Highly-anticipated Metroidvania sequel Blasphemous 2 from The Game Kitchen and Team17 is waiting for you on PS5. Learn more in our Blasphemous II review!
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Highly-anticipated Metroidvania sequel Blasphemous 2 from The Game Kitchen and Team17 has finally landed on PlayStation 5. The story for this new adventure takes place after the ending of the Wounds of Eventide DLC. The Penitent One is brought back into action as he takes on a new world where the Miracle’s power needs to be averted. Old foes return after people start to seek a way out of their misery and pray for a greater power to end their suffering. You must continue your Penance and vanquish everyone who gets in your way.
After a short but gorgeous animated intro, your new journey as the Penitent One will begin. More animated segments will play at crucial moments in the game. Your first choice in Blasphemous 2 will be to select one of the three starting weapons so that you can bring swift justice with each swing. There’s a huge and powerful but slow flail, a pair of nimble but average swords, or a larger and more balanced sword that deals solid damage. You get a brief moment to try all three out before you begin the game proper, so check out their combos and ground and air attacks to see which one best suits your playing style.
You’ll control the Penitent One either with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping with the X button and attacking with the Square button. The right analog stick can be used to control the camera as needed. You can press and hold down the Square button to charge up a more powerful attack. The R2 button is for performing a dash that, when timed just right, can help you avoid incoming damage.
The L1 button is used for changing weapons once you manage to find the other weapons you didn’t select at the start of your adventure. The Circle button will be for Prayers, which are used by filling up your Fervour bar by attacking and executing enemies. You can recite a quick prayer by pressing the Circle button or can press down on the left analog stick or the D-Pad and then press the Circle button to invoke a more powerful prayer. Once you unlock the Ivy of Ascension ability, you’ll be able to press the R2 button to cling to some surfaces.
The Triangle button will allow you to consume one of your Bile Flasks, which will recover your vitality. Your Bile Flasks will refill when you kneed before a Prie Dieu, which is where you can also save your progress. Kneeling before a Prie Dieu will also allow you to continue from it when you’re defeated, but all the progress made between the moment you knelt before that Prie Dieu and when you died will be lost, so be sure to save early and save often! Your special will be mapped to the R1 button. The L2 button will be for interacting with objects or other characters. Oh, and you can open up your map by pressing the Touchpad on the DualSense. This is very useful for seeing where you have already explored and where you should be headed to.
By visiting the master sculptor’s workshop in town, you’ll be able to equip the different pieces you collect. By equipping them in your Altarpiece of Favors, the Penitent One will receive a benefit. You can exchange Marks of Martyrdom for additional slots for your Altarpiece of Favors. As you learn early in the game, most of the Marks of Martyrdom you will gain after defeating the different bosses in Blasphemous 2, but you can also gain extras by defeating enemies and filling up the Martyrdom gauge. The first piece you’ll receive is The Traitor, which will increase the physical damage inflicted.
When you die, a Guilt Fragment will remain anchored to the world. The level of Guilt will increase while reducing how much Fervour you can gain, which can make some segments trickier since you need Fervour for your specials and for Prayers. You’ll also have lower defense. The good news is that you will earn more Tears of Atonement and Martyrdom points. You can collect Guilt Fragments to partially recover or find someone who can ease your burden and remove your Guilt.
Marks of Martyrdom can be used to power up your weapons by spending them in the corresponding skill tree. Take, for example, Veredicto, the mighty flail that I selected as my starting weapon. Spending one Martyrdom point can unlock the Crucible of Faith skill, which halves the time required to charge up Veredicto before unleashing a more powerful attack. Another option would be to spend another Martyrdom point on the Tempered Flames skill, which allows you to press the R1 button to turn off Veredicto after activating its flames, thus interrupting the consumption of Fervour.
You can also equip Rosary Beads in your inventory to upgrade the characteristics of the Penitent One. You can find additional knots to increase the number of Rosary Beads you can equip. The first Rosary Bead you’ll find is the Scratched Lead Sphere. Equipping this one will slightly increase resistance to all physical damage, which can certainly go a long way at the start of your adventure.
Trophy-wise, Blasphemous 2 features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy waiting for you, and it’s going to be quite the challenging trophy run! The list includes 6 Bronze trophies, 8 silver trophies, and 7 Gold trophies for you to work on. There are trophies tied to defeating each of the bosses that the game will throw at you, defeating one of the bosses without receiving any damage, finding all Prayers, Rosary Beads, and Figures, upgrade to unlock all Rosary Bead slots, unlock all additional Bile Flasks, find all Cherubs, upgrade each of the weapons, defeat hundreds of enemies with each weapon, as well as miscellaneous objectives such as dealing 250 damage with a single hit.
Blasphemous 2 builds on what its prequel did while presenting us with a Metroidvania experience that feels fresh. You’ll explore a new set of areas, battle against some old and new foes, and use three weapons to open up new paths here and there, all as you work toward making sure the Miracle is no more. Other than some slowdown here and there, there’s not much to complain about this new journey for the Penitent One. Blasphemous 2 is out on PlayStation 5 with a $29.99 asking price.
Disclaimer
This Blasphemous 2 review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Team17.
