Blasphemous 2

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Windows
Current goal: Beat this one stupidly hard boss!
Buy it from: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Blasphemous 2 is one helluva game. It’s easily 2023’s most sickening Metroidvania, filled with all kinds of gothic and religious horrors that make me a bit queasy every time I play. It’s also hard as hell, with bosses who repeatedly send me to a swift grave—which is to be expected of a game like this. However, I wasn’t expecting this action-adventure puzzle-platformer to suddenly transform into a bullet hell about halfway through with the introduction of Sínodo, Hymn Of The Thousand Voices. Ugh, what a frustrating boss this is! Taking place in essentially an underground crypt, Sínodo is an aggravating enemy that can switch between three faces at will: a golden mask that shoots out an array of massive fireballs, a blindfolded nun that can turn into a pillar of fire and heal itself, and an old man that summons centipede-looking chains which intersect in a helix pattern before sending out damaging ground waves across the stage.

I hate this boss! I hate it so much, especially since I almost kill it every time I step into its arena—only for Sínodo to quickly change its face to the golden mask and shoot out those big-ass fireballs that are difficult to dodge because of how much screen real estate they take up. This isn’t a diss against the game. Blasphemous 2 is a very good Metroidvania, as I argued in my impressions blog. I’m enjoying my time with it; I’m just petty and spiteful, so I’m looking for my revenge against this jerk. And I will have it! Then I can go back to exploring the world and, hopefully, rolling the credits not too long after. – Levi Winslow