Blasphemous

A word of caution: make sure you unplug all other USB controllers with this game as otherwise the controls do not work. After having to contact a smug passive agressive GOG support guy I finally got to play the game and its great, if you can live with its rough edges. First off, graphics- faultless. Exquiste pixel graphics with astounding detail and very imaginative. Animation is fluid, with lots to take in. Sound and music- again, amazing. Moody tracks, meaty SFX are spot on. Presentation- the cut scenes are quite frankly, mental and fantastic. The backstory is deep and great to read. Controls- *almost* perfect. I can't quite put my finger on it, but its 90% right with 10% feeling a bit *off*. Certain moves seem to work randomly at times but that could be me getting used to the game. Ladders seem to be unforgiving- a bit like the stairs in Castlevania so perhaps its authentic :D Difficulty- this game punches you in the face three screens in, and frankly keeps on punching you. If you think hard is too soft then you have come to the right place. Now- those rough edges... In 2019 I should not have to be unplugging other input devices because one game gets confused. This game is the *only* game I own that flat out stops working if anything else is plugged in. Small niggles like the mouse cursor staying on screen that you have to move out of the way. Loading times seem to be quite long sometimes. Not a dealbreaker, just breaks the flow of the game. Black screens- at least once the game has tried to load and I get....nothing. The UI is not quite as well designed as the graphics. Certain things are in odd places, and the text (sometimes) is a bit hard to read. I can't give half stars, so I gave it 4 above because the devs have worked hard to produce a satisfyingly insane game. If I could though, I'd give the game 3.5 so far. It needs a patch or two to sort out the odd problems but once thats done the game will be even better.

The Stir of Dawn DLC is already here since September 1th. So it´s up to date now and there is no need to ruin the games rating with meaningless one-star-ratings. The game itself is great. I´m on my fourth playthrough now, which is saying something considering how easily I get bored with most games, and I plan a fifth playthrough to see all the content. Some additional info: The game is one of the shorter and easier Metroidvanias. The first playthrough took me about 23 hours including secret hunting and uncovering the whole map. The bosses aren´t that hard, with one or two exceptions on hard mode. You´ll need five to six tries max to kill the endboss. For comparison, some of the bosses in Hollow Knight made me cry and flail like an infant after killing me in three seconds ten times in a row.

People are right to praise this game for it's art and atmosphere, they're great. But stacked up against other recent metroidvanias this game does not justify itself in pushing the genre forward in any meaningful way gameplay wise. The combat is solid enough but there are elements of the game that drag it down over time. 1. Some of your traversal abilities are things unlocked through sometimes obscure sidequests, the game does not guide you towards them so you can explore outwards when you finally gain more mobility. 2. Boring and time consuming method to acquire the good ending. 3. Lack of quality of life, bosses have intros you can't skip upon retries, instant death spike pits are not lenient enough with your jumps, no map pins, traversal items you have limited slots in so you have to change out from the equip screen which adds absolutely nothing to the game. 4. No double jump. Perhaps a seemingly small criticism, but it is more important if you notice that your character at the start of the game is not that meaningfully different from your character at the end of the game in terms of movement options and map control. You get new ways to kill enemies, more health, more mana, more damage, and more passives active but you never feel the power and joy of having a new way to move around and handle encounters (except in how you kill them). People are being far too lenient with this game, the devs can do better than this. It's not a bad game but it certaintly isn't a 4 or 5/5 but it needed more time in the oven to iron out it's core gameplay so that when people talk about this game they won't have to suffix every discussion about this game: "oh that game had great art and spritework buuut the gameplay wasn't that great."

I had but one hit point left. "Put an end to it lest I derive too much joy from this agony!" I cried at the unspeakable one. With rapturous fury is came down upon me but alas my horrid blade was too fast. I left it's dive corps there, the ecstasy of my agony still afflicting me. But honestly, this is everything I was looking for in a skill based action adventure game. The combat is responsive and has a great rhythm of dodges, parrys and special moves all enhanced with unshockable skills. The atmosphere of the world is grotesque and beautiful, with animations and attention to detail that elevate it well past being just a pixel based retro game.