I played the second, and thought it was a let down. They cleaned up the visuals in a way that robbed it of what I loved about the first’s style, the boss designs are nearly all “just a dude” types, and they shift the focus to platforming puzzles.
Ah, bummer. I’ll just replay the first then. Thanks!
It’s a bit more accessible than the first - not quite as pixelbitchy about making jumps, better traversal options you can unlock, and the enemies to me felt a bit easier. IMHO the music was better, too, but that’s an acquired taste for certain.
It leans a lot more into the metroidvania side of things, with jumping and interaction puzzles, and a crapton of more-or-less hidden collectables.
I’d say it’s a better game, but it doesn’t leave quite an impression as an experience as the first, mostly since the bosses and mobs felt visually “tamer”.
Still, it can be picked up for a song by now, and if you like the genre, it’s definitely one of the better picks.
I was fascinated with the first game, but got stuck and didn’t make much progress. But I’ve been playing the second one off-and-on since it’s release, and I show no sign of hitting a dead end so far. I’m not sure if the second one is designed to be more forgiving, if I got better, or if it’s some combination of the two, but I’m really enjoying Blasphemous 2. It was one of the few games I’ve stuck with long enough to qualify for my vote in the Quarterlies!
I can’t speak to @anonymgeist’s comments that the boss designs are “just a dude” – I’ve only fought two so far, and they were certainly dudes, but I’m not sure if they were “just dudes” – and the platforming challenges haven’t annoyed me yet, but it’s worth pointing out that I’m constitutionally allergic to most platforming challenges and haven’t had an issue with Blasphemous 2.
All that said, I’m still early in the game. Like as not, there will be a post forthcoming about how I’ve ragequit because of reason x, y, or z. But for now, I can heartily endorse this as a worthy follow up to the gruesome weirdness of the first game.
Hmm… Okay. I’ll adjust my expectations and give it a shot. On sale now, so why not…
FWIW, the reviews of Blasphemous 2 were generally really good and felt it was an improvement on the first one (which I loved and played basically up until the final boss).
That’s disappointing, if true! You definitely couldn’t say that about the first Blasphemous!
Okay, I suppose the “just dudes” remark is in comparison to Our Lady of the Charred Visage:
And Melquíades, The Exhumed Archbishop:
The second game doesn’t have anything even in the same ballpark.
This is just me being me, but I already refunded. The reason is that it doesn’t let you skip the boss intros. So… rather than take the chance that future bosses have longer intros, I just called it quits. This was probably in the first game too, but I’m just not in the mood to deal with it at this time.
And where the platforming got to me–and eventually made me walk away from the game about 80% through–is when it leans super heavy into the weapons being used to trigger various traversal moves (the mirrors, bells, and vines), requiring you to switch weapons 3+ times with very little margin of error.