Blasphemous is the Right Kind of Punishment | The Completionist

I'm doing a one-man live show called The completionist Legacy September 1st at Pax West at a venue called the crocodile tickets are on sale right now links on screen or in the description box down below comment out they're 30 bucks basically you pay for one ticket and you get two shows we'd love to have you coming out with us it'll be great because this is my guilt I claim you Grievous miracle my my hurt with regret thought your punishment are never deep once again [Music] yes all glory goes to the winner [Music] game over wake up last one standing wins okay oh hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the completionist where we don't just beat the games we complete them with Blasphemous 2 right on the horizon I finally completed Blasphemous the smash Indie hit from 2019. this game is the best at what it does and what it does is be a religious horror themed metroidvania it's hard as hell and completing it will hurt you especially after full full playthroughs and 150 completion but I still give this game my completionist rating of finish it now bow your heads with me again [Music] forgive me complete business fans for I have sinned by not making a video about completing Blasphemous way sooner the sequel is nigh and I figured it was time to sing The Originals Praises 2D pixel art metroidvanias are common but Blasphemous stands apart it features shortcuts and non-linear Exploration with the heavy focus on Aesthetics and World building more importantly Blasphemous elevates Itself by tying everything into a central theme from the smallest Collectibles to the intricate side quests in Blasphemous players step into the sabanito of the pentate one a warrior trekking from the land of custodia custodia Is A Wasteland that has been afflicted by the Grievous Miracle part of this game's strength is its mysterious evocative storytelling so I won't be spending our time trying to create a lore video here just know that locations and enemies are all heavily inspired by religious iconography and the pain and Terror associated with the worst parts of the Catholic Church Blasphemous true to its name is where horror meets religion meets platforming as you hack your way through the world you'll explore foreign hunt for Collectibles there are dozens of items from powerful prayers that act as spells to Rosary beans that power up your character to the bones of saints who perished there are bioflasks to collect fill and improve and a sword that you can upgrade by spending currency at specific locations custodia feels vast and unfriendly and is colored by the indifference of an uncaring God the player is on a pilgrimage but it doesn't feel like a righteous one even though the world is blasted and defiled it is stunning to behold at every turn blasphemous's visual language is striking developed by a Spanish team called the game kitchen Blasphemous was inspired by a specific location Seville the capital city of Andalusia this is a town with over 2 000 years of History the team managed to draw on that history to create something incredible that celebrates their multi-faceted culture and Heritage people will throw around the phrase labor of love but Blasphemous truly is one the game kitchen is an extremely small game Studio having only made one previous game the last door the team turned to crowdfunding to raise the money they needed it was a massive Kickstarter success raising 666 percent of the funds they originally set as their goal at the time Blasphemous raised the most money that a Spanish game had ever made on Kickstarter but with that success came a familiar Story the raising of backer expectations and the ballooning sense of scale fortunately the devs and producers managed to push through with a difficult development process and released the game to critical Acclaim now if you want to know more about the work that went into getting this title out the door I highly recommend the documentary Landing Blasphemous the game was so successful the team was able to expand and Implement several updates and provide free DLC after its release these additions flesh out and already full to bursting experience people consider Blasphemous mercilessly tough and the full package has some very steep completion requirements I found myself completing games on the PlayStation 5 frequently these days and blasphemous is no exception there are 46 trophies to earn and multiple endings to unlock there are whole quest lines that the player can accidentally skip because they did not talk to a side character in the right place at the right time and there are boss battles against characters you may never even meet I have played tons of games like this but even I started to feel some anxiety looking at this trophy list and seeing some of these requirements playing completionist style I wasn't worried about maxing out Health fervor and the power of Mia culpa my Kick-Ass sword there are 38 flying angel baby cherub guys to save your standard out of the way collectible in-game completion requires filling out the entire map too now it is a tough Platinum but the trophies are only part of the story to truly complete Blasphemous you have to complete the game multiple times to see all three endings and handle the new game plus requirements because this game is one of those sneaky little bastards that has a 100 150 completion total the Ecstasy of punishment doesn't stop there there's a secret arcade cabinet with multiple levels and its own small set of five Collectibles there are also platforming stages featuring a crossover's blood-stained ritual of the night another fantastic indie game that I completed you can check the icard here oh but I can't forget about the massive Boss Rush mode sacred Sorrows which has a ranking system that goes all the way up to S Plus for two separate difficulty modes this is fine no big deal no stress at all I'm not stressed out at all guys I did not expect this game to be so massive and to have so many completion requirements but throughout everything Blasphemous has tight gameplay and mesmerizing art direction that keep it engaging it is a grisly delight and the game kitchen's passion bleeds through I am always on the lookout for cautionary tales in Indie development but I also look for success stories the game kitchen poured their heart and soul into Blasphemous and seeing that energy leap off the screen I knew I'd find completing this game very fulfilling Blasphemous shows that when you create something from a place of love and match it with technical expertise the results speak for themselves we have here some of Gaming's most memorable and haunting visuals that I've ever seen not just because they're a little scary or Twisted they stand out of my mind because they emerge from a sense of Pride the developers wanted their local culture to be front and center and the result is totally cohesive art Direction now the town of Seville isn't literally full of bloodthirsty Angels spike traps and levitating murder Bishops but I loved learning about the wicked Inspirations behind character designs and how every basic enemy every boss battle even every background can be traced back to the devs love and pride of their Heritage Spanish painter Francisco goya's artwork was a major inspiration the painting of procession of the flatulence features many crucial design Inspirations the penitent one signature headpiece crucifixion and of course lots of blood this game fully earns its title is completing the game actually literally Blasphemous I don't know I'm not really a religious scholar I just like how the title reflects the themes of the game you are fighting supposedly holy beings that have been quote unquote blessed by the miracle and defying them is to go against Faith Enrique cabasa the game's director said an interview for the art magazine freeze that we as a studio have been influenced by religious art but here in southern Spain all the religious art is really more popular culture than the religion it's a part of our idiosyncrasies it's within our cultural DNA the team has been very Savvy making a gory and m-rated title that still has a wide appeal despite the heavy Spanish influences the original release had a only English voiceover with the game's success the developers were able to add a Spanish language track in one of its free updates my first playthrough I listened to the English language vo and I thought it was fine it's a grotesque over the top world and the actors know it but the second time I played and every play through thereafter I listened to the Spanish track and was completely blown away the game kitchen was able to hire several renowned Spanish voice over artists and the entire game takes on a much different much darker tone as I said in my if you liked bloodborne video Blasphemous is an extremely Grim Dark Fantasy World with links to Real History I felt the Spanish voice actors tapped into that this isn't a subbed or dubbed debate but I do feel certain things can be Lost in Translation here performance nuances shine through even if I didn't understand every word or phrase being uttered I love when games give you multiple ways to appreciate them every environment feels unique and has its own obstacles and enemies that unite theme and mechanics the mountains have gusts of wind that can blow you off platforms and the convent at the very top of the map has cauldrons of hot fire to dodge the Larger than Life boss battles do double duty Titan sized bosses that fill up the screen have been a thing since Super Metroid but the ones in Blasphemous take recognizable elements of local folklore and twist them Our Lady of the charred Visage a terrifying enemy with a melted gold mask covering her face is inspired by a famous Seville Legend from medieval times in fact the developers made a point to look at seville's history for some of the more disturbing and unsettling images this city was the headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition which accounts for a lot of the tortured themed art and enemy design Phi using enough crucifixions with the release of Tears of the Kingdom you haven't seen anything until you've played Blasphemous music also draws from Spanish Traditions the soundtrack features a lot of flamenco guitar mixed with string things and synths to create something that feels totally unique it is an eerie and evocative score with some amazing Boss music all of these elements combine to depict one of the most unique worlds I've ever had the pleasure of playing Everything feels extremely mysterious maybe because much of the world building and lore is hidden in item descriptions there's a pervading sense of melancholy Mysteries gradually unfold over time the more you explore read and talk to NPCs the greater understanding you will come to have over the world of custodia or maybe not even after beating this game at least four times I barely understand what's happening because this game is just as opaque as any Souls game if not more so even though the tone is dark I found that I always wanted to see what was around the corner next and blasphemous Blasphemous is a Wonder to behold and playing it is just as satisfying but completing the entire game can feel as difficult to endure as an extended confession from a lifelong sinner [Music] games like Blasphemous are rare having great art Direction World building and gameplay all at once is the Holy Trinity this game has all three though it was only by fully completing it that I was able to appreciate everything the game has to offer now this isn't a bad thing but the average player will miss out on a lot if they're not careful I spent a lot of time talking about the incredibly detailed world and thoughtful corporations of folklore and legends but Blasphemous is first and foremost an action game combat is plentiful and though it can't feel Limited at first it is very satisfying there is only one main melee weapon in Blasphemous Mia culpa a sword with thorns in its Hilt first you can only do basic slashes but by finding shrines you can purchase and unlock additional Combos and attacks completing the upgrade path for Mia culpa gives you plenty of new moves but there were some I never really bothered with I mostly defeated enemies the old-fashioned way getting up close and personal slashing with a bunch of times then dodging their attacks to do the same thing from the other side you can also block and Perry and though the timing is tied for a perfect Parry it feels great to pull off enemies can be stunned and from there can be finished off with grotesque executions these gnarly finishing moves feel kind of right out of Mortal Kombat then you've got magic prayer spells you can build up fervor with attacks and kills and use it to fire off these prayers by pressing the trigger there are 17 prayers to find and they're all incredibly strong in my first playthrough I hardly ever used prayers it wasn't until my first patented New Game Plus playthrough that I tapped into my full arsenal as jaw-dropping as the boss fights are I didn't find them very difficult to overcome Blasphemous has a reputation for being tough but I wouldn't apply that to the bosses I was able to overcome most in one or two tries with some exceptions of course even chasing the trophy where I couldn't heal during the boss fight wasn't that bad outside of the final battle that is patterns are pretty easy to read and there are some prayers that can chip off huge chunks of their health bar with every hit it may not be too hard but they're wonderfully memorable check out this boss baby this blindfolded bloody infant will rip you apart like it's me throwing down a plate of wings the devs clearly wanted players to feel shocked and they massively succeeded by this by asking you to fight a giant baby in his demonic poison snake friend you can also customize El penitente with rosary beads unlocking all eight beat slots gives you plenty of leeway playing with beads won't completely shift how you play but it feels fun to change things up for a specific boss or area like a bead that eliminates recovery time from Falls equipping special relics is the only way to reach certain locations drastically you don't need any relics to beat the main Campaign which can feel a little jarring instead they serve to provide something more for completionists who want to explore these relics make the game feel even larger than it already is and flesh out the metroidvania aspects I think the real difficulty is that there are dozens of secret rooms and puzzles that are comically difficult to solve at times I love to be challenged and pushed and blasphemous often met me where I wanted it to if I had to make a complaint it would be that just going after the Platinum doesn't quite give you the full picture of what completion feels like because once you ascend your save file into a new game plus file the entire game transforms earning the Platinum took me about 25 hours of play time but New Game Plus and the journey to 150 completion practically doubled that the way New Game Plus Works in Blasphemous is that after beating the game you can select your save file and Ascend it then you can interact with your new alter that applies a Penance to your playthrough these penances completely modify your gameplay and change the nature of Blasphemous in a good way don't make the same mistake I did you can't do everything in your first playthrough this isn't one of those games where you unlock the good ending then that counts for the other endings on the one hand I was grateful to have done a completionist run my first time through on the other I probably should have just saved that for my fourth playthrough to collect all the bones and uncover the entire map she using a Penance requires careful thought but for full completion you must eventually overcome all three you know how I said in my first playthrough I didn't really bother using prayer spells well choosing the Penance of unwavering Faith made me a Believer this path cuts the power of your melee attacks down by half but you make up for this by having a constantly regenerating fervor bar this is essentially the cast to run and I found it empowering to experiment with prayers I'd never use up to that point after that run I tried the Penance of true guilt which for me lands somewhere in between the other two patentances here the game does the souls thing where if you die all of your tears of atonement go into your guilt fragment which must be collected or lost forever also if you die in battle your fervor bar is overcome by guilt meaning you cannot cast spells oh and flasks no longer heal you they only restore fervor so the trick for this mode is to Simply never die it's not exactly an Iron Man run by any means but it did make me play much more carefully the pen into the bleeding heart is almost a complete inversion of the unwavering Faith run with this penitence enemies respond every time you exit a room your life bar is replaced by a bunch of orbs and healing even works differently too instead of restoring a set amount of Health every time flasks can slowly restore multiple orbs this run felt a little more frenzied for sure though by the time I got around to doing it I had mastered combat and dodging so it never really felt too overwhelming it may sound like a tall order to ask someone to replay an entire game multiple times but I appreciated that each penitence feels radically different it's a break from established New Game Plus formulas where enemies are tougher or you have less Health even though the penitence playthroughs are very difficult I recommend giving them a shot there is incentive to keep playing even after mastering the base game and the game does reward you for doing so even if your mileage may vary on the nature of those rewards each pentonite's playthrough made me feel like I was enduring a new type of pain one of blasphemous's great strengths is that it changes its form I very much enjoyed the timed platforming stages and the hidden arcade style d-make is awesome and the sacred Sorrows Boss Rush though scary at first proved to be a worthy test of all the skills I had learned new game plus is also the only way to interact with the new MPC jabrail when you start an ascended save file you are given a new item the Petrified Bell this Bell lets you unlock the room jabrail is in later in the game this quest line leads to some difficult boss fights if you know where to look and these battles are absolutely worth it if you want a true challenge as immersion breaking as it might seem I always appreciate a good crossover and the blood-stained cross Blasphemous aspect is a good time once you meet Miriam in the mother of mothers you can enter into special mirrors where you must make it to the end of a stage under a strict time limit these levels worked for me as despite the penitent one's weightness he has a springy jump that made me feel spry I liked having to avoid insta-kill spikes and tie my jumps ducks and Dodges to make it to the end the arcady mini game Alcazar of grief is easy to miss out on but is essential for completion in a hidden area of the desecrated cistern you play this game by plunking down some money I think it's rad when developer pivots to a different art style or different gameplay mode seemingly out of nowhere and this is further proof that the game kitchen is eager to flex their creative muscles sacred Sorrows is the Boss Rush this is a completely separate mode access from the main menu not found in the main game at all each stage in this mode pits you against a set of bosses and you can only refill your flask a certain number of times between battles think All-Star mode from smash melee there are two difficulty options Pilgrim and true torment with different S Plus ranking requirements sacred Sorrows was one of the things that stressed me out the most when I started down that long path of completion earning an S Plus ranking means defeating each boss in basically a frame perfect manner earning the highest rank in sacred Sorrows seems daunting you think you're being graded on all these different aspects but it turns out the clock is the only one that matters so this boss Russ is actually more of a speed run test to earn an S Plus ranking on each sorrow meant I had to kill bosses as efficiently as possible I found chewing through all the bosses to be super empowering the completion process in Blasphemous is opaque difficult and takes much longer than one might expect through it all I was rewarded with some of the most intricately detailed environments and enemies I've ever seen in this genre but there are a few more material rewards as well whether that's enough to satisfy you is up to debate it was to me to a point [Music] like the penitent one himself anyone who chooses to complete blasphemist must scale a mountain and like the penitent one not everyone will be rewarded for doing so not to cite myself or anything but I recently completed Star Wars Jedi Survivor and was slightly disappointed that most of the collectibles in that game were Cosmetic in nature it felt like every chest or rumor led to a new outfit or lightsaber part this isn't a bad thing by any means but the frequency with which I found new cosmetic items made it feel less rewarding in Blasphemous earning new outfits feels special in fact new skins are the highest rewards this game has to offer whether you finish the game with the bad ending the good ending or the secret third ending which requires you to jump through a million Hoops the reward is always the same a badass new outfit completed the Alcazar of grief new outfit found 100 of the Collectibles you guessed it new outfit these skins don't do any anything mechanically they all just look sick as hell but to me these rewards were satisfying maybe it's because I obtained them by completing various challenges rather than just coming across them in the game somewhere and that made them feel good to unlock having a challenge to overcome feels a lot better than just simply opening a chest there are a few skins that are unavailable to me the golden burden skin was for Kickstarter backers only so I miss out on that one in the alloy of sinskin is a PC locked bonus but when all was said and done I was left with every other skin in the game in a strong sense of accomplishment and in another effort to tie everything back to its theming it's amazingly cool these outfits are echoes of history that said I understand that these Cosmetics leave a little bit to be desired to some there are some other rewards to be found which are more in line with the completion bonus every pentanist rewards the player with a new rosary bead which have powerful in-game effects also completing a pent in its run is the only way to push your completion percentage Beyond 100 also your game keeps tracking when you've completed a pentatives run by adding a metal or icon to your save file look I love seeing this kind of thing right in the main menu completionists and secret Hunters who are fans of Indies will also appreciate one specific hidden area there is an art gallery featuring paintings of other Indie characters including you guessed it Shovel Knight Finding this room doesn't give you anything but I love when Indie devs support other Indie devs Blasphemous is a marvelous example of horror and Beauty blending together through gameplay it's a testament to the power of having a strong Vision the game is very uncompromising which can be both good and bad for completionists much of the coolest rewards and Skins are held back for people who choose to prestate themselves before the altar of completion and I understand not everyone will want to be that devoted I started to feel a little exhausted somewhere around play through three but overall I found the entire experience to be mostly satisfying it may seem like metrovania's in the Indie world are a dime a dozen but greatness always stands out Blasphemous takes gameplay cues from Super Metroid Sultan sanctuary and Castlevania Symphony of the Night but the result is entirely its own thing by devoting itself to its aesthetic Blasphemous remains forever memorable that doesn't mean that I found the completion rewards to be the most satisfying of things I've ever earned in a game after 52 hours and playing for the game at least four times through I'd say that this game definitely desert its completionist rating of finish it can't wait to see how the game kitchen pushes the limits forward with their abilities even further within Blasphemous 2 when it releases thanks for watching and hey if you want more videos like this you can check out my video on Blood Stained ritual of the night see you guys soon [Music]

Channel: The Completionist

Views: 116,999

Keywords: blasphemous, blasphemous game, blasphemous gameplay, blasphemous 1, blasphemous review, blasphemous 2, blasphemous 2 trailer, blasphemous trailer, game review, game reviews, blasphemous 2 preorder, blasphemous 2 gameplay, trailer, soulslike, bloodborne, elden ring, dark souls, metroidvania, dead cells, platformer, souls like, hack n slash, jirard khalil, completionist, gameplay, hades, indie game, indie games, blasphemous ii, blasphemous story, metroidvania games, soulslike games

Id: C5r6trSj70c

Length: 25min 39sec (1539 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023