Music Banter - View Single Post

Key · 10-31-2022, 11:38 AM

Blasphemous
Developed by: The Game Kitchen
Published by: Team17

Blasphemous is great. Lemme get that right out of the way. For someone like me who absolutely loves the likes of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Blasphemous is a nice call back to those days where developers weren't afraid to add real difficulty into a game and often times do things that would be considered cheap tactics etc. But, that's always what I've loved about platformers of this caliber is that it's not always your fault for the death you just endured. Sometimes the game just feels like punishing you.

I'd also like to point out that up until recently, I had only played this game once before, and very little of it. And by very little I mean I beat the first boss and never felt the urge to continue. That was back on the PS4. I found out a few days ago that this was very dirt cheap on the Xbox store, so I decided to pick it up. And with only a few hours under my belt, I had successfully beaten the first boss as well as getting further than I had ever gotten before. And I finally got to see the game open up more than what it showed in the first hour or so. The game is excellent in terms of its progression and throwbacks to games of old where filling in the map is part of the experience. I've seen many different tactics that the developers will throw at you that feel like cheap deaths, and sometimes they are. But you learn to progress and overcome those moments, and nothing feels better than taking on enemies over and over only to finally have that one moment where you take on more than you expected to get to new areas on the map. I felt the feeling of satisfaction each time I got into a new area. It's exactly how it felt back in the Castlevania days when you finally get that upgrade you need in order to fill in the map more. It's little things like that that make these games worth going back to over and over again. Finding secrets, defeating tough bosses, it's all there.

As far as style points go, Blasphemous absolutely nails the old school metroidvania / castlevania feel from the way you move around with platforming all the way to how it feels to attack your enemies. It all feels good, and still fresh despite this style of game being around for a long time.

I'm sure hearing that this game is on the difficult side will turn people away from it, but that's one of its biggest strengths imo. It's nice to have a challenging platformer because it makes traversing the world that much more satisfying when you get past a room or a selection of rooms that seem impossible at first. Parrying comes in hands many times and once you figure out how to parry everything, you'll want to do it for every monster you come into contact with. It allows you to perform a sort of final blow if you attack them enough times which can either involve you crushing them under their own shield or whatever. It's satisfying each time, and sometimes you may not parry at the right time. But you learn to overcome it.

If you love metroidvanias and are looking for one on the more difficult side, pick this up. I'm about 20% of the way through and am having an absolute blast.

10-31-2022, 11:38 AM	#200 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Blasphemous Developed by: The Game Kitchen Published by: Team17 Blasphemous is great. Lemme get that right out of the way. For someone like me who absolutely loves the likes of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Blasphemous is a nice call back to those days where developers weren't afraid to add real difficulty into a game and often times do things that would be considered cheap tactics etc. But, that's always what I've loved about platformers of this caliber is that it's not always your fault for the death you just endured. Sometimes the game just feels like punishing you. I'd also like to point out that up until recently, I had only played this game once before, and very little of it. And by very little I mean I beat the first boss and never felt the urge to continue. That was back on the PS4. I found out a few days ago that this was very dirt cheap on the Xbox store, so I decided to pick it up. And with only a few hours under my belt, I had successfully beaten the first boss as well as getting further than I had ever gotten before. And I finally got to see the game open up more than what it showed in the first hour or so. The game is excellent in terms of its progression and throwbacks to games of old where filling in the map is part of the experience. I've seen many different tactics that the developers will throw at you that feel like cheap deaths, and sometimes they are. But you learn to progress and overcome those moments, and nothing feels better than taking on enemies over and over only to finally have that one moment where you take on more than you expected to get to new areas on the map. I felt the feeling of satisfaction each time I got into a new area. It's exactly how it felt back in the Castlevania days when you finally get that upgrade you need in order to fill in the map more. It's little things like that that make these games worth going back to over and over again. Finding secrets, defeating tough bosses, it's all there. As far as style points go, Blasphemous absolutely nails the old school metroidvania / castlevania feel from the way you move around with platforming all the way to how it feels to attack your enemies. It all feels good, and still fresh despite this style of game being around for a long time. I'm sure hearing that this game is on the difficult side will turn people away from it, but that's one of its biggest strengths imo. It's nice to have a challenging platformer because it makes traversing the world that much more satisfying when you get past a room or a selection of rooms that seem impossible at first. Parrying comes in hands many times and once you figure out how to parry everything, you'll want to do it for every monster you come into contact with. It allows you to perform a sort of final blow if you attack them enough times which can either involve you crushing them under their own shield or whatever. It's satisfying each time, and sometimes you may not parry at the right time. But you learn to overcome it. If you love metroidvanias and are looking for one on the more difficult side, pick this up. I'm about 20% of the way through and am having an absolute blast. Last edited by Key; 10-31-2022 at 08:18 PM.