Blasphemous II is really disappointing compared with the original

[mocaccino]

It isn't by any means a bad product. It's just that the original had identity. This time it seems that they wanted to broad their audience (which ended up working to be honest).

- New enemies fail to captivate.
- The map lacks the organic feel of Blasphemous 1, featuring uninspired dead ends as mere justification for metroidvania characteristics.
- Dark art shifted towards a more cartoonish style in the cutscenes, losing its gritty feel.
- Parrying takes a back seat to dodging.
- Timing mechanics.

The sole positive I could find is the fluid gameplay with great response time.

[｡゜★｡Hanyuu｡★゜｡]

also feel way less creative dont even look like the same people who create the first game

[mocaccino]

Yep. It is a great game for newcomers to the series. For us who enjoyed the first one, it is meh.

[LordRetBrick]

I mean did it work, seems to be selling considerably less. Hell even just looking at recent reviews B1 has gotten more than twice as many this month than B2.

While not a perfect metric you can generally approxximate it to B1 having sold considerably more copies in recent months.

It's more of an approachable metroidvania than the first but also really lacks anything to stand out outside of the art and that doesn't seem to have been enough to pull more people in.

I could keep going for a while on specifics but I'll avoid rambling and I also already wrote it in a review, I'm just really disappointed.

[Genghis Tron]

The game is kinda growing on me, but overall I agree that B1 was a better game.

[Dr.Luckyshot]

It really is. I'm actually surprised by the positive reception it garnered from both players and media sources alike, considering the complete lack of creativity involved in the final product. Despite the gameplay improvements, the sequel is lacking everything that made original game stand out. Even the level design took a turn for the worse with most areas being awfully uninspired and dull to explore.

[Brigadeos]

My only complain are the bosses. I feel their design is kinda whatever, compared to B1 which were memorable, like the big bone bishop or the baby without eyes. In B2 I feel like all the bosses are just some other warrior fighting you and the only one kinda distinctive is the one with many heads (the touhou boss). Well, they also fell for the trope of using the exact enemies but with different colors so you know they are a little more dangerous.

[Nekz]

I may be wrong....dunno but I have the feeling the devs with B1 had more time and invested a lot of effort to make their first video game hit, they where risking far more, they had more pressure to success. After their success with B1.... doing B2 was more relaxed process....seems like a bunch of leftover art an ideas from the first game....more lazier game design and softer...... again I might be wrong just a feeling not a fact.
I think B2 with time if they add more content will justify the price and become a amazing game...just wait.

[Ratt]

I actually loved the second game immensely, and felt that it was a glowing labour of love, overtly evidently, with more deliberate flow to alot of locations and thematic bosses than the first.

HOWEVER:

I think there's a couple reasons I find the first a better overall game, which might be affecting people. There's next to no padding in the second game, where the first game had a number of open areas that serve more or less just as "ways to get from one spot to the next," in B2 everything's either a hub or a boss location. That makes it a lot harder to get lost in the world. I also think that the combat system is kind of broken, where the easiest weapons to use are also the most powerful, and the more creative ones (the fencing kit) have a very low dps ceiling and are awkward to use. I expect that if there's DLC they'll fix the second issue, but while I have ideas that might fix the first, they would be hard to integrate.

Overall I think that they were overly ambitious with their vision, and too limited in testing to bear it out. I have alot of faith in the team though, to flesh out something in the long term, I hope it's rewarded.

[rocksmith.ratnip]

I find B1 to be far superior to B2 in almost all the aspects. I'm still happy that B2 was well received, and am hoping for some great DLC, but if there ever is a B3, I sincerely hope they will "go back to their roots", instead of so blatantly pandering to awider audience.

[Jerac]

To me it is the interface which made me "throw the controller" so to speak.

I can't figure how to use about a third of special abilities. They have hidden trigger conditions - or maybe unexplained - and some are just plain confusing to the point that I just don't know if I even activated the ability or not.

The menu is a disaster to the point that I don't want to play with builds / statues, because it is such a chore.

There is one late boss with unskippable dialogue with such long breaks inbetween


each


fkin


sentence


that I just can't make myself go through it, even if the boss is actually fun to fight.

I have to find three cherubs but there is no late game hint where the last one are (like Hollow Knight for example does, and it is worth noting HK is not gating the good ending behind finding every last one).

Then there are bugs.
Activating fire stance for the Veredicto sometimes just doesn't play the animation.
Alt+F4 may undo progress even if player has visited Prie Dieu,
Some areas don't play BGM properly.

Thankfully, each of these issues can be patched out so I plan to returning to B2 in a year or so and give it a second try. For now I kinda have had enough.

[Motive]

Originally posted by mocaccino:

Yep. It is a great game for newcomers to the series. For us who enjoyed the first one, it is meh.

Seems like Ghostrunner 2 situation lol.

[Trappski]

I really enjoyed this game through and through. It's definitely easier than B1. But i prefer the less obscure side-quests etc in this game tbh.

But I'm mostly not one for reading lore-drops on items to find out you need to give this and that to someone when the moon is blue and the yellow rose withers while you are having lunch with a mother of three.

[Anon]

I strongly disagree with your point about the new enemies. I feel like the enemies were the worst part of the first game, and that both their design and attacks were uninspired. I agree with the rest though, but would add that the sequel also manages to improve the already great in-game graphics and OST of the first game.

[mocaccino]

The enemies of the first game are undoubtedly way better. Most of the enemies of the second game lack on creativity.

[[JRE] Joe Rogan]

Idk what people are smoking B1 was very unpolished compared to B2 and B2 still needs more polish on controls but it's whatever. Are people forgetting the 60 FPS lock and the attacks shooting from off screen in B1? Instadeath pits everywhere?

If you think that's fun then so be it, yes they made B2 more acessible and I don't think it makes the game worse.

I do wish they were more creative in enemy designs and the cutscene art style sucks, also the story...is awful but B1 wasn't good either. This game feels more like a Souls like to me than B1 did. I found myself having to use the parry system a lot more especially in the beginning. Idk so far I've been enjoying a lot about this game tbh yes there are things that could be better but for the most part its a good game.