Blasphemous 2 Boss Fight Commentary: A Pilgrimage Through a "Heartwarming Fantasy of Atonement," Switching Weapons Along the Way

At the start, the protagonist chooses one of three weapons at a weapon rack. The commentator compares this scene to "Pokémon," and picks the flail this time. The weapons not chosen can be found later, so it isn't a permanent farewell.

The commentator explains that while the previous game had you fighting with a single sword, this one has you switching between multiple weapons as you fight. Each weapon also seems to have its own skill tree, and the commentator thinks players will likely differ on which weapons they choose to develop.

The first boss, "Faceless One, Chisel of Oblivion," is essentially a tutorial boss. At this point the only means of attack is the basic attack, so the commentator got in close and kept hitting. According to the commentator, the flail deals heavy damage with each swing and lets you land aerial attacks while dodging, making it well suited to this type of enemy.

In the blood-soaked cathedral, the commentator fights "Radames," a giant skeletal boss with the title of High Pastor. They first counter with a parry, then pile on attacks to drain its health quickly. The weapon used here is a new one found while exploring, which becomes wreathed in lightning after attacking continuously for a while. The commentator loves this "crackling hand." They call the stretches when the boss stops moving "snack time" and take breaks during them, and finally finish it off by parrying to get behind it.

In a room lined with countless weapons, the commentator fights "Afilaor, Sentinel of the Grindstone," who keeps launching weapons. The highlight of this boss is the grinder-like device on its back, and it attacks while changing direction during the fight. Partway through, it leaps into the background and hurls all sorts of weapons. The weapons it wields change with each phase, and their colors change as well. In the final stretch, the commentator whittled it down by targeting the openings after it lands.

In the following fight against "Orospina, Saint of the Embroiderers," the commentator shares impressions of this game's combat. There are more humanoid bosses than in the previous game, which means plenty of opportunities to parry, and that's a good thing. On the other hand, there are also many situations where dodging lets you deal more damage, so parrying isn't always the right answer. The commentator finds this interesting. In this fight, attacking relentlessly from the start caused the boss's true body to disappear, and in the second half the commentator defeated it by burning the body with fire when it reappeared.

"Lesmes, the Pure Keeper of Relics" is a metal mechanical doll, with the head of its true body housed in a glass abdomen. The commentator calls this design "pretty stylish." After weathering its fireballs, the commentator attacks, and next a baby emerges from inside the weapon. As long as you stick to the baby and keep attacking, it can't counterattack, so the commentator defeated it that way. At the end, the two attack at the same time, so the commentator took down the weaker one first, then dealt with the remaining baby to finish.

During this fight, the commentator praises the game's equipment system. The range of builds you can choose through equipment is wide, and it's fun that you can do all sorts of things depending on the combination. The build the commentator had put together boosts damage by using magic alongside attacks.

On a fast-moving elevator, the commentator chases and fights the white, sparkling "Benedicta of the Endless Imploration." The commentator describes this setup as "something like I've seen in Mario RPG." Having learned the air dash and double jump along the way, the commentator can now fight comfortably even on unstable footing. Here the commentator also remarks, "Yep, Metroid Fusion."

On a seaside path, the large, warrior-like "Odón of the Confraternity of Salt" blocks the way. The commentator jokes, "Up to now we've been fighting in damp indoor places, but this time, unusually, it's a damp outdoor place." The commentator uses a spell that scatters miasma, luring the boss into it to land hits. The boss summons minions. At first the commentator thought they were knights or butlers, but they turned out to be former sailors. Keeping the miasma out lets you separate the small fry. Furthermore, deliberately keeping the small fry alive can bait the boss into a big opening when it buffs its allies. The commentator presents this approach as an effective strategy.

In a large cavern, the commentator fights "Sinodo, Hymn of the Thousand Voices," in which the faces of all past popes are merged together. It uses several spells, and its attack patterns change each time the central face switches. For example, the face of a blindfolded nun excels at fire attacks, and the faces on the left and right also add flamethrower attacks. Here, the spell "Debla of the Lights," which also appeared in the previous game, came in handy. According to the commentator, it no longer grants invincibility while active, but its power is still plenty useful in this game.

The giant statue of a saint standing in the lake was actually a fearsome monster: "Susona, the Beautiful Saint." It stays high in the air and is hard to hit, but its attacks aren't that intense. So the commentator's approach was to maneuver well using the double jump and air dash. The commentator blocks its massive beams by ducking under the footholds that appear. As the fight progresses, the footholds gradually get smaller. The boss, which moves slowly early on, speeds up from the midpoint, and the chances to attack decrease. In the end, the commentator weathered three consecutive massive beams under a small foothold and delivered the finishing blow.

This is the showdown with the man who also appeared in the opening, "Eviterno, Forefather of Sinners." According to the commentator's explanation, this man is a sinner summoned by the Miracle to serve as a guardian, and it seems the previous game's rival lost their life in a battle against him.

The fight is split into two halves. After quickly dispatching the magic-focused first half, the second half has him switching to aggressive melee attacks. According to the commentator, counterattacking with parries is extremely effective against this boss. You parry the first strike, then counter with a parry against the second. Early on he repeats this pattern, so those exchanges let you chip away at his health bit by bit. After a while his attack pattern changes, and he starts leaping into the air before unleashing big moves. The commentator handled these by timing dodges and avoiding them rhythmically.

Partway through, the background changes in a sequence where familiar bosses appear. Watching this, the commentator looks back on the fights against all those distinctive bosses. Finally, his true body reappears and tries to finish things with a spell that stops time for just an instant, but the commentator defeated him.

As a detour, the commentator takes on the bosses of the "Mea Culpa" DLC. The first is the giant nun boss "Sor Cautiva del Silencio." Her hands appear to have been cut off, and the commentator speculates that some terrible story lurks behind this. The commentator recalls that the previous game also had a nun boss who attacked with both hands, and since much of this game's story builds on the previous one, they wonder whether there's some related backstory.

In the fight, once her health drops below half, the background rises and the boss starts using a rotating beam. This beam sweeps away even her own allied small fry. The commentator takes this as "this boss's idea of a joke," and jokes that since the small fry do almost no work and just fade away softly when you break the necklace, the "they're just there to get beaten" theory seems most likely. The rotating beam goes through a rotation and a reverse rotation before ending, and the commentator delivered the finishing blow at the next necklace-breaking opportunity.

Next, seeking the sword they cherished in the previous game, the commentator pursues the one who stole it, "Brother Asterion." According to the commentator, this boss was perhaps too weak when the DLC first launched, and was strengthened in a later update. In the first fight he isn't going all out yet, and you have to fight him again later. His signature move is a big attack that branches off from a downward swing, which he uses over and over. Just passing by him twice creates an opening, and the commentator stopped time and defeated him in one go.

After recovering the sword, the second fight begins. However, the commentator considers the recovered sword not particularly strong, and fought with their usual lightning weapon. This weapon can be wreathed in lightning by attacking. On top of that, you can strengthen the lightning with certain equipment, and depending on your gear you can even start a fight already in the powered-up state, so you can keep raising your damage output depending on your build. By comparison, the commentator says the previous game's sword has become "a weapon that can't escape feeling outdated, and that carries sorrow on its back."

The final boss is the "Incarnation of Faith," given physical form and birthed by the Miracle. This time, though, in order to reach the new ending implemented in the DLC, the commentator deliberately equips the previous game's sword for the fight. The sword alone isn't strong enough, so the commentator supplements it throughout with the powerful spell "Debla of the Lights." According to the commentator, this sword specializes in combo attacks, but the combos leave you too open to be of any use, and if you accidentally trigger one you could be taken out in an instant. So the commentator fought while carefully holding back attacks to avoid triggering combos.

That said, the commentator notes that, as is customary for the series, the final boss is on the weak side, about as strong as a kind of scripted event battle. They also explain the reason in line with the story. Because the Will of Heaven was defeated in the previous game, the power of the Miracle has weakened, and people's faith has faded as well. As a result, this idol was born in an incomplete state, and is attacking like an infant without properly understanding its own reason for existing. The commentator calls this being "honestly pitiful," says they'll defeat it quickly and let it rest, and then defeats it.

In the ending, the protagonist, having completed the pilgrimage, wields the previous game's sword and achieves atonement once again. The commentator's overall verdict is as follows. It was a game where the qualities that make Blasphemous what it is shine through, such as its strange world and its richly distinctive bosses. Not only is the action fun, but thinking about combinations of equipment and magic is fun too, making it a highly satisfying game in terms of its game systems as well.