KickStarter Blasphemous - gorgeous looking religious horror metroidvania

[BlackGoat]

Digging this for the most part so far, tho there's a sameyness to all of the areas. A lot of the same sort of platforming challenges everywhere, reskinned enemies, etc. Digging the aesthetic of course, but my eyes have started to glaze over reading the lore dumps attached to the collectibles. Also, what's up with the lack of continuity between screens? Climbing or dropping down into a new room, you always end up already standing on the first available platform rather than dropping in or standing on a ladder. Feels bad man

It's also seriously annoying how often I accidentally end up hanging on the edge of a platform when I'm trying to drop down, or attaching to a climbable wall when I'm trying to jump and attack an enemy near it

 

[BlackGoat]

I swear, if i enter one more room where I have to fight off floating dipshits while simultaneously hacking away at the wall-blocking statues

 

[Ivan]

Someone's enjoying their sewer

 

[Cromwell]

I swear, if i enter one more room where I have to fight off floating dipshits while simultaneously hacking away at the wall-blocking statues

if youre in the frozen peak thats imho the worst section and was really rage inducing for me. Of course not the last section with floating enemies and or wallstatues. The Game also showed me what a whore I am for good themes. Hollow Knight may be the better game but why would I play some cartoony cutesy faggot bug when I can have religious abominations to hack through.

 

[Grauken]

I swear, if i enter one more room where I have to fight off floating dipshits while simultaneously hacking away at the wall-blocking statues

if youre in the frozen peak thats imho the worst section and was really rage inducing for me. Of course not the last section with floating enemies and or wallstatues. The Game also showed me what a whore I am for good themes. Hollow Knight may be the better game but why would I play some cartoony cutesy faggot bug when I can have religious abominations to hack through.

IMHO Hollow Knight was pretty strong on that front as well, not religious themes obviously, but its own theme of an insect kingdom with different kind of insects and their areas

 

[Great Deceiver]

Hollow Knight had very strong art direction as well and is simply a much better game.

However, I like Blasphemous. Especially the death animations - I'm sure the devs must have been inspired by Immortal.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

The artstyle of this game is so cloying to me. I guess it has to do with me being a andalusian spaniard who knows the references, having family who are cofrades and stuff. But man... this is like comerse una caja de polvorones en pleno verano. I’ll pass for now.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

So I typically overlook these games because they tend to be the same sort of thing, but I confess... I am a sucker for religious horror and dark/moody atmospheres. Look, I used to listen to a lot of black metal back in the day. This shit is like nostalgia of the soul for me.

I bought it.

 

[Grauken]

How do you like the gameplay so far?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I'll tell you when these faggots I call friends stop harping on me to play WoW Classic. I just downloaded it a few hours ago.

 

[Cromwell]

One thing that baffles me is who would think that long combos are a good addition to this game. You cant start them before an enemy reaches you (to have him get hit by the finishers) because they only activate if the first one is a hit, but against most enemies you cant use them because tehy will hit you before you can finish it and that ends the combo (or you block/evade which also ends it). So you have these combos but mostly only use two or three attacks.

play WoW Classic

started blasphemous because I needed a break from the endless grind that is classic. Get me 5 hearts, kill 200 hundred of them.

 

[Grauken]

For me the game is one the same level as Chasm, nice looking, solid controls, lots of neat details, but not as good as the really good metroidvania

 

[lightbane]

Good to see that after The Last Door, they attempted to make a game with actual graphics and succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

 

[BlackGoat]

The parry windows are insanely generous in this game

Game definitely needs some tweaking. It's funny, in this Esdras fight, after he does his big lightning attack and marches over to me to slam me with his hammer thing, he routinely walks just far enough that if I so much as micro adjust forward he completely whiffs his attack and ends up behind me

 

[Grauken]

yeah, its funny how a 2d soulslike is too easy

 

[BlackGoat]

Also funny how sometimes enemies of the same type will sync up completely and occupy the exact same space, attacking at the exact same time, and dying together, all seemingly as one animated sprite

 

[Machocruz]

A side scroller with no stage music? Riding that DS jock a little too hard.

 

[BlackGoat]

Digging this track right now. Cued up.

 

[Great Deceiver]

The game's soundtrack style reminded me of Diablo, I like it a lot.

Regarding the Souls comparison - combat is for the most part really easy (and very simple). I think as someone else said already, that the game has more in common with older Castlevanias (despite the open nature of the map) in that platforming is a lot more prevalent.

It's a good change of pace compared to other games in this very crowded field right now. But I don't think it holds a candle to the best examples (Hollow Knight, Ori). The art, aesthetic, music and execution really do carry it an extra step. Kudos to the team.

 

[Machocruz]

So it does have tracks, just not pervasive. Good shit too. Speaking of Diablo, I am also reminded of Divine Divinity.

Since we're comparing recent side scrollers that may or may not be going for the same things, then Volgarr's merciless, precise design is top of the heap imo. Every inch of the game is calculated to be something to contend with. In other words: meaningful. I can't think of anything I would consider a "trash mob" in that game or being there just to fill space. Blasphemous doesn't look to have that level of cold, hard discipline. It would have gone well with the theme.

 

[Grauken]

Since we're comparing recent side scrollers that may or may not be going for the same things, then Volgarr's merciless, precise design is top of the heap imo. Every inch of the game is calculated to be something to contend with. In other words: meaningful. I can't think of anything I would consider a "trash mob" in that game or being there just to fill space. Blasphemous doesn't look to have that level of cold, hard discipline. It would have gone well with the theme.

Not really, metroidvania are among the most forgiving platformers out there, and even the 2d soulslike are much more forgiving in terms of platforming and even combat than something as hellishly demanding of precision as Volgarr. It's not the kind of game people pledged for on Kickstarter and it would have gotten a sound beating on reviews if it had done so

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Played a couple hours of it today.

Really liking it, it definitely grabbed me from the first cutscene. Games like Hollow Knight or Dead Cells couldn't do that because the visuals and mood of it didn't mesh with me so I can't compare them but Blasphemous is pretty damn interesting to look at and play. The heavy focus on penance and how many NPCs and enemies are forced to face their own sins lends itself well. In a genre that has really become quite bloated it does help quite a lot that Blasphemous stands out in that crowd.

The one thing that does irk me is how so many of these games are tethered to Daddy Dark Souls. You have your flasks, you have your bonfires, you have the lone and mute wanderer facing a brutal and harsh world, you have lore via item descriptions and even "You Died" or "You Vanquished ___" screens. It's a bit of a shame in the case of Blasphemous because I think the presentation is very engaging and strong enough to stand on its own without having to resort to Dark Souls fluff. Obviously I'll keep playing it because I really enjoy what I'm experiencing but it does disappoint me that such a strong premise with such a great visual atmosphere feels inclined to piggyback. I think this game could have stood on its own and maybe have shown other indie developers out there you don't need to reduce your work to being a wannabe.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Whoah! What a weird approach to andalusian catholic motives! Many are general catholic ones, but the details are clearly inspired by Seville religiosity.

The iconography is bit too excessive for any person that know minimally Seville Semana Santa to the point that general focus seems more on make a (blasphemous) parody of those religious traditions than made a fun hack&slash with Seville religious traditions as mere inspiration for the fantasy world. There is an overabundance of references and actual existing motives: religious clothes including the capirotes, those huge baroque relicarios, those little ones with blood? on the UI, the women crying faces carved on rocks are inspired by the different crying virgin Mary images that people worship fervorously as if they were different entities, the baroque architecture motives, I think I identified one of the most iconical Marian invocations in a "reneration altar"?, the weird giant head monster with half face full of wax (from wax candles), the religious parades inspired music, etc.


To be honest andalusian Semana Santa is impressive but kinda creepy for foreigners (specially kwanzanians):

Some random Malaga guy on the left

Those game altars (mana or vitality regeneration?) are inspired by this:

and this

This custodia-relicario is the inspiration for the "hat" that appears on some monsters head:

I'm going to buy right now on GOG this marvelous weirdness for my rarities collection.

It adds up. I think the devs are from Spain.

 

[Machocruz]

Not really, metroidvania are among the most forgiving platformers out there, and even the 2d soulslike are much more forgiving in terms of platforming and even combat than something as hellishly demanding of precision as Volgarr. It's not the kind of game people pledged for on Kickstarter and it would have gotten a sound beating on reviews if it had done so

Yet I see contradicting statements on whether this game is metroidvania or not. Or it may be like Classicvania. If it is metroidvania, it's being compared unfavorably to Hollow Knight, and it also doesn't look as good, to me, as the best Igavanias. If it's like Classicvania, for which I'm using Volgarr as a modern proxy, I'm comparing the game unfavorably also (from a spectator position, to be fair). Apparently it doesn't deliver on the harsh and precise part, but it would have fit the game world presented. From this position, all that stuff about metroidvanias being (typically) looser, which I agree with, doesn't factor since it's not one according to some people. As far as the pledgers, yes, but I'm just talking about play matching theme.

 

[Grauken]

It's definitely an one-world explore-it game like most metroidvanias, not a level-after-level like a classical platformer

The thing is that metroidvanias are a subset of exploration-driven 2d games, not the whole genre, hence the confusion. Salt & Sanctuary is not a metroidvania, neither is Rogue Legacy, but both sport a large world to explore, not consecutive levels