I played the first Blasphemous a good dozen times from start to end, and each of the DLCs included. It’s a souls-like metroidvania, though more the former than the latter. The game focused a lot on hard combat and obscure lore, while the exploration portion came up a distant third. It was all but impossible to hit the “true” ending without some sort of guide, or blind luck, as you needed to take a specific step at the midpoint to unlock it.

Blasphemous 2 takes every barb thrown it’s way and pivots to something different.

First the setting. You’re in Cvstodia, a land that’s run by a religion that worships The Miracle, an event/host/god that both demands worship and randomly punishes its adherents. It’s a world of gruesome and constant suffering, where everything is attributed to the will of The Miracle. If the worst nightmares of the Spanish Inquisition + Old Testament + Void of 40k all merged into one. It’s an absolutely fascinating setting. More please!

Combat now has 3 weapons that focus on damage, speed, and balance. They each come with a unique method of exploring (the core of the Metroidvania aspect), and their own skill tree. The ball & chain is slow and powerful, the largest range, with some unlocks that triple the damage output. It cannot block, but you can cancel out of attacks. The sword & dagger hits quickly, but you need to be in their armpits to get there. It can potentially deal crazy damage, and block attacks. Multiple enemies make it very hard to use, and the range is an issue with bosses. The balanced sword offers a nice middle ground of decent damage and the ability to block. However, its “special mode” prevents blocking (which makes me think this will be patched) , and provides only marginal damage improvements. It’s a tremendous defensive weapon.

Enemy variety is better than the first game, though the latter portion of this game has quite a few reskins. You’ll be attacked from multiple angles, with delays, making some battles incredibly hectic. At multiple points you’ll be locked in a room, forced to attack waves of enemies. This is arguably the most fun part of the game, depending on what tool you have in the belt. At no point did I ever feel that victory was out of my grasp.

Bosses are a mixed bag. The highs are in the art department and move variety, though most of them are much too “human like” and lack the vertical or size of a true boss fight. Many of them can feel cheesy (the dual fight in particular), until you get very accustomed to the dodge / i-frame mechanic. The difficulty is un-even, with some acting as walls, others I took out on first try with barely a scratch. The penultimate boss packs a hell of a punch.

Movement is smoother all across the board, with multiple traversal options unlocked throughout. The first game felt a bit like molasses, but here there’s a good flow around the fights, and most of the time with multiple enemies to deal with. This part is important, as the map is much less linear than expected, and has a metric ton of backtracking when you unlock more abilities. You’ll unlock shortcuts after difficult stretches, and eventually unlock the ability to fast travel. Map markers become your best friends. Exploration feels much less random here that the first.

Customization is simplified, and this is a good thing. You still have a rosary with beads you can swap for passive bonuses (e.g. more resistance, more money, etc..). Spell variety is “less” though unlocked earlier, meaning you’ll actually use them here on a consistent basis. Fervour Statues are a new piece, with slightly more powerful bonuses than beads, but come with a pairing feature for resonance. Pairing a statue that increases damage for the ball + chain, and one that does fire damage, gives you major fire attacks as a result. I will state plainly that it’s dumb that you need to experiment to find them and there is no record to tell you which you’ve found. I expect this to be addressed in a QoL patch.

Quests bear mention. There’s still no quest tracker and the hints can still be obtuse. Finding the “floor of screams and purple petals” isn’t much to go on. However, most quests are straightforward enough and the lore of an item gives you an idea of who needs what. You will be traversing the map multiple times to complete them, and the tail end quests give some tremendously useful rewards. The quests are more straightforward in general, but that’s a bar to trip over, not high praise.

Which gets me to the lore portion. The text/voice work is much better than the first game, and has much more clarity. Reading the lore of every item adds flavor rather than clear direction, with few exceptions. It’s still full of catholic imagery, and a “god” that punishes as often as it aids. The grotesque nature of everything permeates the world and makes it interesting. The first game expanded tremendously on the lore with each DLC, I’d expect as much here.

Blasphemous 2 pivots from almost pure combat to a more dense metroidvania, and I think it comes together quite well as a result. Nearly all the friction from the first game is addressed, which is frankly astounding for a sequel these days. The first game was quite rough around the edges, and the (free!) DLC helped flesh it all out. Blasphemous 2 doesn’t have those edges to start, and it’s ridiculously easy to get engrossed in the fluidity of it all. Well worth it.