on the switch. I'm one of the few that really didn't have any issues with the game in it's current form. I'm not sure if Mr. M. is being cheeky about this release or is actually disillusioned TBH or maybe I'm just a big softy! Well I hope he makes peace with the fact that all systems and all things have limitations and roadblocks and those things will always trickle down to the consumer.
Awesome! This game looks crazy good! I want it so badly.
Too lazy to read the entire article. How is it like Dark Souls?
Man I’ve been waiting for this when I first saw it soon after the switch was released! I love games with this sort of imagery done well, especially when they can evoke a eerie an creepy atmosphere where you know your in for a sick ride.
P.s there was a game similar to this style on iOS mobile and it’s killing me that I don’t know the name of it!! It had an odd style, awesome music where it was a runner but you had these huge swords, I feel like blasphemous almost saw that and thought they could do one better. Just wish I knew the name grrr!
Tried it now. Game is fun and the pixel art looks really good but the devs forgot to put music in their game, a random guitar string here and there doesn't cut it. As far as I'm concerned this makes the game unplayable, truly a shame.
And no, "being atmospheric" is no excuse.
Reminds of pyramid head from Silent Hill
I'd really like to get a physical version of this, I love the art style & the gameplay it's going for.
nice a Metroid Souls game
+1 for physical release (fully patched if possible)
@joezilla83 I loved it as well. But I’m 35 hours in and can’t progress past a late game boss because it crashes every time I beat him. I even bought the PS4 version just to keep playing it and see “how the other half lives”! It’s gorgeous but still has insane slowdown and crashes fairly often. Very surprising. Switch is the worst of the lot, sadly, but they’ve all got issues it seems, and major ones.
This game looks amazing. It will have to wait though.
I looks just like Dead Cells but a difference it was a Physical release as well.
Whenever someone mentions rosary beads, or any beads, I recall my bachelor party. It was a pretty cool trick.
It's a great game. Too bad the developers overlooked some rather obvious things — such as the option to enable / disable a mini map on the screen, and there's also no quest log.
Hopefully they will add these quality-of-life features soon.
I have the game and it is so really ROCKS! It does feel a bit like "Dante Inferno".
Who says indie game sucks. I have all 22 of them and I love them all. Perfect time killers!
@Expa0
I just wanted to ask about the soundtrack. After the trailer I was stoked about this game because I thought it has a Metal soundtrack.
The minimal soundtrack you describe is a pretty big bummer...
I'm definitely keen on this, but from what I've read this is not a 9 by any accounts. Maybe a very generous 8, probably a fairer 7 (or 7.5). No Minimap, poor audio, lack of quest log, some confusing quests ... And I'm not a fan of the art style. Also read about issues with the controls during some of the wall jumping areas. Biggest issue though is reports of crashes ... I have no tolerance for crashes in modern console games.
Doesn't matter to me - but have a massive backlog and I haven't played dead cells - it's better than this.
Final concern - I'm fine with the subject matter, but I'll have to keep this away from my kids. And definitely my wife.
Enjoying this but there are some seriously annoying things. When u enter the map screen the only way to exit it is by pressing "B", which also makes you jump automatically when the game restarts !!!???? Seems like such a schoolboy error and crazy to think any dev team would release a game without rectifying this.
This game looks insanely good. I might have to add this exquisitely crafted game to my wishlist.
No crashes on Switch, but there is a boss fight midway in the game upon whose defeat your progress will reset or the save file will be corrupted. Permanently. Also there is an issue with softlocking involving another boss elsewhere. Wait for a patch-if the devs will actually respond....No one wants another Bloodstained or POE scenario...
@Mr_Muscle Ya good call. Bloodstained was a disaster. Even on the PS4 is was a disaster.
omg, another metroidvania?! there are plenty.. just finished hollow knight..
The graveyard of the peaks area is really starting to grate on me now, only a few hours in and I'm getting killed constantly by insta-death pits and dodgy platforming controls. It feels more tedious than difficult, which is a shame because on paper this game is right up my street. I will give it a few more hours, but so far, outside of the gorgeous art and design I'm not impressed.
"Sometimes a little unclear as to how you proceed at later stages in the game" is why I can never get into metroidvania games. I love the idea of them, but I always get stuck and the requirement of tracking all over the place drives me crazy and ruins them for me. For some, it may culminate in a wonderful sense of discovery so I'm not suggesting my way is the right way here. The sense of discovery works for me in BOTW for some reason but in these games I just get bored and I have almost given up on the genre.
I think for me there just needs to be the tools to clearly see where I've been and where I might want to backtrack to.
I just picked this up and have had a very, very difficult time putting it down. It’s absolutely stunning work. Gorgeous pixel graphics, right gameplay, and tons of lore and gore. I wish I had backed this game on Kickstarter but I only heard of it recently.
I have yet to try it docked, but it’s one of the most stunning visual experiences I’ve seen on handheld. Second only to maybe Hollow Knight. But it’s a VERY close second.
@NintenDan_
I spent like 23 hrs on the game this weekend (17th century Seville? Goya? Mad pentinence era Spanish Catholicim? I’m in like flint. )
What jumped out at me the most is the nottion that if the controls and the bosses were tightend up, the game wouldn’t be difficult, whatsoever. It’s not broken. It’s not bad. Just, 9/10 is a stretch.
There’s a lot to love, there’s also a lot of tedium thanks to whoopsie pitfalls.
@robr Yea I completely agree. Funnily enough I had another blast the other day and ignored the peak/cliff area, went into the cisterns instead and actually really enjoyed it. I'm not usually one to complain about that sort of stuff, I'm an avid Dark Souls player so I'm used to that level of challenge but it does feel like a control issue (the amount of times I fell straight through platforms because I didn't land on it the exact way the game wanted me to was infuriating). I may stretch to a 7/10 but 9 is really reaching, regardless of how beautiful it is.
@NintenDan_
Later on, there's a boss section that is only accesible by spike pits with Edgar Allen Poe style double scythes on a pendulum. As you can correctly presume; when it comes time to return and collect that fervour soul, it's sitting in the spikes. :0 That's after a specifically brutal library area where you simply cannot avoid taking tons of damage during your first attempt. :0
The good news is, taking inspiration directly from Hollow Knight, while early on you're farming and scraping by just to collect a thousand or so "tears of annointment" (currency), by the second half, you're swimming in at least 40,000 worth of dosh at any given point; so you just pay to get that fervour back.
The controls aren't neccesarily bad. They're actually good. We're just spoiled for choice in that department when it comes to the dozen or so of knockout indie platformers and action-rpg's ("metroidvania" "roguelite") that have come out in the past two years. It's still way better than classic Castlevania games in the controls and cheap pitfalls depatments. It's just specifically leaning toward the aforementioned Dark Souls (but not at all entirely so) territory than say the tight cancels of The Messenger, Dead Cells, HK and Celeste.
The only thing I truly don't enjoy is the life vile mechanic (ala Dead Cells and Hollow Knight) where instead of buffing up with an ever growing life meter; you buff up with a ton of health potions that leave you way open for an attack. Alas, that is part of the strategy of the game and not something that is neccessarily broken.
The only unintentional issue I've found, thus far, is that chance and not skill has gotten me past every boss. Sometimes the AI gets locked into a position where you have zero chance. Eventually you get a pass when the AI just keeps repeating it's most vulnerable states. The whole concept of boss battles is something I don't care for in video games, so (for me) it's just something I "get through", no different than any other game. For others, this may be a disapointment.
It would be very nice if the map was scalable. And the game has a lot of Simon Quest moments (if you know what I mean). Simultaneously, the developers did their part in making it so you can create shortcuts through most areas and you eventually become invincible to some specifically time consuming dangers (toxic clouds). Definitely a metroidvania. To the core.
It's a fun and challenging game and while I'm enjoying it as much as the true 9/10 games of it's ilk, it definitely could use some polish ($$$) and techncially is close but not there. This is the same website that gave Mother Russia Bleeds a 5/10, calling it shallow and repetive, when in truth, it's the deepest beat em' up to have ever existed. This is also the same website that gave the completely broken and not good Bud Spencer and Terence Hill game an 8/10. I'm used to it. :0
Anyway, it's on my list to reccomend to others. We're making it sound flawed, when really it's mostly super dope.
EDIT:
I have now beaten the game at 96.5%, the "bad" ending and the "good ending" (thank you internet). I must suck because it took me 35 hours. Anyway, I'm leaning more towards agreeing with that 9/10 review as of this minute. TBH, retreading familiar territory, all tanked up smashing up them "confessors" was the funnest part. I went from being "yeah awesome, but" to just plain "yeah awesome" overnight.
A sword called "mea culpa", lol. The game looks amazing though. I definitely need it, when it gets hugely discounted.
Having just played through, and thoroughly enjoyed the demo for Blasphemous. This is definitely going on my to buy list. Though I guess I’ll wait till a discount drops.
Finished this past weekend and boy, it is a great game. I'm happy that I supported it on KS and then bought it on Switch (choosing PC and the forgetting to change the plataform was a mistake), they deserve that and more.
Their previous games, The Last Door 1&2, weren't as beautiful but they were almost as good. Check them out (PC & mobile only), they're nice little point & click games.
The advantage to having a laaaaarge backlog is that I get all the updates of the released games and bugs fixed! This was awesome, finally got to play. I will say, get fast travel by donating 20k to the church ASAP; it makes life much easier.
Just got this for £4 on sale, lovely game
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