CategoriesGaming Review

If you’re the sort of gamer that might crack a dark-humored smirk while observing NPCs engage in self-flagellation, then boy, I’ve got a game recommendation for you. Blasphemous is a 2D non-linear platformer, essentially a metroidvania that lets the world you explore tell its own story without being entirely clear what is going on. The game started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 and released this past September. Blasphemous’s developers The Game Kitchen describe it as a game inspired by Spanish folklore and it really shows. This is a game that unmistakably draws ideas and iconography from Catholicism and does something nightmarishly special with them. There is a lot of gore, religious tinged horror, and not-so-subtle tongue-in-cheek commentary about the oppression and seemingly-odd rituals of religion swirling in this game. While there are some odd design elements in regards to platforming, ultimately this is a singular and committed vision and makes a good argument for the idea that games can be art.

I recently completed Blasphemous on Nintendo Switch and felt it would be a good starting place for my first game review due to the unique atmosphere the game creates. Without being an expert on religion I could tell that The Game Kitchen is heavily referencing Catholic imagery here, and there is a very Spanish flare brought to the kitchen table (get it?). I have to give a disclaimer that I’m not a practicing Catholic, but I did have a somewhat Christian upbringing. This is only important to mention because although I feel that Blasphemous can be enjoyed without having a background in Catholicism, I feel much of the wonder on display here would be lost without that previous knowledge. I personally have a sort of complicated view on religion but ultimately, I’m fascinated by the rituals that different cultures partake in and value them. I think Blasphemous is an important game because I haven’t had the opportunity to play many games with religious commentary this sharp that still seem reverent to their source material.

With Blasphemous, Spain based game developer The Game Kitchen have crafted something that will be familiar in tone to Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Hollow Knight, and many other gothic horror styled adventure games. Although I dislike using terms like “Souls-like” or “Metroidvania” they quickly communicate the similarity this game has to other popular titles in terms of tone and game design. The Game Kitchen previously developed an episodic point-and-click psychological horror game titled The Last Door which initially released in 2013. While I haven’t played The Last Door, I have checked out some videos, and it looks like a spooky sort of slow burn affair for fans of cosmic horror. Blasphemous is far more straightforward in its themes and vision than The Last Door: this is a game about guilt and pain right from the beginning. This game is so singularly focused on communicating the guilt and pain of the world around the protagonist that you might wonder “why the hell would I want to play something like that?”. The answer is that this game is very creative in its imagery, boasts a pretty phenomenal soundtrack, and it just might amuse you by the commitment it demonstrates toward depicting religion induced pain. This game became comical in its darkness to the point where I was excited to see what unique horrors awaited me next. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Oh, that’s looking pretty spooky

The game is a 2D action platformer that has you traverse a map broken into separate areas and rooms to explore, essentially in the vein of a Metroidvania. The game progression involves navigating areas with the goal of performing various rituals that progress your protagonist’s “pilgrimage”. While advancing through the map toward objectives you’ll find a ton of religious and macabre inspired powerups and trinkets. Just to give an idea of what you’re in store for, there is an entire modular enhancement system based on the concept of rosary beads and you’ll be adding new bead to your rosary from an ever-expanding repertoire of religious goodies. As previously mentioned, I’m not Catholic but I knew a lot of what was being referenced and was excited to see religious elements baked into every aspect of the game’s design (note: that was another The Game Kitchen joke). This sort of intentional design is excellent its creativity and I would love to see culture similarly embedded into game design in future titles. There are a variety of other cool systems to interact with and for the most part I felt they were valuable and enhanced the gameplay experience in meaningful ways.

While traversing the landscape of Blasphemous you will encounter many nightmarish enemies that require punishment from the protagonist. Combat has a cool parrying system that I liked a lot and I really was satisfied by timing the parrying of enemy attacks. This gameplay element felt so good that I wished it was useful for all enemy types I encountered. There is also a gory “fatality” style finisher move you can use that is unique for each enemy type. Blasphemous requires you to be considerate of combat encounters and wants you to take them seriously. It was rare situation when I could just run up and chop an enemy to pieces without some ramification for my overexuberance.

One area the game can feel unforgiving with is when the player has to manage hazardous platforming sequences. There was a bit too many instances where I was knocked into spikes or death pits due to what felt were frustrating platforming designs that just didn’t feel enjoyable. I am a relatively seasoned platformer at this point, but this became an issue when dying meant you had to travel a long way back to progress. Overall, this issue was manageable and I was still impressed by the platforming design. On the performance side, the Nintendo Switch version of the game performed relatively well and I had minimal slowdown or lag, so travelling the landscape was a relatively enjoyable affair when I wasn’t accidentally missing a critical jump. Very rarely a glitch might occur and one time I had to reset the game to proceed, but I didn’t experience anything too game breaking or annoying during my playthrough.

Speaking of dying, this game’s death mechanic involves leaving guilt behind when you die. This guilt impedes your ability to stockpile a resource called fervor, this game’s equivalent to magic used for special attacks. I felt it was a relatively cool approach to making death meaningful. Souls-like games usually feature unique learning loop that abscond the concept of “lives” in favor of a different motivator for learning how to avoid death. In this way, Blasphemous is similar to games like Dark Souls and Hollow Knight in the sense that you can recover what you lost if you are ambitious. The difference in Blasphemous is that the guilt you leave behind continues to impede your ability to stockpile fervor until you recollect it. I am not quite sure this worked as well as the previous mentioned games, mostly because it feels like the player can’t cut their losses without continuing to pay for the building guilt in the world. The ability for a player to make this choice is something that is superficial here, your guilt must be collected to fully function again. Still, I did like the unique spin on this gameplay mechanic and there are ways the game balances the influence of guilt.

Death is handled uniquely in Blasphemous, as demonstrated by this wave of dead people

After completing Blasphemous I was confident there was a robust narrative at play. Our hero is called the Penitent One, a silent and seemingly male figure adorned in a giant metal capirote (read: pointy-ass hood). The Penitent One wakes up in a world filled with horrors that have been seemingly manifested by a reality distorting event called The Grievous Miracle. There are a lot of guilty sinners in this land called Cvstodia and it seems like the Penitent One is going to help them atone by force. To assist him he wields his trusty sword Mia Culpa which plays an important part in the story (note: Mia Culpa roughly translates to “my fault”). I could tell there was a deeper narrative taking place throughout the game but even after reading all the lore and engaging all the NPCs I had a difficult time figuring it all out. I pride myself on my ability to connect the dots in this vague narrative space but I’ll still need to scour the message boards to figure out what the hell was going on. If you like your narratives mysterious and focused on world building then Blasphemous is for you.

One of the real standout elements of this game is the pixel art. Blasphemous has some of the best 2D pixel art I can recall. The only other game that has pixel art this beautiful and detailed would be 2016’s Owlboy by D-Pad Studio, which I solidly recommend for non-guilt related reasons. Animations are intricate and fluid, and some of the horrors that have been rendered here really give this world a feeling of being alive. When the game’s art is ugly it feels very intentional and trust me, there are some real ugly horrors manifested in pixel form. The vision that has been graphically distilled into Blasphemous seems complete and you can tell that this game looks a certain way to evoke certain feelings from the player.

It’s a good looking game

I could not finish this review without talking about the excellent soundtrack on display in Blasphemous. The Game Kitchen has enlisted the help of Carlos Viola to create hauntingly beautiful melodies that utilize Spanish guitar arrangements. Sometimes while wandering through an underground cathedral it starts playing guitar and I felt like the music was recorded in a building that could produce similarly powerful acoustic effects. The game sounds great and it was a highlight of the experience.

The Verdict

Blasphemous was a unique experience for me for its Spanish styled art, music, and depiction of religious folklore. While the game twists its themes enough to disconnect it from Catholicism, the artistic direction is clearly influenced by religious iconography. The singular vision of this game is what makes it recommendable to others that like games with something unique to say. While I previously mentioned that I have a complicated relationship with religion, I feel the developers might have one as well. Although unique gameplay and a straightforward story might not be what Blasphemous has going for it, there is much to be loved here in terms of unique application of folklore to game design, pixel art, and a pretty awesome soundtrack.

Blasphemous was released on September 10th 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Links: Blasphemous Website, Developer Website, Kickstarter Website

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