The Metroidvania genre is one that has an incredibly long history in the video game industry, and it looks like it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The just-announced 2D action-platformer Blasphemous is going to be a new addition to this genre, which also adds a little bit of Dark Souls into the mix with its heavy focus on exploration, character progression, and ridiculously massive bosses. Check out the first trailer for the game below:
Blasphemous is developed by The Game Kitchen, a studio that has had a decent amount of success in the past thanks to its point-and-click adventure series The Last Door. While those games used the 8-bit low-resolution art style, Blasphemous seems like it draws more inspiration from the SNES era with a more polished level of detail. All the moves you perform in this game, from decapitation to dismemberment, are surprisingly well-animated, resulting in a satisfying and brutal combat experience.
In the trailer, we also got a first look at the environments, which appear gloomy and even hellish to suit the dark theme. Several bosses are featured in the shots as well, including a giant, blindfolded baby with blood streaming down its face, a giant half-melted face that throws fireballs all over the place, and more. Basically, just lots of giants.
The character progression system also seems pretty solid, with various skill trees that you go down to unlock special moves and abilities. You probably won’t be able to customize your character however you wish like in Dark Souls. Instead, the system will apparently be more similar to 2018’s God of War or the more recent Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, where you have a baseline set of abilities that you can later enhance by unlocking more upgrades.
Not a lot of other information about Blasphemous is available at the moment. It is currently listed as “coming soon” for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.