First game I've bought for switch since end of June (together with Torchlight 2 and the Tetris99 dlc) and I think I'll really enjoy it. Getting some Slainvibes from it and that's a good thing.
There is a lot of bullshit enemies with attack patterns just to annoy you and prevent you from platforming and there is a lot of deep sighs and swearing playing this but damn, I can't put this game down.
The level design and short cuts are too good and your currency not being thrown away when dying keeps me going.
I finished the game with both endings last night. I liked it a lot, but I do think it was overly cryptic at times. I probably wouldn't have figured out how to get the true ending on my own, and definitely not the last Mea Culpa upgrade. The spike pits got pretty annoying towards the end too, especially when the corpse ends up on the spikes and you have no way of retrieving it other than paying the guild statues.
The combat feels a bit inconsistent in my opinion with blocking and slashing away ranged attacks, would also like if they patched the range in which you grap ledges because you can't jump down a ledge to then land on the platform underneath because the character graps the ledge like it has magnetic hands.
I'm really happy that this game exists. I backed it, loved the concept, and like most I was super impressed with the artistic approaches of the game, and early prototypes that showed off small slices of what we'd eventually get. I'm glad that the game was made, and that it was delivered in a timely enough fashion. I think it's a very solid game, with some really high highs.
I'm also surprised by its lows. Maybe it's just that I've seen games in this genre that all seem to have been developed by 4th dimensional beings who have perfected -- seemingly on a first attempt -- the black art that is "Metroidvania" design. Games like Hollow Knight, Bloodstained, Ori, and others have proven that not only is there a hunger for this kind of game, but that all the lessons of the inspirations have been passed down in fit form, and adapted, and in many cases expanded upon greatly.
Blasphemous' world, beautiful and scarred as it is, is really quite mediocre. The levels themselves, while exceptionally decorated, never gave way to what I would call a sense of exploration; rather, there always seemed to me to be this immediate sense of "Here's a sequence of enemies that are in some way designed to cause a fail state, so focus hard on that." In that process, the levels began to lose their rhyme or reason, and while the game is always "weird", I found myself tone-deaf to whatever weirdness it was slinging. Unlike the obvious inspiration of something like Bloodborne, I eventually just started skipping whatever world-building elements there were because around half-way through I think the pandering lost the core of what that title was doing with its lore and world. There's also this distinct lack of connective tissue thanks to the (obvious) Metroid/exploration elements dotted around the world that, unless you're careful and exhaustive, you'll never get. They're annoying, because they're all locked behind paths I was mostly unwilling to explore for the above reasons. I think had they been implemented in the main flow of the game, Blasphemous would rise above its station. It just kept feeling like, hey, there's a better more expansive world here, but you can't explore it, so just focus on the task at hand.
So I did. I went through its stages, I slayed its monsters, and I finished the game. I like the game, but I don't love it. The second-to-final boss was excellent, but the final boss was such a hack-job it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth (I kept just praying for God-like RNG on certain portions, and when I got it the fight was a complete pushover). There's nothing super special in any of this: this is a game designed and developed not by 4D beings, but by mere mortals, and it shows -- it is decidedly simple, with (I suspect) some of its more interesting spices kept in the kitchen. Speaking of Kitchens, more than anything I think this game proves that while the formula is available for developers to make games like this, some are far, far better than others: TGK did a good job, but this is more of an appetizer to stretch the cooking analogies particularly thin.
I love that Blasphemous is unabashedly violent, and how it looks. There's evocative imagery in this game, and certainly a few areas that on their own are dreary and picturesque in all the right ways; the visual language spoken by this game is worth the price of admission since everything else is, well, simply "Good, not great." I sound down on this game, but I promise I'm not -- I'm just deflated by the realization that it's just a good game, and not much more. In the end, that's okay, but exposure to this genre with any depth will certainly make some eyebrows raise with some of the decisions that were made here, I think.
Gonna put this clip from my stream tonight in a spoiler tag, as I am just in awe with regards to the unique way the game approaches health upgrades. I am just stunned. I have never seen anyone tackle it like this before. This dev team has crafted something special, truly.
Anyone else having issues with flickering sprites? The talking heads that give the wounds had the top flicker and now the mid game boss I'm at(5 to 6 hours) is having the middle and bottom flicker to black and it's very annoying
Spoilered image below
Playing at 4k with the latest nvidia drivers and the September windows 10 update
Finished it at 100% with both endings, took 16h48m. Great game, though quite glitchly in places; got stuck in the environment countless of times forcing me to jump back to the main menu, had two crashes (PS4 Pro) and even two trophies glitched out for me >:( (the one about Righteous Riposte 5 times, and the Kisser of Wounds wrap-up trophy). Hopefully they can be retroactively awarded if a patch is released.
Got to like 86% completion by putting a few more hours in. For the life of me, I can't find the ability that lets you jump while you're in sludge. Also, I have no idea what
the room with the slashed hand and two candles does. Tried cutting myself to near-death, using up all my magic, but I don't think I'm doing what it wants.
Though I have an excellent time with the game, there are certain things that really annoy me. The main point is concerned with travelling. I am twelve hours in and have to fight against a certain fire boss. I only unlocked one teleportation room so far. I would love to travel back to the starting areas to do some collecting, but I can not stand the tought of travelling through ten or fifteen minutes of deadly environments (maybe even more). I am in desparate need of a teleportation room.
Sometimes you unlock shortcuts, however, these shortcuts still make you jump from platform to platform over spike pits. It feels unnecessary cruel. I generally love to explore and backtrack in metroidvanias, but this game makes this far too tedious.
Got to like 86% completion by putting a few more hours in. For the life of me, I can't find the ability that lets you jump while you're in sludge. Also, I have no idea what
the room with the slashed hand and two candles does. Tried cutting myself to near-death, using up all my magic, but I don't think I'm doing what it wants.
For that room, you need to find all the red and blue wax so you get the Big versions of the rosary beads, then equip them while cutting yourself in that room.
Got to like 86% completion by putting a few more hours in. For the life of me, I can't find the ability that lets you jump while you're in sludge. [/spoiler]
I'm really happy that this game exists. I backed it, loved the concept, and like most I was super impressed with the artistic approaches of the game, and early prototypes that showed off small slices of what we'd eventually get. I'm glad that the game was made, and that it was delivered in a timely enough fashion. I think it's a very solid game, with some really high highs.
I'm also surprised by its lows. Maybe it's just that I've seen games in this genre that all seem to have been developed by 4th dimensional beings who have perfected -- seemingly on a first attempt -- the black art that is "Metroidvania" design. Games like Hollow Knight, Bloodstained, Ori, and others have proven that not only is there a hunger for this kind of game, but that all the lessons of the inspirations have been passed down in fit form, and adapted, and in many cases expanded upon greatly.
Blasphemous' world, beautiful and scarred as it is, is really quite mediocre. The levels themselves, while exceptionally decorated, never gave way to what I would call a sense of exploration; rather, there always seemed to me to be this immediate sense of "Here's a sequence of enemies that are in some way designed to cause a fail state, so focus hard on that." In that process, the levels began to lose their rhyme or reason, and while the game is always "weird", I found myself tone-deaf to whatever weirdness it was slinging. Unlike the obvious inspiration of something like Bloodborne, I eventually just started skipping whatever world-building elements there were because around half-way through I think the pandering lost the core of what that title was doing with its lore and world. There's also this distinct lack of connective tissue thanks to the (obvious) Metroid/exploration elements dotted around the world that, unless you're careful and exhaustive, you'll never get. They're annoying, because they're all locked behind paths I was mostly unwilling to explore for the above reasons. I think had they been implemented in the main flow of the game, Blasphemous would rise above its station. It just kept feeling like, hey, there's a better more expansive world here, but you can't explore it, so just focus on the task at hand.
So I did. I went through its stages, I slayed its monsters, and I finished the game. I like the game, but I don't love it. The second-to-final boss was excellent, but the final boss was such a hack-job it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth (I kept just praying for God-like RNG on certain portions, and when I got it the fight was a complete pushover). There's nothing super special in any of this: this is a game designed and developed not by 4D beings, but by mere mortals, and it shows -- it is decidedly simple, with (I suspect) some of its more interesting spices kept in the kitchen. Speaking of Kitchens, more than anything I think this game proves that while the formula is available for developers to make games like this, some are far, far better than others: TGK did a good job, but this is more of an appetizer to stretch the cooking analogies particularly thin.
I love that Blasphemous is unabashedly violent, and how it looks. There's evocative imagery in this game, and certainly a few areas that on their own are dreary and picturesque in all the right ways; the visual language spoken by this game is worth the price of admission since everything else is, well, simply "Good, not great." I sound down on this game, but I promise I'm not -- I'm just deflated by the realization that it's just a good game, and not much more. In the end, that's okay, but exposure to this genre with any depth will certainly make some eyebrows raise with some of the decisions that were made here, I think.
would definitely agree to this write up which is spot on imo.
the game is a solid effort which could have been much better in terms of exploration and unlocking tools to reach closed off areas would have been very welcome. the game starts off strong but somehow it never reaches the highs good Metroidvanias (should) provide because it lacks the moments of triumph of getting new tools to traverse the world.
Is there any way to buy the art book without owning the Steam version? I own the game on Switch. It's absurd that Steam still requires you to own the respective video game for non-gameplay related DLC.
That room with the two paintings of the candles I figured out pretty quickly, except for the self-cutting part because...I absolutely no idea how to USE the self-cutting ability or if I even have such a skill. I'm about 30 minutes away from finishing the game and I still don't even realize what the hell is going on in the game, why anything is happening, or why half the cryptic bullshit in this game was designed the way it was.
Also, fuck trying to get one of those sword upgrades locked behind the three paintings. I am not going to traverse my way through this boring ass map, trying not to die on the cheap platforming this game has sometimes, just to kill three specific types of enemies without fast traveling. Just...fuck all of that.
Doesn't seem like anyone has put one together yet, but there is a full playthrough on YouTube that shows the locations of many of the Bile Vessels (timestamps in the description), although you will have to go through the videos one by one to find them
So, I played the game for around 12 hours on Switch and I ran into a few bugs so far. However, now I'm truly stuck, and it seems like a soft lock-up that prevents me from completing the game.
In "Grievence ascends" I have just killed the boss (in my playthrough this was boss #3 I guess). However, there was an annoying issue at the end of the fight. The second I won the fight, when the animated explosions started, my controls locked up (the Pro Controller was still connected though) and the screen kept scrolling up and the boss attacks didn't stop and kept hitting me. I then watched as the game first told me I died and immediately loaded me in a small locked, with my character still alive. However, I can't leave the room and not further animation is playing. I assume maybe a cut-scene should have been triggered but didn't? Any idea if there is any walk-around to continue playing? It seems the game auto-saved immediately as I always start in the same locked room again, even after quitting the game.
The room I'm stuck in seems to be to the right of the boss area according to the map. I have not used the NPC's offer for help for any of the bosses so far, if this makes a difference. I'm holding out hope that maybe this is just a kind of puzzle I'm too stupid to understand, as everything else in this game is very obtuse.
I'm quite annoyed, especially as I had a similar problem with the previous boss (charred visage) where also the attack animations kept going after I won, but at least in this case my controls were still going and I was able to just run out of the room to the right on my own and I was able to continue playing.
Maybe someone here has any information or can at least point me in the right direction.
Loved it. I ended at 89.5% because there's NO WAY I'm gonna do the Chalice of Inverted Verses side quest (the one where you need to defeat three enemies all over the map without dying or teleporting). I also got the bad ending, but watched the true ending on youtube.
Can't wait to see what the devs had planned for the future.
So, I played the game for around 12 hours on Switch and I ran into a few bugs so far. However, now I'm truly stuck, and it seems like a soft lock-up that prevents me from completing the game.
In "Grievence ascends" I have just killed the boss (in my playthrough this was boss #3 I guess). However, there was an annoying issue at the end of the fight. The second I won the fight, when the animated explosions started, my controls locked up (the Pro Controller was still connected though) and the screen kept scrolling up and the boss attacks didn't stop and kept hitting me. I then watched as the game first told me I died and immediately loaded me in a small locked, with my character still alive. However, I can't leave the room and not further animation is playing. I assume maybe a cut-scene should have been triggered but didn't? Any idea if there is any walk-around to continue playing? It seems the game auto-saved immediately as I always start in the same locked room again, even after quitting the game.
The room I'm stuck in seems to be to the right of the boss area according to the map. I have not used the NPC's offer for help for any of the bosses so far, if this makes a difference. I'm holding out hope that maybe this is just a kind of puzzle I'm too stupid to understand, as everything else in this game is very obtuse.
I'm quite annoyed, especially as I had a similar problem with the previous boss (charred visage) where also the attack animations kept going after I won, but at least in this case my controls were still going and I was able to just run out of the room to the right on my own and I was able to continue playing.
Maybe someone here has any information or can at least point me in the right direction.
Is there a prie dieus there? because if not, you just had to reset the game and it will go back to the previous save spot. I had a similiar issue with that fight. Died after the finishing blow. The game returned me to the prie dieus and I just had to go back to the boss room to discover they were dead.
There's nothing in the room. In the background there are the three women I undefeated earlier. Even if I reload the game I start back in the locked, empty room.
Is there a prie dieus there? because if not, you just had to reset the game and it will go back to the previous save spot. I had a similiar issue with that fight. Died after the finishing blow. The game returned me to the prie dieus and I just had to go back to the boss room to discover they were dead.
The worst thing is when your corpse stays in the spikes so you have to pay the Guilt statues to retrieve it. I'm not sure if that's a bug or intentional, since sometimes the corpse is on the last ledge you were alive on, and sometimes it's on the spikes and unretrievable. Seems to be a crapshoot.
Is the consensus that the game runs well on every platform? I was debating between getting it on either Switch or PS4. I would prefer Switch if they are identical.
Is the consensus that the game runs well on every platform? I was debating between getting it on either Switch or PS4. I would prefer Switch if they are identical.
