Blasphemous

 Switch
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 208 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 153 out of 208
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 208
  3. Negative: 27 out of 208
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  1. Meeleepit
    Feb 6, 2020
    6
    Started off loving this game but ended up stop playing after 13 hours.

    The controls is the biggest issue,its sluggish. Movement is slow, i think there is a bug when you jump and turn around to face an enemy the character freezes for 1 second and then BAM!!! Enemy hits you. Its a hard game but not that hard,starts off fun then precedes to be repetitive . The upgrade system is the    Started off loving this game but ended up stop playing after 13 hours.

    The controls is the biggest issue,its sluggish. Movement is slow, i think there is a bug when you jump and turn around to face an enemy the character freezes for 1 second and then BAM!!! Enemy hits you.
    Its a hard game but not that hard,starts off fun then precedes to be repetitive .

    The upgrade system is the most useless i have seen in any game,the only upgrade worth using is lunging with your sword.

    Then the Miracles (Powers) does next to no damage and this takes about 2 seconds to power up.

    Pros- Game looks stunning,lore is weird and creepy.
    Cons- Horrid controls

    Buy this game only when on massive special    … Expand
  2. KrakenOfPepsi
    Jan 7, 2020
    7
    Blasphemous boasts an incredibly gorgeous and intricately detailed pixel art-style which gives the likes of Hyper Light Drifter and Owl Boy a serious run for their money. The setting is horribly violent and depressing, and it never lets up once in the time you’ll have with it. The story itself takes a great deal of inspiration from The Bible and the Holy Inquisition, but doesn’t exist toBlasphemous boasts an incredibly gorgeous and intricately detailed pixel art-style which gives the likes of Hyper Light Drifter and Owl Boy a serious run for their money. The setting is horribly violent and depressing, and it never lets up once in the time you’ll have with it. The story itself takes a great deal of inspiration from The Bible and the Holy Inquisition, but doesn’t exist to advocate or protest The Bible, but simply just take a great deal of inspiration from its themes and narrative. The narrative and lore actually ended up being my favorite part of Blasphemous, I loved how twisted and unrelenting its tale of suffering was, and how it intertwined with its different gameplay mechanics. Upon looking into the games story and world, so much of the games seemingly obscure requirements for beating the game and getting the true ending became far more apparent and made much more sense. The savage world and its enigmatic characters were all interesting and enjoyable, and I was always itching to find out more about while playing.

    Initially the game opens up, letting you tackle three bosses/areas in any order you’d like, but once you’ve completed all three bosses there’s one last big area to complete. But unfortunately that’s where Blasphemous’ important choices end. There are heaps of different abilities and pieces of equipment to try out, but I never found any of them to crucial to beating the game, or even really that fun to use and I have a few specific issues with them;

    - Rosary Bead and Mea Culpa Heart affects were usually pretty minute, and not all that helpful. Most of them had affects that were just not useful at or, or that were so minute in their affects that I didn’t even notice them. The only Rosary Beads that I ended up using consistently were the ones that gave you more HP, MP and defense, which are arguably the most boring.

    - I believe there are only seven Prayers (spells) in the game, and considering you can only have one equipped at once there is simply just not enough variety to make them fun to use. The abilities are fairly fun to use at first, but combined with the fact that you have a very finite MP bar, the abilities have fairly limited practical uses and only being able to have one equipped at once means you’re not only barely using them but you also get stuck with just one at a time – and you can’t even change them unless you’re at a checkpoint. They really should have let you equip multiple at once, or given them more versatile uses because I found that on their own they’re not all that helpful or fun to use, and that I was barely using them.

    - Relics unlock different abilities which are required for finding new areas or hidden objects. This is fine in theory, but two improvements could have been made. 1. You can only have 3 of these 5 relics equipped at once, meaning you have to interchange them instead of just being able to use them all at once. There's no reason to not be able to have all of these effects active at once, it just ends up making them less satisfying to find/use and are tedious to swap in and out. 2. These effects are underwhelming, they do things like make additional platforms appear and give resistances to uncommon hazards like poison smog and water

    The game struggles a little bit with its equipment and abilities, fortunately the games areas are so fun to explore on their own that it is ultimately still very fun to play anyways. Every area has distinct enemies, environments, beautiful music, obstacles and environments to experience, and each is as fun as the last. The games platforming really shines when it’s combined with combat encounters, trying to navigate treacherous traps and tight platforms all while dealing with enemies makes for some really distinct and intense combat encounters, because the game merges the two seamlessly with great success. The controls are tight and responsive, making platforming and combat feel tight and responsive. The great variety in enemies, bosses paired with the amazing animations make for an engaging combat system which is as fun to watch as it is play.

    Blasphemous is certainly worth your time, it’s art direction and story is without a doubt worth the price of admission alone. It controls perfectly, the level design is great, the combat is tight and responsive and all the areas are interesting and fun to explore. It however suffers from some very weak, boring, useless and restraining abilities and items. A lot of potential here, and I look forward to seeing what the developers do next.    … Expand
  3. Roland_Ninja
    Mar 6, 2023
    7
    The story is to religious, to pretencious and full of meanigless, hard to understand, enigmatic words in old english, however the design of the world and gory art style do the job.
  4. thryce3
    Jul 15, 2020
    7
    Great atmosphere and art style. The Castlevania inspiration is clear, but it doesn't feel like a clone. The combat is more involved with dodges and parries and such. It's a real highlight, but could use some tweaking.
    The lore is deep, but the story isn't that engrossing. There's a lot of dialogue to press through and it's a bit of a chore at times. And it doesn't do a great job of    Great atmosphere and art style. The Castlevania inspiration is clear, but it doesn't feel like a clone. The combat is more involved with dodges and parries and such. It's a real highlight, but could use some tweaking.
    The lore is deep, but the story isn't that engrossing. There's a lot of dialogue to press through and it's a bit of a chore at times. And it doesn't do a great job of making your goals clear.
    The character progression needs some work too. There are some good upgrades, but they should be paced so you're regularly improving. Anyone familiar with Metroidvanias will be immediately looking for the double jump. There are actually very few navigational upgrades and the locked behind obscure sidequests. Oh and the map sucks.
    With all that out of the way, it really is an enjoyable Metroidvania with a great aesthetic. I hope there;s a sequel and it grows from here.    … Expand
  5. ClarkKunt
    Nov 19, 2021
    6
    Absolutely horrendous controls. Game is fun and pretty, but these **** controls killed it for me.
  6. TomMonday
    Jan 11, 2022
    7
    Ending is a bit flat, but the journey until then is engrossing. Feels a lot like Castlevania made by Trent Reznor. A few glitches on Switch, but otherwise smooth gameplay. If you like these kinds of games, you’ll like this one.
  7. VIGIA
    Mar 1, 2020
    5
    Tiene aspectos interesantes, pero en lo más importante falla; el control es nefasto, el plataformeo es terrible, y el juego es difícil artificialmente, porque no se maneja bien, porque las magias y pociones tardar un eternidad en utilizarse (y en los combates contra jefes eso puede ser letal), las quest secundarias no son interesantes, y se basan en mecánicas tediosas... En fin, solo loTiene aspectos interesantes, pero en lo más importante falla; el control es nefasto, el plataformeo es terrible, y el juego es difícil artificialmente, porque no se maneja bien, porque las magias y pociones tardar un eternidad en utilizarse (y en los combates contra jefes eso puede ser letal), las quest secundarias no son interesantes, y se basan en mecánicas tediosas... En fin, solo lo recomiendo si se da una muy buena oferta… Expand
  8. bancandrei
    May 15, 2020
    5
    I am not a fan of metroidvanias, but I am a fan of the studio so I gave this one a try. The attack is a bit slower than I would like and the heaviness of the combat feels cartoony. Art style is good and unpleasant.
  9. Fluffito
    Feb 28, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Challenging title.

    Latest update (Strife & Ruin) added a good deal of content, but also added a tremendous number of bugs. Some minor, some disastrous.

    Doing my best to be vague to avoid spoilers, here...

    * Secret/hidden room in the library is bugged. Passage does not open when the “conditions” are fulfilled.
    * Mini sidequest in the library cannot be completed. Unable to talk to the one to be banished.
    * Various movement hiccups, some of which cause the player to fall through gaps in boss abilities and take damage. Instances did not happen pre-update. I’d have given the title an 8/10, but I’m taking off a couple points for the game-breaking bugs introduced with the update.    … Expand
  10. JAG7
    Sep 6, 2023
    7
    This game is great. I enjoyed many aspects of the exploration and adventure. The combat is awkward and cheap at times. It could be very punishing if you start at the “snow” level. The plataforming is not so good. I didn’t enjoyed it . You simply can’t jump accurately sometimes. The music and graphics are excellent. The art and backgrounds are beautiful. The story is interesting and dark.This game is great. I enjoyed many aspects of the exploration and adventure. The combat is awkward and cheap at times. It could be very punishing if you start at the “snow” level. The plataforming is not so good. I didn’t enjoyed it . You simply can’t jump accurately sometimes. The music and graphics are excellent. The art and backgrounds are beautiful. The story is interesting and dark. This was definitely a work of love with a couple of execution issues: plataforming, combat.
    Update: In the DLC is almost impossible to kill the bosses and you have to do NG+ and do a specific quest order to see the true ending even if you killed the DLC’s bosses. I’m not playing again just for that . That really was very disappointing    … Expand
  11. ophone
    Nov 29, 2021
    7
    This game's extremely catholic atmosphere of the 16th century with its references to inquisition, sins and suffering had me involved right from the start.
    Its pixelated graphics are marvellous (most notably some backgrounds, its handful of huge bosses and the execution animations) perfectly accompanied by its moody Spanish guitar tunes. I needed to get used to the controls, although after    This game's extremely catholic atmosphere of the 16th century with its references to inquisition, sins and suffering had me involved right from the start.
    Its pixelated graphics are marvellous (most notably some backgrounds, its handful of huge bosses and the execution animations) perfectly accompanied by its moody Spanish guitar tunes. I needed to get used to the controls, although after a while I controlled the Penitent One rather smoothly.

    But finally after roughly 30 hours, having discovered 90% of the map and done almost 80% of completion I send Blasphemous back to the shelf. At that stage the game gives hints how to proceed extremely sparingly, taking from me all the enjoyment it gave me initially.
    I really wanted to love that game but now it feels like a chore when I start it.    … Expand
  12. Zski
    Oct 3, 2021
    7
    Fantastic atmosphere, graphics, and sound. The dark Catholic-inspired imagery is very well executed. I like the world building and lore, it’s really vague and doesn’t go into great detail, but it hits that sweet spot where it’s really captivating despite being very nebulous. The controls are solid, you’ll study the enemies patterns to master the combat, the boss fights are cool, everythingFantastic atmosphere, graphics, and sound. The dark Catholic-inspired imagery is very well executed. I like the world building and lore, it’s really vague and doesn’t go into great detail, but it hits that sweet spot where it’s really captivating despite being very nebulous. The controls are solid, you’ll study the enemies patterns to master the combat, the boss fights are cool, everything is great. Also, a lot of the game mechanics are very poorly explained - throughout most of the game I still didn’t know what several items and moves did. There were also several moments of frustration where the game didn’t explain what to do next, and wandering around aimlessly doesn’t make this game fun,, so I spent a lot of time looking at my phone figuring out what to do next. This gets better after the first half of the game, when everything makes a bit more sense. Overall, the gameplay itself is good - it doesn’t really do anything new, but it really shines the most in the atmosphere and the lore which is passively provided to you throughout the game. They actually did a solid job with post-game content as well, so there is plenty more to do after you complete the game. Typically I stop playing after I complete a game, but I put a bit more time into the new game plus mode.. I think a sequel will really make this formula shine and really reach its potential.… Expand
  13. Applejackson75
    Nov 8, 2021
    5
    I'm only a couple minutes into the game but already I can see I won't be able to play it here on Switch because they didn't include in-game button mapping. Yes, I know you can remap system wide. That's the problem. I always have a & b swapped system-wide so that 'accept' and 'cancel' are where they're supposed to be, but now jump is A and attack is across the way at Y. That's gonna be aI'm only a couple minutes into the game but already I can see I won't be able to play it here on Switch because they didn't include in-game button mapping. Yes, I know you can remap system wide. That's the problem. I always have a & b swapped system-wide so that 'accept' and 'cancel' are where they're supposed to be, but now jump is A and attack is across the way at Y. That's gonna be a problem, I can tell. At least this is available elsewhere, unlike Metroid Dread. I realize I can swap every time I play the game, but I can also just play something else that doesn't require me to do that. Why every game doesn't have mappable buttons by now is beyond my understanding.… Expand
  14. Ginger_Avenger
    Feb 15, 2022
    7
    I'm a fan of the genre, so this game was enjoyable. Well, enjoyable when I wasn't cursing up a storm at some of the challenges. Like similar fare in 2d or 3d, you just to have to learn to love dying a lot. I never felt the game was unfair, just quite tough for an old softy gamer like me. While the combat was good once I got used to it, I found the controls (I've only played this SwitchI'm a fan of the genre, so this game was enjoyable. Well, enjoyable when I wasn't cursing up a storm at some of the challenges. Like similar fare in 2d or 3d, you just to have to learn to love dying a lot. I never felt the game was unfair, just quite tough for an old softy gamer like me. While the combat was good once I got used to it, I found the controls (I've only played this Switch version) to be a bit janky at times (example - I guess I have a hard time getting analog sticks to go true north or south? this made me turn instead of face an enemy or not execute an upward slash) . Such gameplay issues are balanced by a very interesting and, to be honest, kind of creepy, world of religious imagery and beliefs. A long enough game to satisfy the exploration bug without too much tedium or padding. I don't go nuts in Metroidvanias generally, but I tried to get most of the items in this one and only a few times did I feel the reward wasn't worth the effort. That stated, once I finished, I felt like I was good with just completing the base game and not trying the DLC.… Expand
  15. TronicG
    Aug 7, 2022
    6
    Setting and aesthetics are amazing. Great lore. Combat is decent. Punishing difficulty, seems unfair at times. Cryptic side quests, no clear direction in story. No way of keeping track of quests nor story. Stupid amount of backtracking. Most of the time I found myself wondering around with no clear direction or goal. It could have been a great game if it wasn’t for it’s game design. A bigSetting and aesthetics are amazing. Great lore. Combat is decent. Punishing difficulty, seems unfair at times. Cryptic side quests, no clear direction in story. No way of keeping track of quests nor story. Stupid amount of backtracking. Most of the time I found myself wondering around with no clear direction or goal. It could have been a great game if it wasn’t for it’s game design. A big shame.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Apr 1, 2020
    97
    Blasphemous is a gothic horror masterpiece that can't be missed.
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  2. FNintendo
    Mar 26, 2020
    90
    Blasphemous is a marvelous work of the Metroidvania genre with an art style based on pixel art and which features exquisite combat mechanics and an eye-filling visual environment marked by gloom and desolation. This is without a doubt one of the richest and most defying Metroidvania adventures to reach the market in recent years and a fundamental game for everyone who enjoys a good gaming experience of this kind.
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  3. IGN Japan
    Jan 28, 2020
    78
    Blasphemous is a high-difficulty metroidvania-like side-scroller. Its gory violence is not for everyone, but together with its grim yet beautiful background scenery, it delivers a well-crafted ominous world. Just like a splatter movie, this is the kind of game you might want to dive into if you’re looking for serious thrills.
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