Martintox Presents: Disorder Reviews
Rating System
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BLASPHEMOUS
Rating System
I have a new album and a new Disorder Reviews blog. I have recently recovered from a stroke, and I am now in serious debt.
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BLASPHEMOUS
Developer: The Game Kitchen
Publisher: Team17
Director: Enrique Cabeza
Producer: Mauricio García
Composer: Carlos Viola
Release Date: 10 September 2019
Systems: Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Souls-like Metroidvania
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Normally, I would begin this review with a large preamble to establish Blasphemous's place in the context of Souls-likes and Metroidvanias and show my mastery of the MLA essay format, but the fact of the matter is that a prospective reader will be interested in this game for one of two reasons: the Christian elements or the art style. Let's get the first one out of the way from the get-go: the game takes a lot of inspiration from the Book of Lazarus, a text considered apocryphal to most denominations of Christianity aside from certain Central African ones, namely the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It retraces the life of the eponymous figure some time after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as he is tasked by God to roam the Kingdom of Israel and bring peace to many members of the Roman Empire and the early Church, who became malformed or cursed after the event due to their guilt becoming physically manifest (the exact list of these members has been up for debate for decades, but consensus agrees that King Herod (Ch.12 V.9) and St. Peter (Ch.20 V.3) were part of it). How he "brings peace" to these individuals is left ambiguous, but by completing this mission, Lazarus is able to lose his immortality and enter the kingdom of Heaven (Ch.22 V.18).
While Blasphemous takes place in a setting more akin to early medieval times, the inspiration is clear, with only some minor differences so that God doesn't think The Game Kitchen copied his homework. First off, instead of a crucifixion, the curse that befalls the land of Cvstodia is a more abstract phenomenon that characters call the Miracle. Second, the player takes control of a non-descript figure dubbed "the Penitent One", although, much like Lazarus in the Book, he also returns to life every time he dies (Ch.2 V.7). Third, due to the more chronologically advanced setting, the Penitent One is made to confront an equivalent to the Sudanese Catholic Church through the game, as opposed to a Roman Empire-esque entity. Aside from these formalities, we can easily consider Blasphemous a direct adaptation of this source material, which I don't necessarily consider a negative point. In fact, the surprisingly faithful transition of the Book of Lazarus into a video game format shows just how well it lends to Souls-like gameplay, and I have long waited for such a take on the genre. I love Dark Souls as much as anyone, but I do have to say that the heretical polytheistic mythology with heavy emphasis on a sun god somewhat hampers my appreciation for its philosophical undertones. Those who have read my review of Noah know that I'm receptive to the idea of a higher power holding contempt for my existence as well as its own, but an entire pantheon of existentially (and mentally) stunted deities sounds more like the last year of high school to me.
You see, many of the core gameplay mechanics are, in fact, directly taken from the original text, something that makes me wonder if Hidetaka Miyazaki may indeed have books in his house that aren't Berserk. As with most Souls-likes, areas are designed as series of challenges with checkpoints at which the player can respawn; this is not far from the Book, where Lazarus is brought back to life on multiple occasions at small, improvised altars that he has visited (Ch.6 V.28, Ch.15 V.12). The bile flasks, which recharge at these checkpoints and serve as the main healing tool, are based on a sequence in which a vision of Jesus visits Lazarus at the River Jordan and turns the water into blood which revitalizes the latter upon drinking it (Ch.8 V.17). Your primary weapon, a sword named Mea Culpa, also has its roots in the text, though it's a bit more of a stretch since it's supposed to recall an incident in which Lazarus stabs a corrupted Roman soldier through the heart as he is about to discover the orphans of Judea (Ch.14 V.14). This being said, the occasional verticality of the level design, which has more to do with the Metroidvania leanings of the game, does not come from the Book of Lazarus; instead, it's taken from the other well-established apocryphal text of the Paralipomena of Paul, where the populace of Israel and Judea begin to build their cities in altitude as preparation for the possibility of a man-made great flood (Ch.48, V.7).
The second major draw to the game is, to put it simply, that it looks really fucking good. By far, it is one of the most visually inspired Souls-likes to have hit the scene thus far, with richly detailed sprite work and backgrounds, as well as a multitude of cutscenes with a minimalism of movement reminiscent of the ancient and oft-unexplored style of mid-90s computer game visual design -- think The 7th Guest or Ripper, but instead of having 640x320 full motion videos, they put the pixels in one by one on their own. The overall aesthetic draws a lot from esteemed European painters of the Decadent Barbizon school movement, including but not limited to Jean-Michel Basquiat and my friend who's been working on a video game these past few months. Multiple scenes also draw a lot from Francisco Goya's painting "The Dog". The end result is a striking visual style that conveys the somber, tormented atmosphere of Cvstodia through minimalist environments that are occasionally so understated that they only contain about five or six background layers. I have to say, however, that the music does leave a bit to be desired; its neoclassical folk stylings do fit the atmosphere very well, but I did expect the team to make their own music instead of directly using tracks from the first two Diablo games.
All in all, given my somewhat specific desire to see a mix of the FromSoft school of game design with Central African Christian ideals, I am happy to say that Blasphemous delivers on the lofty expectations that it has set for itself, given its genre and subject matter. Not only is it a fascinating document of a perhaps unfairly slighted piece of scripture, it is an excellent source of wallpapers and a pretty good game on top of that. I will go as far as to proclaim this one of the very few worthwhile Souls-likes that isn't Dark Souls, placing it far above Nioh, Code Vein, Sekiro, and both Dark Souls sequels, as it lacks the poisonous anime concessions that all of these games exhibit.
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PERSONAL RATING: ***½
RECOMMENDATION RATING: ***½
LETTERED RATING: ALPHA
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PERSONAL RATING: ***½
RECOMMENDATION RATING: ***½
LETTERED RATING: ALPHA
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