Blasphemous

good

What made me spark interest in this game at first was the visuals. Not only was I blown away by how grand and beautiful the visuals, where pretty much anything being presented could be framed and appreciated as a piece of art alone, Blasphemous also delivers with amazing world building and satisfying gameplay. The visuals being presented through out are simply amazing and is easily my favorite part of the game. The pixelart might be the best I've ever seen with its rich details and fluid animations. It compliments the art direction beautifully where it blends gothic Catholicism and medieval imagery. I just wish I knew more about Christianity before going in to the game so I could better understand what the devs wanted to convey with the games imagery. Same also goes for the story since it too draws a lot from Catholicism. The story is being told very much like in Dark Souls, where there are a few NPCs that will give you some leads for the plot but the overarching story and lore is inside item descriptions. The story is good, very much so. I won't get more into it than that for the sake of spoilers. Gameplay consists of exploration and combat. Exploration is often rewarding and fun to do. You'll find different types of items and power ups as you discovery more of the world. The world is not linear at all and gives a lot of freedom as in where you choose to go. As with the case of metroidvanias you sometimes stumble upon something you can't interact with yet because you didn't find that one power up needed yet. I didn't have a major issue with this but I can see how someone else playing would find this frustrating, especially since some powerups are hard to find. Perhaps my biggest gripe with the game is that you only have 3 "power up" slots that are used for exploration only, but you can change them out whenever you want. So the 3 slots doesn't really serve any other reason than to being annoying when exploring. Combat is interesting and gives you a lot of options. You mainly have your default sword attack, different prayer abilities, a parry and a dash. All of these can be upgraded and enhanced in different ways the be better suited for your playstyle. Some inputs however can be a bit awkward at first but is easy to get used to. This also goes for both combat and exploration. [h1] Overall, Blasphemous is an amazing game and an easy recommend for me solely for the atmosphere and lore. [/h1]