Following an official announcement from The Game Kitchen a few days ago for its official release date, the visceral and extremely gory 2D action title Blasphemous has now announced a demo on Steam for PC. The game is set for a September 10 release date, when the fast-paced hack and slash title that has been in development for quite some time now will finally make its way to PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One. Check out a trailer for the game below.
Having already played through the short demo, Blasphemous is shaping up to be pretty good, although it is not without its faults. The demo drops you off in the game’s first stages, where The Penitent One faces off against some incredibly gruesome enemies highlighted by exceptional sprite work.
Controlling the character is fairly similar to other 2D side-scrolling action games, although The Penitent One may feel unresponsive at times. Climbing down from ledges is the biggest offender, which seems to glitch pretty badly on higher refresh rates. It got annoying after a certain point as I tried mashing the jump and down button together and the character still wouldn't go down the ledge. A helpful comment on the Steam community thread fixed that, so after turning off V-sync I’ve found no more problems with it.
Moving away from bugs, you get to experience an incredibly rich yet dark world, filled with tons of bastardized Catholic imagery. This is not a derogatory statement in any sense, and if anything, this art direction has managed to set Blasphemous apart from other 2D action games like it. There’s a clear-cut theme and inspiration that’s present, and it pervades every pixel.
Brace yourself for the eventual Souls comparisons as well, as Blasphemous is pretty challenging. It may be due to the fact that The Penitent One’s controls were a detriment, but barring all of the small issues I experienced, you’re still left with a hard game. That said, it’s quite engaging and really enjoyable, and after finishing the first boss I ran through the game again to see if there was any secret I missed.
Blasphemous will be released for the PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One this September 10.
