Blasphemous II Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Since Elden Ring secured its position as one of 2022's best games, Soulslikes have seen another huge spike in popularity, with a plethora of titles already released or in the pipeline for this year. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Remnant 2, Lies of P, The Lords of the Fallen, Hollow Knight: Silksong, The Last Faith — the list goes on — each one of them throwing in their own unique twist on the beloved genre to try and steal the limelight. The latest and greatest of these, Blasphemous 2, is a 2D hack-n’-slash, Metroivania sequel to the well-received 2019 release, from Spanish based developer The Game Kitchen.

Blasphemous 2 builds upon its predecessor with a brand new world full of advanced traversal mechanics, challenging boss encounters, and a much clearer focus on its Metroidvania aspects. The story follows on from the first title’s free DLC, Wounds of Eventide, and sees you take on the role of the Penitent One once again. Awakening in a new land, you are thrust back into your endless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, exploring this mysterious, treacherous place and uncovering its dark and dangerous secrets. In true Soulslike fashion you’ll be navigating various environments, palaces, dungeons, towers, forests, ravines; slaying foes both fresh and familiar en route to face the Embroideries.

You’ll be glad to hear the gruesome combat from Blasphemous has returned, with some slight tweaks to make it faster, smoother, and more accurate. Vibrations from landing hits are now emphasised with the use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback, sliding now has some weight behind it, making use of the adaptive triggers, and additional execution animations have been added to up the brutality to a whole new level.

Unlike the first outing,