We’re just a few weeks away from the release of Blasphemous 2, and developer The Game Kitchen says it’ll feel even more like a classic Metroidvania game than the original.
Speaking to Edge in issue 386, producer David Erosa says making a game “closer to the classic Metroidvania genre” was a key goal for the team. The protagonist of the original Blasphemous, the Penitent One, can learn various spells throughout the campaign but only has one weapon - his sword.
Erosa says the team was eager to tackle the challenge of adding “different weapons and gameplay styles” in Blasphemous 2, a mechanic which wasn’t present in the original game.
To help the team in making the upcoming sequel feel more like a classic Metroidvania, The Game Kitchen didn’t use any of the code from Blasphemous. CEO and studio director Mauricio Garcia tells Edge that they “threw the codebase [of Blasphemous] into the trash” and started afresh. The team spent 18 months rebuilding its tools from scratch, using the experience and resources it had gained from the original game to start over.
Blasphemous 2’s release date leaked last month, before it was swiftly confirmed by publisher Team17. The sequel is highly anticipated by Metroidvania fans, and Austin was in love with the game’s first trailer. Blasphemous 2 releases on August 24, 2023 on Steam, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
If you’re looking for more Metroidvanias to scratch the itch before Blasphemous 2 is out, check out our list of the best Metroidvanias you can play right now.