Blasphemous 2

Blasphemous 2 might be the sequel closest to its predecessor that I’ve ever played. Sure, there’s lots of little tweaks and differences, but the vibe, the aesthetic, the experience are all exactly the same as the first. Which is great, because Blasphemous is fantastic.

Once again we play as the Penitent One in a quest against the Miracle, set 1000 years after the first game. Blasphemous has a few different endings, and the canon ending that leads to Blasphemous 2 was added as (free) DLC… after I played the game, so I didn’t experience it myself. But fortunately, that’s what YouTube is for. In that ending, the Penitent One vanquishes the Miracle and dies, but in Blasphemous 2 the Miracle is threatening to return, so our perfectly preserved body returns to life to oppose it.

It… doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But bizarre (and typically awful) things happening for no apparent reason is par for the course in Blasphemous, so the mass of questions surrounding the premise don’t feel too out of place, and the game does eventually provide some answers (in a vague lore-based Dark Souls kind of way, naturally).

The biggest change from the first game is probably the weapons: in Blasphemous we only had a single weapon, but in Blasphemous 2 there are three. You start with one and need to discover the others, but each weapon provides a trade-off between speed and power and has unique platforming mechanics. Figuring out the best weapon for each enemy and boss adds an extra layer to combat, as well as giving a bit more variety in playstyle. (I thought it was kind of funny because when you first choose a weapon the game warns you to pick carefully because you may not get the others for quite a while… but you actually get them really early.)

Switching to three different weapons also had an effect of de-emphasizing parries, which were a major focus of the combat system in Blasphemous. One weapon has a parry like the first game, but the other has a guard that only counterattacks if you perform a perfect guard and the last doesn’t have a parry or guard at all.

The sword from the first game, the Mea Culpa, is also available as paid DLC. It can’t be unlocked until the mid-to-late game and adds some new areas and bosses, as well as its own platforming mechanics and puzzles, which is nice. The biggest issue is the fact that the Mea Culpa is noticeably stronger than the base game weapon. Not to the extent that you’re likely to use the Mea Culpa exclusively once you unlock it, but enough that it will probably become your primary weapon out of necessity, whereas choosing one of initial three weapons felt like a much more personal choice.

Character upgrades and customization has also been reworked a bit. Rosaries are generally the same in that they mostly provide defensive benefits but you have fewer slots. This is compensated for by the new “Altarpiece of Favours,” where you can insert altarpieces, each of which provides a buff that is usually offensive or utility. The Altarpiece of Favours can eventually hold eight altarpieces, grouped into four pairs, and inserting certain pairs of altarpieces together can provide an additional buff, encouraging experimentation and providing a deeper level of customization than the first game. (Finding these pairs is a bit of trial-and-error, but often results from combining two altarpieces of the same type or with a thematic connection, so it actually feels pretty reasonable.)

Sword hearts have been removed (essentially replaced with the Altarpiece of Favours), and additional platforming mechanics are simply permanently unlocked rather than categorized as relics. Prayers return as the game’s magic system but this time are grouped into chants, which cost a lot of Fervour and have a major effect, and verses, which have a lower cost and weaker effect (usually just shooting a projectile). You can have one of each equipped at a time, giving an extra tool in your tool belt compared to the first game. I thought that the verses were actually a fantastic addition, since a low-cost ranged attack complements the Penitent One’s weapon-based movesets extremely well.

Like the first game you can upgrade your weapons and their moves, but rather than using Tears of Atonement (the game’s currency) you use a new currency called Marks of Martyrdom, which can be found throughout the game in a variety of locations and manners, including through collecting experience. (There’s a set number of Marks in the game, including a maximum number gained through experience, so you can farm them to a certain extent but not infinitely.) I thought this system put the Tears of Atonement in an awkward position, because upgrading the Mea Culpa was a major use in Blasphemous. Without that you only use Tears of Atonement to purchase items, but there aren’t that many items that need to be purchased in the game…. As a result, prices for items in Blasphemous 2 are incredibly high, but I never had any issue paying them and the Tears essentially felt like a vestigial system.

Death—or, to be more precise, Guilt—was updated as well. You still accumulate Guilt and drop a Guilt Fragment upon death, but—unlike the first game—the amount of Guilt healed by recovering a Guilt Fragment is slightly less than the amount of Guilt gained by dying, meaning it will slowly accumulate over time and periodically need to be cleansed. In addition to reducing your maximum Fervour, Guilt now increases the number of Tears of Atonement you gain (as well as experience for Marks), while also increasing your damage taken. This creates a high-risk high-return option, but… since Tears don’t really do anything in this game and experience has an incredibly attainable cap, it never felt worth it.

So there were some adjustments to the details of the combat system, but overall Blasphemous 2 plays like Blasphemous. You need to navigate a sprawling metroidvania with tight platforming and fluid combat against all sorts of bizarre and brutal enemies in a beautifully macabre pixel art world steeped in and inspired by Catholic iconography and imagery. Story is drip-fed in small cutscenes and optional flavor text attached to basically every item in the game. While Souls-likes are often known for being inscrutable, Blasphemous 2 has a very player-friendly design with essentially no missables. (In terms of items, there is a secret final upgrade to your health and to your Fervour that are missable. For achievements, there is an achievement to defeat a boss (other than the first) without taking damage, which can technically be done at any time since the final boss is always available but which is much more feasible against the earlier, simpler bosses. There is also one side quest in the Mea Culpa DLC that involves a choice with an achievement for each, and acquiring both without redoing the entire game just requires duplicating your save beforehand.)

Mulling on it, I suppose there are some slight nuances to the vibes. Gore and horror felt a bit more pervasive in Blasphemous, but more severe when it showed up in Blasphemous 2. And you can make an argument that that makes more sense considering the background of the world in each game. Blasphemous had some incredibly creative boss ideas (like Melquíades and Expósito) while basically every boss in Blasphemous 2 is “big dude in armor.” (They all have unique, cool aesthetics and fun fights with interesting movesets, but still fall into that general category. Come to think of it, I think this was also a complaint of Dark Souls 2 compared to the first game.) On the other hand, I found the Blasphemous 2 boss fights a bit meatier; in the first game only two bosses took more than two tries, while I didn’t beat any boss in Blasphemous 2 (except the first) that quickly.

At the end of the day, Blasphemous 2 is more Blasphemous, and it’s really as simple as that.