Blasphemous II is a very good Metroidvania, but not quite as enjoyable as the first game. You have more movement options and the controls are better and feel smoother, but they drastically reduced the difficulty of the platforming for some reason. They removed insta-deaths from platforming which is a great change! With this adjustment, I feel like they could have kept the platforming challenge of the first game with a lot less complaints about it. Alas, they removed the annoying punishment as well as the fun challenge. The platforming can be accurately described as trivial now, and that is disappointing to me.
The combat is still great, but maybe one step below the first game. In Blasphemous 1 the deliberate pace of the player character is matched up perfectly with the enemies you fight. In Blasphemous 2 the encounter design is not as cohesive. The different weapons are a fun addition, and being able to hotswap between them is excellent. However, I think the devs accounting for the different playstyles of each weapon is the reason the encounter design is a bit messier. Also, I don’t like any of the weapons as much as the sword from the first game.
The bosses are all fun except for Radames, who I think is kind of boring. I think that overall, the bosses in 2 are significantly easier than in 1. The penultimate boss is a massive difficulty spike, but it is fun to master his moveset. He is probably not any harder than Isidora from the first game, but is much more of an outlier in difficulty in 2, so he almost feels harder. The final boss however, is probably the easiest in the game, not including the first boss you fight 5 minutes after starting. It is disappointing and anticlimactic.
The Hollow Knight-esque rosary system returns, but you can only use half as many. To compensate, there is a whole new system in which you place figurines (small wooden statues) into your personal altar which provide a multitude of effects and can also synergize with each other in a bunch of different ways. It is a very cool system and a lot of fun to experiment with.
The map is fun to explore with fairly generous fast travel locations and absolutely zero runbacks on bosses, which is always preferable. They also do a good job rewarding curious players with upgrades and accessories. However, I do not like the new guilt accumulation system, as it results in the player having to back track to the main hub area to remove their guilt. It is not even close to a big deal since the game is not remotely hard, but it still adds a bit of unnecessary tedium to the game.
In its presentation Blasphemous II is obviously a bit of a retread of the first game, but is still excellent. It has some of the best Pixel art of all time with fantastic animations. The story is a bit cryptic, without being annoyingly confusing or incomprehensible. I love all the references to Spanish culture and the commentary on Catholicism and the Spanish Inquisition. It is also not preachy at all, and you probably need some prior knowledge to understand what they’re getting at. The music is in the same style of the first game but even better. In fact, I think it has one of the best scores in gaming history. I absolutely love all of the classical Spanish guitar bits laced throughout the soundtrack.
Overall I think Blasphemous II is super fun and would give it an 8/10. The vast majority of players who enjoyed the first game, will enjoy this too. I think it is a slight step down from the first game, but if you liked the vibe and presentation of the first game, but thought it was too difficult, then give this one a try as it is far more accessible.
