Just finished playing through Blasphemous for the first time, and wanted to share my thoughts.

The good: The art style and the setting were a match made in heaven for me. I absolutely adore pixel graphics like the kind you get in this game and Dead Cells etc. and to marry that up with the dark, gothic nature of the Dark Souls style setting and atmosphere, it was just fantastic. There were so many places in the game where I would just sit and take in the art, and some of the enemies or NPCs had that grotesque edge to them that just added so much flavour. I really enjoyed the combat overall as well, especially being able to parry, which is always something I like to try and implement in games where it's possible. Just overall, a really fun experience.

The not so good: I felt the game suffered from being too obscure. So many items you pick up and have no idea what to do with, and often there aren't any real clues either. I think the biggest issue I had with that is that some of the things you need to fully traverse the map were hidden behind some really bizarre actions, and I would never have found them without checking online. For me, anything you use to explore and reveal the map should always be found organically on your travels, rather than being hidden away and getting frustrated when you can't get somewhere. And while I thought the bosses overall were good, the final one was just dreadful, having to chase a sword around a screen, and then relying on blind luck as to where the platforms appear. It was such a poor way to end an otherwise brilliant game.

But overall, thought it was great, and a game I definitely recommend. But be warned that a blind playthrough is likely to be very frustrating!