The Penitent One awakens, and the world around him oozes baroque suffering down to the smallest piece of scenery.

First takeaway, and it's high: when the community picks on gut feeling, Blasphemous II beats 80% of games, on few votes. The detail backs the warmth. Attachment and the art style climb hard, ahead of 80 to 84% of the field, on just a handful of duels. Desert island sits above the middle. But one off note breaks the momentum: controller feel drops low, ahead of barely a fifth of games. The tension is clear: you love its world and its look on instinct, but the combat sensations still snag, on very few votes, to confirm.

Among demanding action metroidvanias, Blasphemous II strikes first through its dark art direction and its tortured religious identity, more than through sheer smoothness of movement.

So, who's it for? You, if you love a strong aesthetic, a macabre and fascinating world, a place you want to inhabit. Much less so if you judge an action game first by how its controls flow.