The Disturbing Eldritch Force of Blasphemous

Blasphemous begins in the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, a religious order opposed to His Holiness Escribar's authority, after all its members have been massacred. The last of their kind, the Penitent One, is resurrected by the Miracle and departs on a pilgrimage.
--
Game: Blasphemous + Blasphemous 2
Music: Metroid Dread - Once and For All
--
#blasphemous #cosmichour #scarygame

[ShatteredGlass]

Basically much like in Bloodborne, the Eldritch horror itself can be both a miracle and a curse

[monke]

Those false deities that were worshipped were punished by the Miracle itself. The people did not realize it but see it as a gift from the miracle, thus their belief in it as some sort of divine blessing.

There are lots of accounts from NPCs detailing how their actions made them what they are

[sebaselbardo]

Fun fact: the most of those are legends in south Spain

[MADrat]

Fun fact: the guy drowning in honey used to be a real punishment

[Craig-je]

Cherubs: they may look harmless but they'll kick your non-Cherub ass!

[EricaHelms-wg]

The Miracle is not good nor evil, blessing nor curse. Though at the time in the first Blasphemous game, it's reflectant of the ignorance of the populace to blindly believe in something in real life back then. Where they feared what they do not know.

The game takes place in a world where it was aptly named 'Miracle'. Where those who truly do believe they are sinful and deserve to be punished, have a unique 'blessing' manifest. Or have the most gruesome punishment put onto them, as they so wished.

If you ask me, I think the Miracle is a type of force that 'grants' what you desired...but not always how YOU wanted it at times. It is the High Wills that have manipulated the masses in the first game. And in the second one, I think it was trying to revive itself due to a very faint, but strong desire for it's power once more. It may had faded after the third ending of the first game...but after a thousand years, some people have lingering memories of those times.

[enriquejoseantequerasanche]

Spanish here, who says it's a "false god"? Just because it's seemingly "evil"?
In spanish catholicism, there's a strong thinking that pain and suffering makes you closer to God and heaven, built on top of the idea that life is suffering and heaven is the reward for a life well lived.
Blasphemous is heavily based on the spanish catholic festivity of "semana santa", during which the fervorous load statues of Christ and the virgin Mary on their backs to parade them (those weight hundreds of kilos, so they form brotherhoods and teams to train and coordinate together), seeing this act of faith and self-flaggelation as a way to purge their sins and show their faith to God directly.
This idea that "I am blessed by pain, I am closer to heaven" is stated constantly throughout the game, and we see those "blessed" also gain mystical powers alongside their pain and deformities.

The Miracle, cruel as it is, might very well be just well-intentioned but too detached from humanity to do right, as it is stated during the first game's opening that it "manifested the sins and guilt of the people into a physical form", so maybe it's just that people felt they deserved punishment and the Miracle gave them what they wanted.

[moonlight_scribe]

A great commentary on the dogma of suffering as penance.

[davidthomason]

I've wanted to play this game for a while now cause I love aesthetics like this like I absolutely love fear and hunger and I feel like this would give me the same feeling of dread

[eddoh]

Bienaventurados sean quien acepten el sufrimiento del Milagro Doloroso.

[ShawnQuiQui]

Best gameplay feel of any Metroidvania or Souls like I have played. The world just feels heavy and deep

[FargonNemeloc]

A unfathomable will that grants miracles when in immense pain is suffered, when exchanging pain or in exchange of pain

[RicardoLopez-fzlf]

I like how the second blasphemous opens up with an angel telling you that the miracle is about to give birth to himself and you must stop it. Its as if you know that jesus is coming and this is a very bad sign and you must prevent this at all cost

[arcadil]

Blasphemous 1 and 2 have such great lore behind the characters and the gods. Not only is it one if the best metroidvania type games it honestly rivals games like dark souls in story details

[DarkwaveMistress]

Are they curses if you ask for them? The whole point is that people asked to be punished and the Miracle complied. So the Miracle IS good to them. Catholicism and particularly Spanish catholicism has a deeply rooted belief that pain is a proof of devotion. Suffering is worship. We see the Miracle as horrifying and it is, but it's supposed to be. There's a reason the Penitent is a blasphemer.

And this is why Blasphemous is so good. The cognitive dissonance it's supposed to provoke is a rare experience in media.

[jaimedeleon]

The man drowning in honey reminds me of a practice i heard in ancient Rome. Some old dudes were mummified in honey. I'll dust that reading off in a bit

[redstonewarrior]

The super metroid title theme fits this so well...

[jontuxen]

Souls game player: Just another Tuesday

[shaanminocha]

This game's art is so transcendal, My eyes legit tear up in sheer appreciation towards the artists who made this 🥹

[Not_Morgoth]

This explains the title of the game haha