Not as good as the first one, but more of an RPG
Blasphemous 2 is the direct sequel made by The Game Kitchen and published by Team17 on 24 August 2023. The Penitent One returns to a world the Miracle keeps shaping, this time with three different weapons to choose from right at the start, each with its own skill tree and its own reachable passages.
He needs every one of those weapons, because this time the Penitent One wants to finish the job: rebirth has made him stronger, and he now has what it takes to face the dangers and drive out for good the Miracle that keeps twisting this world. A Miracle that came back through the fierce, innocent wish of a barren couple who wanted a child.
The game brings in new mechanics and new upgrades, but its soul stays the same: the usual Andalusian baroque pixel art, a journey that feels like a religious procession set to Spanish sacred music. The difficulty, too, is finely tuned, and only on the second-to-last boss, Eviterno, do you run into a real spike.
Another very interesting thing is how much the RPG mechanics have grown in the fights against enemies and bosses. Quick reflexes are not all that counts: what also counts is how you have built your character, with the rosary and with the immensely powerful altar system, customizable down to the smallest detail.
Blasphemous 2 has made the mechanics typical of platformers both more numerous and more complex, and it keeps the cryptic nature of the first chapter. It perhaps reuses the same devices a bit too much, and that makes it less innovative, but it does not mean it is a bad game, quite the opposite.
I can repeat what I said in the previous post: it is a beautiful game, perhaps a little less beautiful than the opening chapter. It is meant for those who have already been through that one, so before you get here, play the first.