A Blasphemous Story Retrospective

blasphemous is a flawless game and it's one of the best stories i've seen in recent years its story is mysterious but not so mysterious where the story doesn't start making any sense the lore is there and it is packed with information but besides all that the game had some other specialties in store for me the stories of video games are often crafted to invoke something in the player whether it's the feeling of power by becoming a god-like figure having the game force us to question our own morals or even just getting us to learn something new blasphemous never made me feel powerful quite the opposite actually and i wasn't questioning any of my beliefs but i did learn a lot from this game religion as a subject is not something i'm very knowledgeable about still i find religion itself extremely fascinating which is why i enjoyed playing dante's inferno so much despite not knowing much of what was going on and blasphemous was the same i not only learned about its lore within the game but also the many references and connections to real-life religion and how that shaped the game's world it's not necessary to incorporate outside content into a game like this but if you do it can further heighten the experience so today i want to talk about blasphemous and its story and not only explain to you what's going on but how well crafted the story truly is so let's get started before we continue though i wanted to give a quick shout out to a new project that has been recently brought to my attention lost and cult is a gaming journal that delves into various topics about the industry as well as other topics within games themselves like stories mechanics and much more currently there are three magazines that you can buy physically or digitally but the one i want to focus on is their newest entry the softcover version is great as it has some wonderful art but the premium and deluxe edition has some beautiful art from elden ring this specific magazine will have a lot of artwork about the souls games in it and also a lot of pages dedicated to from software's impact on the industry as a whole seeing as we recently just talked about the souls games i figured i'd bring it to your attention in case this is something you were interested in i'll leave a link to the website down below if you want to see it for yourself but with that done let's get back to the video so the intro of blasphemous is actually extremely confusing as it shows a woman pounding her chest with a miniature statue and then getting stabbed through the chest shortly after a person picks up the weapon but then is seen waking up in a field of corpses usually i wait a bit to explain what's going on but for blasphemous that is not the case so allow me to catch you up to speed right away blasphemous takes place in the land of custodia and its inhabitants are very religious everything from the npcs to the environment to the character design all leads back to religion even our main character is religious as he is the recently awoken being known as the penitent one blasphemous references some bits of christianity in catholicism but also focuses on some of the spanish versions of them the reason i say spanish is because of our main character a penitent is defined as someone who repents their sins and seeks forgiveness from god this also relates to the word penance which is an act or set of actions that are done out of repentance for the sins that a person committed the penitent once penance was a vow of silence which is an interesting way to canonize a silent protagonist but there are many forms of penance like with cressanta who we'll discuss later in the game who walks without sight the one thing they have in common though is their helmets they're similar to the capriote a mask that originated in spain and hispanic countries that was made to draw attention away from themselves and instead towards god so already we're seeing the major connections between this game and real world religion but you can't really have a belief system without something being the main head of that belief well in custodia its residents worship the miracle the miracle is a supernatural entity but it has no body it's only ever been seen through the acts it's done for example the miracle was the reason that woman in the intro died that sounds quite awful but the key distinction is that she wanted this to happen she wished to be punished the miracle just made it happen furthermore a person known as deo gracias will tell us about the first miracle about how a young boy wished for pain so that he may ease the guilt in his heart the miracle then took the log he was sitting on and had to grow roots that attached the boy's arms and legs contorting and twisting his body into an odd pose this was known as the first miracle but the boy is also known as the father or the twisted one who is the being in the background in the first level and is the being on the sword and statue despite what seems to be acts of violence and torture the people of custodia see this as holy and even worship the sites in which the events took place the miracle to me is so fascinating it'll make more sense when we talk about the endings but what i find so incredible is that because the miracle is so unfathomable to normal humans the people of custodia have no other choice than to see it as a god and as we'll see there is a lot of pain and suffering that has occurred at the hands of the miracle which is why the inhabitants of the land are constantly praying hoping for a way to rid themselves of their guilt they see these acts of punishment as necessary as they feel like they did something wrong and thus deserve their pain as for the penitent one he has a rather vague backstory he was a part of the brotherhood of silent sorrow they however were massacred as evident by the hundreds of bodies what this brotherhood was and what it did to deserve this is unknown but it is assumed to have been excommunicated or cast out by the current pope escobar during the game's development a comic was released called the kneeling which shows the penitent one claiming the sword called the maya culpa before getting killed by a woman named cressanta croissant guards escobar so it's clear that she's affiliated with the church furthermore the first boss in the game is the warden of the silent sorrow who appears again later around the outskirts of the church itself this might imply that they serve escobar as well or maybe are affiliated with the miracle in some way it's clear though that escobar dislikes the brotherhood for some reason but i think the miracle disagrees since the penitent one while killed was revived by the miracle it's not explicitly said that this is the case but both cressanta and the other woman in the comic named desombrato seem to imply this is the case desomparado says in reference to the miracle now it has focused its thought on you and it begins to know you proof of its first gift was that your vow of silence is forever irreversible but don't worry even if i don't have your voice i have your purpose for i am a guide and scholar in the ways of the miracle cresanta in the following pages will then say if the miracle has really pointed out to you you will arise again upon the dead before the pain of the statue of the twisted father who will watch over you this implies that the miracle has chosen the penitent one for some reason this might connect to a possible theory that escobar murdered the brotherhood of silent sorrow because of something they knew about the miracle or possibly because they were against the miracle in some way regardless though all we know is that the goal of the penitent one is to find the cradle of affliction so that's our objective go to the church and obtain this cradle of affliction doing so will allow the penitent one to complete his penance and be forgiven for his sins once again this is not given to us at all like how i explained it as it sprinkled throughout character dialogue and item descriptions but now that a good portion of the background has been revealed you can see how something like this has the potential to be a really fantastic story it has tons of lore regarding its setting and backstory as well as some of the key players involved in the story and what they represent within the game world it's a magnificent story and we're only just beginning and new beginnings often mean a restart earlier we talked about this game's connections to real world religion and the intro continues this as the penitent one after killing the warden of the silent sorrow will cut into its side and pour its blood into his helmet this to me seems like a baptism the penitent one like us is beginning a new life and a new journey and thus a baptism is needed to make it official not only is this such an interesting theory but this act also has ties to christianity as the piercing of the side references jesus being pierced in the side at least according to john 19 34. it's explained in that bible verse that jesus had blood and water pouring out of his side when stabbed with a spear and baptisms are usually with water so the blood and water combination could be a reference to this furthermore the penitent one also has the crown of thorns on his helmet the same ones worn by jesus as i said in the beginning of the video learning not just the in-game lore but the real world connections heightened my experience of the game and while this may not be seen as a valid argument for a critique i wouldn't have done any of this had the game not intrigued me it's why some people get interested in specific settings like the lands of egypt and italy thanks to assassin's creed blasphemous hooked me enough to not only care about its actual story but also what inspired them to create the story in the first place after we leave the building we can meet with deo gracias who explains a bit of what i mentioned before like the cradle of affliction but he also tells us how to get there the cradle is in the mother of mother's church but to gain entry to the building we need to carry out the three humiliations to gain access to the building deo gracias will also give us a thorn the thorn's item description and some of his dialogue imply that he is the narrator for the miracle and he will eventually give us a lot of much needed information during our travels when he gives us the thorn he says that if when the time comes the thorn has sprouted enough to cut us then we will be at the mercy of the grievous miracle pain guilt humiliation all of this relates to the game's core idea and its endings our character is on a pilgrimage to absolve their penance a pilgrimage is often done by people who want to travel to religious sites and we're attempting to go to a holy site that houses the cradle of affliction but getting there shouldn't be easy especially when one is under penance we have to work for it in a gameplay sense that's why we must overcome the various difficult bosses and enemies that block our path but in a more narrative sense we need to take this guilt that we are consumed by recognize it and absolve it but if we're gonna do that we should probably get moving two things that will have immediately caught your attention are the gameplay and the art style the art style is not only based around catholic and medieval architecture but it's done in a pixelated format i've never seen anything like it before and i was blown away every single time something new came on my screen you'll meet the first warden and then be drawn in by his unique look to which you start wondering what the other bosses might look like and then you'll meet beings like exposito and the melcuiades and are constantly amazed that the quality of these designs never faltered throughout the entire run time honestly this game has some of the best looking bosses i've ever seen and i really think it's the pixel art that sells this i doubt these bosses would have looked terrible in a more realistic engine like the modern souls games but by going with a pixel art design it makes you look at these bosses a bit differently usually the bosses are where most of the time goes when it comes to visual design since they are the finale but every character in this game seems to have just as much time put into them as these bosses it's so well done i don't even have to cherry pick them to reinforce my argument joserno altus garcias the lady of the six sorrows these women who used the statue they were tied up on as a weapon and whatever this is all of them are stunning i mean this with no exaggeration not a single boss enemy or npc ever looked visually disappointing or out of sync with the game's themes and that's the reason why if there's one thing a majority of these beings share with one another it's that they're all grotesque and disgusting yet no matter how much i want to avert my eyes i can't stop staring at them the art of blasphemous is one of the best designs i've ever seen and was a joy to look at throughout the whole game as for the gameplay i don't even know where to begin it's just fantastic blasphemous was the first metroidvania i've actually played and this was such a wonderful way to be welcomed into this genre i've said before how i love when games tie combat into narrative even if it's minor and blasphemous does that by making the combat difficult as this connects with the difficult journey that the penitent one must take to absolve themselves blasphemous is a hard game there's no getting around it when it comes to bosses there are so many moving parts that'll make you feel like you need another set of eyes in order to understand what's going on and even when the game slows down the pace in between the boss fights the levels can be mind-numbingly painful to traverse i must have been stuck in the graveyard of the peaks for over an hour because this entire climb is covered in at least 30 enemies all of whom can hit extremely hard and there are traps and falling platforms placed next to them so you aren't allowed to focus on traversal or combat separately you need to pay attention to both the game at times is also extremely stingy with its checkpoints and due to the level design there are only a few sections you might be able to bypass just by walking meaning most of the time a death will require you to battle all the enemies you just fought again it's torturous and explicitly designed to torment you and we haven't even gotten to the true torment yet just like with the art design the gameplay does not disappoint the gameplay is fast paced fluid and intense and the art design is this unique blend that goes from barbaric medieval cages and chains to glossy and ornate walls and flooring blasphemous is one of the most unique and enjoyable games i've ever played and while the regular levels and enemies do highlight a lot of the game's qualities many people will notice it in the bosses which is where it truly shines three bosses stand between us and the three humiliations the ten padad the trace and gutias and our lady of the charred visage and the stories of these beings are rather intriguing to get to any of them though the player must visit all bro tyrso is a part of a group called the kisser of wounds that seek to help the sick and dying we surprisingly get a lot of information about tyrso and this is by far one of the best additions made to blasphemous the game has been considered a souls-like by many and one of the reasons why is because this game uses item descriptions to tell its story so souls players will feel rather comfortable with this format and excuse the pun i'm sorry blasphemous feels like a miracle when it comes to item descriptions as instead of the dark souls series which could have at most a sentence or two of lore blasphemous is completely comfortable throwing out paragraphs of information to us for example tyrso wants us to find some healing items for him because the brotherhood is running out and each of these healing items has a piece of the puzzle that will make up the story of all bro and the kisser of wounds the first part of the story reads quote it was not just hearsay anymore the illness had reached all bro without warning the outbreak and the punishment of the miracle so often discussed came through a young man who arrived to our small congregation full of fear wondering what his unforgivable sin had been to receive such a condemnation and what could we do a group of plain and profane healers blind to the vague wills of the miracle pray begging for its forgiveness what would our sacrifice have to be for our prayers to be heard at the mercy of the miracle was that young man and at the mercy of the miracle were the left the rest of us with him it wasn't long before more and more people came to us affected by that terrible and unknown suffering whole families the old the young and even the newborn we brothers of the congregation were unable to cope and our care was not working though were our ointments nor our constant prayers we are lost submerged in the darkness of uncertainty that was only three items and it has not only provided us with so much to read but also provided so much background to the world itself the miracle had created some sort of sickness and the congregation was unable to help them but the second half of the story will tell us the rest quote on one of the nights during which the young man agonized admits terrible febrile tremors with the wounds that plagued his body spreading more and more i approached him so distraught that i held him in my arms and shedding tears i kissed him on the forehead while i felt the ardor of his forehead on my lips i noticed the young man was opening his eyes and looking at me his agony apparently gone all of a sudden congregation members witnessing the phenomenon watched in astonishment except for one of our sisters who now beside me and without fear of contagion kissed one of the terrible sores that the affliction had caused on the young man and the wound began to close the brothers fell to their knees amidst tears and prayers ever since then our pious kisses have saved hundreds from the affliction of the miracle that ravages these lands and from then our congregation has been called that of the kisser of wounds the second half of the story seems to imply that the miracle had possibly granted tyrso in the congregation magical healing powers that allowed them to combat the sickness the miracle has spread this story is likely inspired by saint francis of assisi which is oddly enough the one piece of christian knowledge i actually know about saint francis in his early days saw people he called lepers which were people affected with leprosy as nauseating but after his visions and talks with god he began to appreciate these beings and would help the sick by feeding them and kissing their wounds just like tyrso one thing to keep in mind many of the conditions we see the people or bosses in are most likely a result of the miracle deo gracias tell us that the miracle works in mysterious ways and it's unable to be unraveled meaning we'll never know its true intentions which are why so many of the people we talk to will say things along the lines of what did i do to deserve this or what has upset the grievous miracle they're confused as to why they're being punished and what their sins were that led them to this punishment which makes the ending of this game such a revelation getting back to all bro in case things go wrong though the other group located here called the order of the true shine gives those who have passed on a proper burial since this game is based in catholicism it's safe to assume a version of heaven or hell exists within the belief system and while we don't really get to see a form of that in the game we do get a place called the dream we'll learn a bit more about the dream later but there's really not a whole lot of information surrounding it like who's allowed to enter or how the place even exists in the first place but to me it seems like some other worldly place that acts as a sort of purgatory but it's a bit unclear after all bro the player can go one of three ways but each way leads to one of the three bosses we talked about earlier sadly not much is known about the levels we walk through in-game but we are able to gather some information from the environment like the wasteland of buried churches housing lots of people who are strung up on posts in the same pose as the twisted one implying that they are most likely being executed or put to death in the same manner or even how in the snowy areas before the covenant building at the higher tops of the map there are frozen bodies everywhere and from some item descriptions we can discover that these were nuns who made pilgrimages up here in order to attend the covenant at the very top not many of these areas are like albro that have paragraphs worth of story but the small details we learn can help contextualize a lot of the events that occur in custodia which is helpful recontextualization is something that will happen a lot during the playthrough such as with the three bosses blocking our path to the mother of mother's church after the defeat of each boss we can find a large room with a figure inside and by prostrating ourselves in front of it we can be taken into the dream in each location is a head called the golden visage and these heads were likely the three beings behind the bars we saw just moments ago and according to some item descriptions were some of the holiest of saints that were granted this job by the miracle that job is to hold on to the three holy wounds that when put together will open the door to the mother of mother's church the names of these wounds are attrition contrition and compunction and each of these items has a design in the middle which is possibly referencing the three bosses we face as the contrition moon shows three pointed hats similar to the same hats worn by the trace and gutias and the image of the compunction has two different colors one of gold and one of red just like the face of the charred visage this means that these were deliberately placed here and that these wounds connect to the bosses attrition is defined as a desire to not sin other than the love of god contrition is defined as someone not sinning because of god's love which means that these two words are opposites and compunction is defined as a feeling of guilt or remorse attrition is the holy wound guarded by the 10 padad in english the boss's name means have mercy or be merciful most likely referencing the attrition part according to some item descriptions it seems that there is a living person inside this horrific creature and that they are as they say alive in a sleeping body this being was most likely punished by the miracle and turned into this creature in fact this could be the same creature from the introduction relating this back to the holy wound of attrition while we don't know what their sin is we can assume that they were most likely praying to the miracle for forgiveness but only because they didn't want to be punished and not because they appreciated the love of the miracle which is why this person was condemned to this fate the holy wound of contrition is guarded by the trace and gutias which means three anguishes or three sorrows these three women may actually be manifestations of another being found here called altus gracias to even get them to spawn we need to place down specific items which have lore descriptions that tell us that there were three sisters that all pray together and likely wish not to be wedded the miracle must have heard their prayers and answer them by turning them into the hideous beasts we see in front of us since their holy wound is contrition these three prayed to the miracle out of love for it but were seemingly tuned out or not believed by the miracle and thus condemned to this fate finally the holy wound of compunction is guarded by our lady of the charred visage despite its manly face the charred visage is actually a woman named oraya who was seen as beautiful by the townsfolk she became so well known and so beautiful that people saw her as a living breathing image of god she however felt guilty and didn't want to be seen as divine so she burned her face with hot boiling oil so that she may never be seen as beautiful again the miracle had witnessed this act and decided to keep the flesh burning and searing as if it had just happened this however led area right back to where she started as people started noticing that her face was continuing to burn and ache and once again saw it as an act of god so now she is revered by many in the land and a covenant has been built in her name those same nuns we talked about earlier that make the trek up here do so with the intention of worshiping her and the first act of worship is to pour boiling oil on your face similar to how oreya did so in her attempt to not be seen as a godlike figure she ended up being worshiped anyway her holy wound of compunction is related to the original guilt and sorrow she felt when she was seen as a divine being which is why her face is on the wound itself one thing you'll have noticed is that a lot of the story seems to boil down to the miracle being the cause for all of this and we're not even close to done yet sakura was a girl that saw so many people put to death that she started feeling sorry for them and wished to take their pain away and instead have it be brought to her now she is in constant suffering and pain but can never die from the wounds nasimiento is another being we can find in game and while we don't know much about his past we can see another face on his chest and apparently the face on his chest ages forward but his face ages backward at some point we can see this being coming out of his chest and the final interaction is the ancient being now fully out of his chest with nasimiento presumably dead or at the very least unable to speak to us with the limited knowledge given the player is forced to draw conclusions why is the miracle doing this and why is it causing harm which is why the placing of these next bosses felt intentional to me the second half of the game seems set on confusing the player as to what the miracle is doing and what their true intentions are in this second half we can meet some of the bosses like esposito mel cuiades and kirsay exposito was a child that was blindfolded because his mother was about to be burned at the stake for being a witch but before dying begged for someone to create a statue in her image that the baby can feel safe someone did and the miracle had recognized this act and decided to make it seemingly sentient so now it can actually care for it as the mother would have exposito is supposed to show the player that it's not as harmful as it seems and that there might be some actual reasoning behind its axe this could also connect to the previous lore on the twisted one and the maya culpa woman because remember they asked for this they wanted the punishment we also know that the twisted one never complained so it's not like he had second thoughts or felt regretful he was content with his decision and the outcome yeah some of the methods of the miracle might be a little bit odd and might be seen as harmful but who are we to question the way of god many people say that everything happens for a reason or that god has a plan for all of us and while we might not agree with the plan we have to assume it has our best interest at heart melcuites changes up the story quite a bit as his story has nothing to do with the miracle at all using an item in the game that allows us to hear the thoughts of some of the corpses we can read quote i have witnessed the exhumation of the archbishop i've witnessed how they cleansed his bones and wine to then dress him in silk and gold i saw them place the most beautiful jewels on his face and kiss his forehead i watched as they placed rings on his fingers and kissed his hands they lifted him up calling his name and swayed him to make it look like as if he was walking again mokuyares isn't even alive he's just a corpse that is being paraded around by a bunch of people this is one of the few characters in the game not affected by the miracle you could argue though that the miracle is moving his arms and is casting the magic but given how awkward some of the movements are and how there are hands placed behind his back it's possible that they could be moving his limbs too plus there doesn't seem to be any lore suggesting that the miracle had a hand in this he doesn't serve much to the story but it's a nice change of pace as it's not the miracles doing which was quite surprising but then the game ends up doubling back and talking about the miracle again and its vicious acts as quierse was someone who was said to be burned at the stake because he was deemed a heretic however he was falsely accused he was never able to convince the people that he wasn't a heretic and thus to burn for it however the flames that burned him were conjured up by the miracle and now constantly burn and resurrect him for life forcing him to feel the burning searing pain every time he's revived all of this caused such a massive headache within me because now we have the miracle doing kind acts and people are now being pricks and digging up old bodies but the miracle isn't doing anything about it i was so confused and the game was relentless in its pursuit to purposely hide the mystery of the miracle at this time of the game i was convinced that escobar and the church had something to do with this the only reason i had this theory was because no one was being spared by this entity yet the only people that seemingly weren't affected by it were escobar and his people this could also connect to the fact that he may have had the door of the mother of mother's church sealed unless someone obtained the three humiliations but i was wrong about this too as we know escobar was seen as the pope or the head of the church that worshipped the miracle but at some point before the events of the game he had disrespected the miracle and was punished for it escobar on occasion will appear before entering certain areas and read off a line or two then leave one of the lines he says is the miracle has forsaken us and my ornate throne turns its back on those who await here due to him believing that the miracle had forsaken him and the people he rejected the miracle and was punished for it similar to the twisted one escobar started sprouting branches and turned into a tree we can actually see the tree for ourself when we first opened up the door and when we're outside the church and able to see it from afar the holy wound of attrition says that his holiness because of his high penance must endure suffering in his soul in three ways which would mean that these wounds represent escobar's suffering because escobar in the game is referred to as his holiness so not only are the people of custodia at the mercy of the miracle but the leader of the congregation the literal pope of the church was being tormented by the miracle as you can tell everyone is at the mercy of this thing it doesn't matter how powerful or insignificant that person is as no one can surpass the power of a god-like entity especially one that can't be seen admittedly though this is probably starting to become a bit stale for some people the game keeps using the miracle as the cause and this keeps getting played out across the whole game i've talked about this exact problem in previous videos but where blasphemous differs is that we're actually seeing different outcomes characters aren't just becoming demonic beings like the ten pedad they're cursed with undeath forced to be conjoined for eternity or did something to themselves that the miracle took notice of while the cause of the events is the same the effects are not and that's not only what makes the miracle so interesting but also what makes the story so intriguing and mysterious as deo gracias has told us many times the miracle works in mysterious ways and as you continue playing you become more and more eager to learn about this miracle what it has done to the people of custodia and what the people themselves did to receive this attention from the miracle at the moment it seems like the miracle is just punishing people for the sake of it but that question of why is also in the back of your head according to tyrso the miracle created the sickness of all bro which would make it seem like a malevolent entity but it's also assumed to have given tyrso the ability to kiss those wounds away which would make it benevolent that's why the miracle is so fascinating you don't truly understand what it wants all you can do is find the remnants of his actions and decide from there which also makes the miracle equally as infuriating since it's something we can't see if something pisses us off in this game then we can fight it but we can't fight the miracle you can't fight what you can't see after all however while we can't fight it we can remove it partially many of the beings we come across can be saved because of us sakuro altis garcias the lord of the salty shores and soledad can all be helped and possibly go to the other side and into the dream because of us we can also help tyrso and the brotherhood by giving them more ailments so they can help the sick we can help the man located in the archery by giving him all the bones back so they're able to rest in peace and there's even other acts that we can perform that have nothing to do with the miracle we could help cleophas return to the order of the true shrine and prevent him from killing himself because we're giving him a new purpose in life rindento is able to travel to the holy site of his master because of our help and joe cierno will eventually be able to reunite with all his brethren if we manage to save them all we as the penitent one can help custodia and save these people we're able to take their guilt and sorrow for ourselves so that they can have the will to continue but is this guilt we've accumulated enough can we truly say that our penance is complete that we understand the true meaning of guilt and that because of understanding this we should be absolved of our sins well let's see the final boss of the game is none other than escobar one of those lines that escobar says when he was randomly appearing throughout the game is that he was reincarnated by the miracle that's how he's able to be here while he should technically still be a giant tree blocking the church he says quite a lot of dialogue before the fight but one part i want to point to is when he says that he knows nothing about us but only the miracle knows this further solidifies the idea that the miracle revived us for a reason and that reason has to do with the cradle of affliction escobar is a really easy fight but this was meant to be as his actual form the last son of the miracle is where the real fight begins it's honestly a really nice fight and a great way to cap off the game it's not as complex as intense as some other bosses but escobar comes with his own set of quirks that make the fight really engaging as mentioned towards the start of the video none of the bosses disappointed me visually or mechanically and escobar was no exception after defeating escobar we meet with deo gracias one more time and then we are told to climb the mountain this mountain is covered in ash remember when escobar was turned into a tree well shortly after that happened the tree burned for months once it finally subsided all that was left was a mountain of ash and at the top was his throne anyone who witnessed this immediately climbed the mountain in hopes of reaching the top but all of them succumbed to the mound and were engulfed by the ash everyone who was swallowed became a part of the miracle's will we can assume that majority if not all the enemies we face especially the ones that are skeletal are people who were consumed by the mountain and now the penitent one joins its ranks we didn't understand true guilt and we were unable to climb the mountain deo gracias puts us among a pile of other brethren signifying that we're just one amongst the many who have died i don't think this means that other penitent ones have existed or have tried to climb the mountain i just think this means that we're just like our other brothers bracket the brotherhood and having our journey end here would have been like if we just died at the silent sorrow we didn't accomplish anything and we didn't learn anything so now we're just like the hundreds of bodies that are part of the congregation faceless nameless beings who are unknown to history to climb the mountain we're gonna need guilt true guilt in blasphemous dying will drop a guilt fragment from a gameplay sense this forces us to start with less magic as it slowly consumes part of the bar however we can use an item called an immaculate bead which stops the gill from leaving our body as it is now put into the bead after enough deaths the bead will be completely filled with guilt and according to its updated item description it says that confessors would carry beads like this so that they could reap the guilds of members of the church the confessor statues for a fee will absolve us of our guilt this is helpful if you can't reach your last death point or you're just too lazy but by destroying the statues we can go inside a small pocket dimension and fight the guilt confessors were known to absolve people's guilt so it makes sense that inside these portals is that guilt there are seven of them and each one grows that thorndeo gracias gave us he told us that by the time we reach the cradle the thorn is piercing our skin and cutting into our fingers then we would be at the mercy of the miracle completing the dungeon will grow the thorn and we can see in the updated images that it's not only getting bigger but more blood is being added to it it's cutting deeper and deeper into our skin so much so that by the end its original color can't even be seen the name also changes as well it starts as a thorn then a sprout then a briar but the final stage it becomes the custodia of sin this is only accessible after defeating all the statues and since the statues are the only places in custodia to absolve guilt we've essentially taken all of custodia's guilt into our sword this is enough to climb the mountain as we are no longer slowed down by the coarse ash and are slowly sucked inside we are able to climb as fast as before and push past our original barrier and for the first time someone has made it to the top of the mountain untainted by its heavy burden capable of dragging one down to its depths the penitent one then sits on the throne and stabs themselves with the maya culpa a sword that not only carries the guilt of the woman the guilt of the penitent one but the guilt of custodia the final communion will complete the penitent one's penance and break off the ungodly will of the miracle but the miracle always works in mysterious ways it's never going to truly disappear from custodia penance and guilt come in all forms after all furthermore the penitent one will not have the same fate as many of his colleagues he'll be stuck here and unable to pass on to the dream because we're the new father and the last son of the miracle we are the new escrow after defeating escobar deo gracias tells us that we have freed his holiness from his afflicted torment and now he can walk onto the other side of the dream so now the penitent one will have to wait for someone to do the same to him for now though custodial will see him as the father and parade his wooded corpse throughout the land as a sign of the miracle in a miraculous twist though crisanta arrives and pulls the sword out of us possibly because she sees us as unworthy and not a true son of the miracle this could also mean that all the guilt within the sword has gone free and possibly has restarted the game's events again back to the very beginning despite its tragic ending it is seen as the good ending of the game the pentaton 1 has completed their penance and is now a holy figure of custodia what more could you want well more content actually and blasmus decided to oblige and added a new dlc later called the stir of dawn this dlc has some content we've already seen as nasimiento was added during this update but if you want to experience all of it and see the actual content you'll have to go to new game plus the quest line of hebreil and the amenities are only accessible in true torment mode this would be fine but blasphemous as a sort of new game half plus because while all the prayers relics hearts and beads we have acquired stay the upgrades don't so while you can keep all the beads you acquired you can't put on all eight anymore you're forced to go back to two and need to find the knots again furthermore and possibly the worst part about this is that the health and magic bars go back down to their original state and any quicksilver and bile flasks used are reverted meaning you start with the lowest health and flasks possible again but now the enemies do 20 more damage and have more health true torment is an understatement it is entirely possible to screw up the whole playthrough if you don't plan accordingly in the previous one the relic that allows the player to negate all damage for a few seconds was a godsend for this playthrough and if i didn't have it i may not have beaten true torment mode the path of penance is never meant to be easily beaten and by making the content new game plus only you can truly see why this is the case despite my initial dislike of this i came out of this experience much better off i really enjoyed the requirement of having a second playthrough and it also helps with the story itself watching a movie or playing a game twice can be helpful for the story as you're coming into the next playthrough with prior knowledge so you can now focus on those smaller details but not everyone wants to play a game twice blasphemous however locks the content behind the second playthrough forcing the player to play it twice which in turn allows more people to understand the story one of the lines that escobar says comes up about 20 minutes into the game and it's not until the last two minutes where you finally see him in that form but playing again you can recognize that escrowbus was talking to us very early on in the game to access this content we'll need a new item called the petrified bell which is given to us upon starting the next playthrough this unlocks a new area and a new npc called hibrill he by the way of the miracle was named the messenger of the sata we aren't given much info on what the seita is sadly but we do know that it seems to be some mysterious force that is able to unearth some of the secrets of the miracle it's able to do this by playing a specific sound that habriel is familiar with and it's actually really beautiful [Music] not just this music but a lot of the music in the game is really well done especially in the above ground levels where it seems like some loot is being played and it's just really comforting what this music unearths are coffins that hold the amenacitas the golden blades the bejeweled arrow the chiseled steel and the molten thorn i'll be honest this dlc has zero disappointing bosses and i would argue that all of them are at the top of my favorites list as well just as they have similar names they also have similar move sets but they aren't completely copied and pasted all of them provide a different level of challenge and some players may find specific bosses harder than others each of them has this shield recharge that gives them a shield that needs to be destroyed first before you can attack them again unless you interrupt them in the middle of it there's also a mix of moves that can offer punishes like the chiseled steel sort of doppelganger type move and the bejeweled arrows power attacks but there's also a handful of moves that you just have to deal with like the molten thorn constantly teleporting there is no way to punish this you just have to deal with it and hope you don't miss the decision to also lock these bosses behind hibris questline also means you have to fight them on new game plus only which obviously makes these bosses that much harder but they felt designed for this game mode and the move sets and damage output reflect this i feel like the fights wouldn't have been as memorable if they were thrown into the main content for most players these will be the final few bosses that they have left to do for the game so this makes the fights more memorable and it also makes the final stage that much easier the final boss of the dlc is called loudest the first of the amenities it's a full-on four-phase fight she can also not be stopped during her shield charge at least to my knowledge because every time she changes she goes into the next phase while four phases might seem scary you're actually more comfortable than you might initially realize as each phase is the same fight as the other four bosses you're essentially fighting the same four bosses but in one continuous fight this is not only incredible from a gameplay perspective but from a narrative one as well during the unearthing of the amenacetas hibrio would give us some background on what they were about when the miracle first granted the wish of the boy who became known as the twisted one it clearly sparked a lot of discussion amongst the people of custodia one such person laurez became devoted to him by the power of the miracle combined with her immense passion for the twisted one she was able to create four different bodies formed with liquid gold which are the four amenities we faced earlier laura's and her four reflections would guard the twisted one and parade him around custodia but the miracle started growing resentful of this because it had hoped that laotis was showing her passion for the miracle through the twisted one since it had caused that event to occur but laura's was specifically devoted to the twisted one itself she cared about the being the miracle created not the miracle itself the miracle was annoyed upon discovering this and thus sealed them away in coffins including loudas only capable of being unearthed when the music of the sata was played across the land this is a huge revelation for the game because it shows that the miracle has clear signs of sentience it has the ability to feel resentment and anger because of loudest which now makes things even more confusing up until this point a plausible theory could have been that the miracle was just unhinged and just doing things to do them without a reason but this was deliberate it intentionally did this but we're still stuck on the why and that's been my issue all game despite how much fun i was having with this game and its dlc i couldn't get this nagging feeling out of my head that there was something more going on what is the goal of a being who has the capacity to unleash a sickness upon people curse people with eternal pain and suffering but also be able to heal wounds with a kiss and provide a being not only the means to revive constantly but also be able to absolve people of their sins and allow them to die and pass on to the other side of the dream i had one question that still couldn't be answered if the main goal of the miracle was for us to replace escobar why cause the sickness in all bro why condemn these people to terrible fates why force us to go through all of this it's a question that i had been asking all game and then i was given the answer wounds of evantide is the final dlc of blasphemous and unlike store of dawn which has a plethora of gameplay content wounds of evantide adds one thing a new ending an ending that is considered the canon ending of blasphemous and was an answer to my final question to start the dlc we must meet petrova you'll meet her naturally through the main game when she ambushes you but you have to find her at her grave she tells us to meet with her brother esdras esdras has been following us all game and if we meet with his sister before fighting him instead of killing him we force him to surrender ezra then meets with us at the chapel of the kneeling stone the same place where the woman in the intro stabbed herself esdras then gives us a key to take to a man named diosdado who unlock a hidden door within the library in here is the secret item called the crimson heart of mira alright this isn't actually part of the story but it was a nice reference r.i.p mira the actual secret is this being earlier in the video i said that there were three guardian visages and three holy wounds well there's actually four this is the fourth guardian visage who holds the holy wound of abnegation or at least he did see the fourth visage was different than his other brethren when he was transformed into the state by the miracle he was able to see something his other brothers couldn't he could see the real form of the miracle and where it resides the miracle took notice of this and turned on the fourth visage his brothers also did as well which led him to being deemed a traitor and a heretic so even though he spoke the truth no one was able to hear it to get him to speak to us though we need to find his two missing eyes that were taken and thrown away one resides in the socket of serapes a giant serpent that most likely was just a snake that came in contact with the eye and turned into what we see now and the other lies with isadora the singer of the dead she was just a young woman who used to sing to those in her village until one day she sang to the long-lost beings of the audrey but not only could they hear her they sung back she then stayed there for the rest of her life and now sings to the dead for eternity i don't think there's any specific reason why these beings have these eyes in particular it seems that the miracle just kind of wanted to throw them away in the farthest darkest corners of custodia so that no one could find them after returning them to the fourth visage he gives us the true heart of our sword the heart that was supposed to be embedded in our sword but it was taken presumably by the miracle before we could retrieve it the fourth visage gives this to us and tells us to break the chain of the most fervent soul in custodia the one who has the most devotion to the miracle and its practices that of course being crissanta crisanta was devoted to escobar and thus would have turned its back on the miracle during that time in history but the miracle had its chains deep inside cressanta and with this heart we can cut those metaphorical chains off of her cutting off the influence of the miracle over her she was most likely manipulated by the miracle because of her power as she holds the final wound the holy wound of abnegation abnegation is defined as a rejection of something meaning we're going to be rejecting the miracle crisanta would have likely tried to stop the miracle because of the wound but couldn't because the restraints were binding her she gives us the wound and tells us to continue our pilgrimage and by defeating escobar instead of being swallowed by the ash or making it to the throne we actually go even higher as the throne moves up towards the sky and eventually we awake inside the dream the realm we have been hearing about all game has been discovered but stopping us from getting any farther is escobar as his new duty is being the guardian of the dream killing escobar is quite tough but thankfully crisanta has found the strength to join us with the two working together they are easily able to defeat escobar for good this time and can now uncover the truth penitent one who comes into our presence bringing guilt to the most sacred of places to the most forbidden of temples this being is known as the high wills and everything we have talked about leads back to them every time i've mentioned something regarding the miracle it's actually been the high wills these beings are the cause of everything happening in custodia all the fates of the npcs and bosses the fate of the twisted one the kneeling woman escobar everything was all because of them the high wills were a being who were spoken into existence this was because of the people of custodia unless i'm incorrect given my ignorance on the subject god is known as the creator within christianity he created us this is the opposite if we all collectively created a religion and belief system we would need a figurehead for that so we would all believe in some godlike figure being the entity of our belief system this was the same for the people of custodia and due to their immense belief in a being they called the high wills it was actually able to exist but only inside the dream dialogue from the high will seems to imply that this dream that they reside in is older than they are furthermore inside the stream is the path of ancient processions which also seems to be older than they are so they aren't the creators of this realm they just live here meaning that they are a more powerful entities at play here furthermore we also learn why they did everything the reason is because they live off of belief since a being was born of a belief it can die of it the more people that believe in the high wills the more eternal they become and the stronger the devotion the more powerful they become and as they say are able to reach higher than the sky itself the high wills created all the suffering in custodia so that the people could pray to them more and thus give them more life force to be able to grow stronger and be immortal that's why the high wills say that they used the miracle to weave the threads of the people's dreams into the path of the ancient procession which according to them is a domain where faith would reunite in one single uninterrupted act of adoration they are a parasite that uses the devotion of the people of custodia as a means to become immortal and gain more power but here's where things are going to get murky they seem to imply that the miracle was created by them and is thus a separate entity it's my theory though that the miracle and the high wills are two beings but the question of whether or not they created the miracle is still unknown regardless of what actually happened though the high will seem to be using the miracle's power to cause all the problems in custodia so it's not the miracles doing rather the high wills using the miracle i believe that the high wills revive the penitent one with the power of the miracle so that we could replace escobar it seems clear that the high wills wanted the penitent one to do the good ending where we replace escobar because it keeps their devotion going not the true ending where we confront them because once we do the penitent one and cressanto destroy the high wills after this happens the penitent one meets with the twisted one who embraces him most likely thanking him for what he did shortly after though the sword will crumble and the penitent one dies since the high wills use the miracle to revive us and now the high wills are dead its creations are gone so the meia culpa and the twisted one are officially gone and the penitent one also stays dead since he was survived by them in the first place after the credits though we can see a heart in the sky and a being inside of it this is left ambiguous because of the sequel set to release next year but the question of what it is can still be put in play here some including myself believe that this is the manifestation of the miracle we're no longer just going to be seeing its axe anymore but the real thing however there is a lot of holes in this theory it's possible that the actual miracle revived the penitent one because it wanted us to kill the high wheels so that they could stop it from using its power for themselves furthermore the time frame of the high wills is spotty at best it seems heavily implied that once the twisted one turned into a tree the people of custodia began worshiping the miracle and that was according to deo gracias the first miracle so they couldn't have worshipped an entity they didn't create or know existed but if the high wills created the miracle how could the people have spoken the high wills into existence if they didn't believe in something called the high wills this has led to two theories one of which being that the miracle was not made by the high wills and actually existed before the high wills were even created and the other being that an older generation of people worshipped the high wills but now this new generation worships the miracle this could explain why the words high wills and miracle are spoken interchangeably the lord of salty shore says the words high wills and the miracle interchangeably so it's clear that it's two beings but the question of what order and how they were created is still a mystery to summarize this in a brief a way as possible either the high wills were born first and then the miracle or the miracle came first and then the high wills then there's also the question of whether or not the miracle was created upon the high wills creation or later in the high will's lifespan once again assuming the high wills came first as if you couldn't tell from the past four minutes it's a [ __ ] mess but a sequel with the proper wedding should be able to answer this question and give us an answer to what that being was at the end but that however was the story of blasphemous a place ruled by an ancient being that used the people's devotion to continue living and increase its power the high wills then most likely revived the penitent one with the goal of replacing escobar and continuing their faith but thanks to some divine intervention whether it was the miracle working separately against the high wheels or the high wills had just simply not anticipated this happening the pentaton 1 had reached its realm and destroyed it removing its influence from custodia presumably for good what a fantastic piece of fiction blasphemous has a fantastic story and its ability to incorporate its own lore with real imagery and references to real-life religion was expertly crafted as it feels like it's a part of the world rather than just a cute easter egg playing through this game was one of the best decisions i've ever made and i urge you to give this a try for yourself not just for the story but for the gameplay too it's a game i have zero complaints about and has been one of the best stories i've seen in recent years thank you for watching have you made it this far thank you blasphemous was a really fun game and a great introduction to the metroidvania genre there is another metroidvania that i do want to cover in the near future which we've talked about before on the channel and that is hollow knight i don't know much about the game but the little i do know interests me quite a lot which is why i'm really excited to play it it may take some time to make that video though as hollow knight has a lot of content to get through i'm hoping for it to be the next video after this but i may have to work on it in the background while i do some other projects in the meantime don't worry though whether it'll be the next two weeks from now or a couple months from now hollow knight will be talked about here on the channel if that sounds interesting to you or if you liked the video then of course like and subscribe if you're new and as always thank you to my returning viewers for coming back to another video take care everyone and goodbye in this realm of dust and glimmering lights

Channel: Gingy

Views: 162,509

Keywords: Blasphemous, blasphemous story, blasphemous lore, blasphemous story explained, blasphemous lore explained, blasphemous dlc, stir of dawn, wounds of eventide, blasphemous miracle, blasphemous high wills, blasphemous penitent one, gingy, blasphemous review, blasphemous video essay, video essay

Id: nuLSFeejQYc

Length: 48min 6sec (2886 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 24 2022