It seems that, coincidentally, I decided to play a game about mental illness literally just after beating a game about mental illness.

What this game and Hellblade have in common is that both are supposed to be quite good reflections of different mental conditions - psychosis for Hellblade, dissociative depression here. The way they present it, tho, are super different. Where Hellblade maintains high fidelity in sound and visuals throughout its narrative, milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk goes for low fidelity visuals and sounds. But if you think that makes the experience more comfortable and less eerie, think again - this is short, but is no walk in the park. It stops short of jumpscares, but it will have some sudden tense imagery and sounds that left me extremely uncomfortable.

I don't know how I think about this game. It was a short and intense experience, and while it probably won't last as long as Hellblade on my mind, it's definitely something special. I'll try to play the sequel tomorrow because, seriously, it's a bit too much for me to take both games on the same evening.

It was cute and charming, controls felt a little janky at times but that wasn't really an issue.

Finally, I've beaten this. It took a lot of suffering. There were parts that I really didn't like, especially towards the end. BUT it's not a bad game by any means. The start of the game is very strong and in my opinion the ending and the lore are very good as well. The amount of choice you get as a player to approach the game in any way you want is impressive, but definitely a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of mechanics to remember. It has some highs and peaks like the fight when the music is playing while you're getting the voice samples and some pretty low lows.
Am I glad I finished it? Sure. My friend is happy that I played through his favourite game and that alone already made it worth it. Will I ever touch it again? No.

My Steam Review - Consider leaving a thumbs up, it means a lot to me :)

Hellblade was … physical. It was brutal. It was truly a horror experience, done beautifully in a captivating way that I can't recall experiencing before.

As a videogame, I can see the flaws that other people have pointed before. The combat can be repetitive, although it never ceases to be graceful and tense, as it should be. I thought the game had 3 or 4 combos, and was shocked to learn later at a Youtube video that there are almost 30 combos that can be performed in fight. The puzzles are usually slow, requiring a lot of walking around and observation. I wouldn't say that on average they are pretty straightforward, but combined with the unsettling setting, they work wonders to create the atmosphere the game is going for.

And if we step away a little bit from the videogame-y parts and lean more into the atmosphere and the intentions of the game, that's where it truly shines. Voice acting is superb, visual and sound effects combine (with the absence of a HUD) to create a truly immersive experience. Art direction is unparalled, and benefits immensely from the high fidelity of the game's models, textures and environments. The devs have a knack for scripting powerful scenes, and it got me every time.

I hardly play horror games, much less psychological games, so going through Hellblade was difficult. I was frequently out of breath and physically uncomfortable as I played, and I could hardly sustain a play session longer than one or two hours. But by the time you beat it and connect with the trials and tribulations Senua has encountered throughout her life, it's simply cathartic.

All in all, this is more than a game. It's the closest to what the Germans call a gesamtkunstwerk - a total work of art. Every discipline works to amplify and enhance the others, and the experience is so unique that you're left speechless, simply feeling the reverberation of the work on your body, long after you've finished it. Play it, play it now in a dark place with headphones on, and be prepared.

I found its pixel art quite appealing. Even though I must say I felt like there was a bit of discrepancy between the overall graphic style and the sprites of the characters. The modern “anime-style” portraits felt a bit out of place compared to old-style pixel art.

I think “old-style” was what the developers were aiming for not only visually but also game-play wise. Stiff controls, questionable hit-boxes, monster respawning when you leave a map, scarce fast-travel options… it’s all there. There’s also an option which makes you shoot only in the eight directions, if you want.

Well, they tried to give you that nostalgic feeling. Did they succeed? Maybe. Personally I can’t understand if I didn’t particularly like the game for the fact that they kind of half-assed the job or if they actually nailed it and I’m the one who doesn’t like that kind of old-style gameplay interaction anymore.

Gameplay-wise, I found normal fights annoying and the boss fights quite bland—with the big exception of the final boss fight: I liked how they managed to force you to use all your armors during the fight.

Exploring and backtracking was the real tedious part, though, since the few fast travel options don’t feel fast at all. Also, running through the maps and fighting the same monsters over and over didn’t feel compelling at all.

Even the story was a bit far-fetched and rushed, and a lot of side characters didn’t add anything to it. It has a weak, scarcely explained premise, and an equally weak, quite predictable, ending.

All in all, I can’t recommend it.

I liked the game, but I didn’t love it.

It’s weird, though, because on paper it has all the elements that would make it perfect for me, especially when it comes to the puzzle part. I felt a sort of resonance with some of them, in the sense that the kind of puzzles present in the game are very similar, or at least in line, with the kind of puzzle I would make if I had to create one myself. Why didn't I love the game then? Well, honestly, I can’t find a proper answer.

Even story-wise and graphically there’s nothing I can’t complain about. I liked how it was narrated, the parallel between reality and fiction that you discover going on with the story. The visual style is quite unique: the black and white+red choice is original and sets the right atmosphere.

The only evident flaw that I can think of is that it may feel quite repetitive, and, if you’re stuck, you may feel lost, because it can be quite hard to understand what you’re missing. For instance, I missed the back entrance of the gate-house for a long time since it wasn’t indicated on the map, and I ran in circles for quite some time before finding it. Even the solution to some of the puzzles themselves felt quite repetitive at times. I get the importance of some dates to the story, but always having the same 4 numbers as solutions may have spoiled some of the fun for me.

Anyway, it’s a very decent puzzle game. If you’re into them, I can still recommend it to you.

I found it quite basic. Honestly, I had the same impression with the first game when I played it, but it still posed a good challenge, and I appreciated the originality of the religious theme and the extremely high quality of the pixel art.

In Blasphemous 2, there’ve been improvements here and there, but nothing game-changing.

While the quality of the art style has been further improved, I liked it less than the original. I’m not sure, but I feel like the rougher quality of the textures/models in the first game gave it a distinct character that in this sequel is lacking.

Furthermore, I disliked how the pixel art was abandoned for some low-quality 2d animations during the cutscenes. I still remember the iconic scene where the Penitent One would wear its blood filled helmet in the first game. There’s no scene here that’s that memorable. And in my opinion the change in style is part of the reason.

A field in which the improvement was absolute was that of combat. The developers got rid of the stiffness of the controls present in the first title, making the fights feel fluid and the boss fights way more fun. The only exception is the last boss, which is a real joke compared to some of the others: it stays perfectly still and all its attacks are quite telegraphed and easy to dodge. Furthermore, I would have expected an additional phase when you go for the “true” ending of the game, instead it remains the same. I think it’s a bit of a waste.

I liked the addition of the switch weapons mechanic, which provided, for every single weapon, a means to explore the map and a different fighting style.

Another thing that let me down a bit was the change to the guilt system. I don’t get how they could think it would be fun to not recover all your guilt when you die, but instead gradually increase the damage you take. It makes the learning process of a boss quite a chore. Most of all when you select a specific alterpieces set-up.

I didn’t even bother to follow the story properly this time.

Lastly, I need to talk about a weird design choice that pissed me off. There’s a side character that offers to fight alongside you against some of the bosses. I always accepted said offer. One time, I saw her outside of a room and before talking to her, I decided to explore the rest of the map, since I didn’t want to fight the boss right away. Well, when I came back later on, she wasn’t outside the room anymore, but inside the boss room instead, already dead. Looking for a guide online, I discovered that, despite the fact that I had all the items needed for her quest line, the very fact that I didn’t talk to her the first time I saw her doomed her for good. Well, I was f***ing pissed when it happened. Especially since I didn’t even have a recent save to reload. I know it’s not the game’s fault, but it’s me lacking the right perspective. Still, the bad feeling was there. Actually, it’s still here.

Oh, one last thing, for real this time. Some of the DLC achievements are bugged. You get them even if you don’t own the DLC. It may have to do with the fact that they put some of the DLC content in the base game despite you not owning it.

I loved it.

It probably made it to the top of the list of my favourite stories of all time.

I liked how the story was narrated and enjoyed all the phases you go through during the game. The initial confusion. The understanding. The dreadful feeling of questioning your own existence. Having to come to terms with reality. The fake hopes, and the real hopes, which are actually still fake, right?

I think the voice actors did a masterful job in conveying all those feelings.

Gameplay-wise, it’s basically a very straight-forward walking simulator. There’s nothing impressive there, especially when you realize that even if an enemy gets to you, you don’t die right away, not always, at least. You inevitably lose a bit of immersion when you come to that realization, but fortunately it’s not enough to ruin the goodness of the story.

A side note: I encountered an annoying bug around the beginning of the game that made me waste about 30-40 minutes. There’s a point where you free a bot from under some rocks. The bot then starts following you and it’s supposed to unlock some shut doors when you get close to them. Well, the animation that would open the door wouldn’t trigger for me, and I only found out about the bug after looking for help online. Luckily, reloading the last save file was enough to fix it. It’s still been annoying and a waste of time, though.