Blasphemous

Well made game. Very bizarre and bleak atmosphere. They throw you in the story without an introduction or much context so it is a bit overwhelming at first. It becomes more interesting as you delve more into the game... I wouldn't quite call it deep, but it is interestingly unique (if a bit monochrome in tone). The difficulty of the game is uneven. Most of the game is pretty easy, but there are parts that are brutal (2 boss fights if you want to go for the cannon ending, levels with ships and monsters full of lightning and thankfully optional timed race levels). Speaking of which, if you want to play this game only once, you might want to take a peek at a walkthrough if you want the cannon ending, because it is very easy to miss (if you don't do the right thing by midgame, you'll miss it). Beyond that, there is also a 'ok' and a 'bad' ending and what you need to do to get the 'ok' ending is a bit obscure, but at least there you can change course at the end of the game. Also, you need to backtrack a lot in this game (inaccessible parts that become accessible with later gear) and the game doesn't track those for you, but allows you to add annotation to your minimap, so you best take advantage of that or cry later. Speaking of which, there is an obvious way to fast travel (with few checkpoints) and a 'secret' way to fast travel with LOTs of checkpoints that will save you LOTS of time. If you don't mind a spoiler google 'blasphemous fast travel' or otherwise risk being like me and find out about this 2/3 of the way through the game. You'll do a lot of combat in this game, and while not revolutionary it is well done. Your character has a lot of follow-through with his actions so quick reflexes won't get you out of trouble as much as figuring out what patterns work against various opponents. Only thing that I disliked is the very short block window (and blocking is a crucial mechanic). But overall, pretty good. Running out of characters. Not perfect, but good game.

I just beat the game moments ago (I achieved Ending B) and I can safely say that I have mixed feelings about it all. I had a lot of fun for the most part, the art style and the music are just phenomenal and I'll be listening to some of the themes on repeat. But... well, it took me 3 hours of attempts to be able to beat the final boss. I'm very anxious and shaky after all this. So that brings me to my point about the difficulty being really consistent for most of the main story, except for two exceptions: Tres Angustias and the final boss. They feel so much more difficult and annoying than the rest of the game. Which I really don't understand. Having proper difficulty modifying accessibility options would've helped majorly, but those just don't exist and the devs never bothered to add them in updates. (Here's hoping Blasphemous 2 will do better in that regard) Oh and the area of Jondo was just pretty boring in terms of art and atmosphere.

I was waiting for this game after the success they had in his Kickstarter campaing, now I can play it and I must say that that wait was worth it. The art, the main pillar of the game, it's just beatiful and all I've to say is that it clearly see the effort they put on every sprite, animation and all the atmosphere behind that; for me, the best of the game without doubt, and all this perfectly accompained by a very good music and even better lore. Maybe the weakest part is the gameplay, the level design and boss fights are really good and challenging however regular enemies can become repetitive sometimes, but being honest, that never was the strong point of a metroidvania game (the challenge was always in the design of the levels, not the enemies). This game has far exceeded my expectations in every single point (and I totally recommend it).

Très bon Métroivania à l'ancienne (les déplacement sont lourd, dans le bon sens du terme), le combat est satisfaisant avec pas mal de mouvement différents. Ce qui m'a marqué le + dans le jeu est de loin sa direction artistique/son univers, inspiré du catholiscisme. Il y a pas mal de gore dans le jeu, mais pas trop dans le sens où on est habitué par les jeux moderne, c'est du gore qui fait sens avec l'univers, la repentance et la souffrance étant un thème important de la religion catholique (cf Jésus crucifié) (un peu de violence gratuite dans les éxecutions quand même) Le jeu a par contre quelques problèmes d'ergonomie à mon sens, notamment pas assez d'icones pour noter sur la carte, Vers la fin, quand on commence à débloquer pas mal de secrets, ça devient un peu pénible de faire plein d'aller retours entre chaque PNJs qui gère tel secrets.. même si chaque PNJ à un charadesign intéressant Sinon les sprites et les cinématiques en pixel arts sont magnifiques. Il y a juste le dernier boss que j'ai trouvé particulièrement désagréable, avec des phases d'invulnérabilité mais très chiant à toucher quand il est enfin vulnérable car il y a des plateformes qui disparaissent aléatoirement

Based on the most traditional European culture that rose after Constantine. It is so weird that Christianity is the most common religion on Earth, yet, few games are built upon this theme. The sacrament of penance is a gift from God to purify our souls from the sins. This game brings this back, maybe not as a conscious idea from the designers, and it makes us remember what made so many people convert to Christianity: the blood of the martyrs throughout the centuries.