WEBVTT

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We're at Gamescom 2023 and I would have loved to film this interview with the Cathedral in the background

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because it would have been very convenient to talk with you guys

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and I've played Blasphemous 2, it released yesterday, yesterday was my birthday

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so thank you for that gift because the game is a blast, it's Blasphemous

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and I enjoyed that a lot and as you know I couldn't complete the first one but I felt good with this one

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so first of all congratulations and how do you guys feel other than tired?

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We feel very excited seeing the first reaction of the public

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we have been waiting a lot to see the reaction of the press and the players

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so yeah, exciting times for us

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As Enrique said, we are kind of tired because there are so many emotions involved in releasing a game

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but we are really happy because we are seeing players starting to reveal secrets

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and to see stuff that we thought would take more time for them to find out

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and people are already helping each other, for example on Reddit

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and discovering the different enemies and the bosses that we have been keeping kind of secretly

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so yes, it's a very exciting and very emotional moment

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I now have more info, of course when I played the game in Seville it was just the first few minutes

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and now I've played the whole thing and it's big actually

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and the main new feature is that it's varied

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you can choose your path by choosing the weapon from the get-go

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so I chose the Sensor, sort of the flail type of weapon because I loved it for the impressions

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and it opened up a different path comparing to other players

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so my question is, how do you guys try to balance when you choose your weapon

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you can access some areas and then you can meet some enemies

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and then it will take a good while for you to unlock or to find the second weapon

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so how do you approach sort of the, ok this player is going to get to this point

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and perhaps they are not ready because they don't have the sword yet or the dual blades

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so how do you sort of approach that?

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It was a process we did at the very beginning of the development

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so we make a lot of trial and error with the level designers

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we did this amazing job with the levels

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we have to control what part of the game can be revealed due to the weapon they choose

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so it's a very long process to have everything organized and prepared for any situation

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and in Adventurevania it's a very hard thing to do

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but we eventually managed to do the work with the level designers and think all the possibilities

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it's a matter of process, hard process and long process to make everything to fit fine

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and try to make a lot of people before the launch to play the game

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friends and colleagues and staff to test this aspect

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How do they feel about the difficulty?

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Sometimes I think I got these peaks but of course you can also go back to the map

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and try and unlock new, for example, new potions for you to recover health or whatever

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or more to unlock more of the skill tree for the weapons

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so how do you feel about that?

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What did they tell you?

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Do you think now that the final game is out that is it perhaps too difficult at times

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or it is just a matter of players?

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You've got the Metroidvania thing but also this sort of Souls-like touch to it, right?

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We have read some comments of people helping each other

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so some people find the difficult one part and other players say

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hey, I really recommend this weapon instead and this build

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so the game allowed players to have more variety of the builds that they can do

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and the strategic aspect as well

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it's a matter of time that people have the right knowledge to create the exact build

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to recommend everybody to certain parts of the game

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and yeah, the game allowed players to be more creative and more experimental

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to experiment with different altar pieces and the rosary beads and stuff

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to do this and we think with this sequel we could allow players to do this

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because the first game was a smaller budget

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we couldn't do this variety of possibilities

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Back in Seville we talked about also art and level design as you mentioned

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and you know it's more ambitious as you just said

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so what can you tell us about the artistic work that went into it

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and how it pays into the lore of the game?

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Of course there's much more to learn here

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there are much more characters you meet

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there is a lot of dialogue which is voiced act

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and then there's art supporting all this

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so what can you tell us about the work that went into making this lore more ambitious?

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We continue the work that we did in Blasphemous 1

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because we know people like it and will also like it a lot

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so we continue the same path

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because this art and lore is a very unique thing in this game

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it's the thing that defines this game

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so we wanted to continue and we opened the space for more influences

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to create a more rich world

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we look for new stuff in the southern Spanish culture

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new legends, new art, flamenco songs

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more music, more of everything

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There's a lot of hints in the music, right?

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Yeah, a lot of hints

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and we have a lot of stuff to be influenced for and be creative

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so we did way more stuff than that

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and also in the first game we couldn't add stuff

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because of the budget limitation, the timing limitation

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so in the sequel we had the opportunity to add those stuff eventually in this game

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Anything you would like to add here?

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As Enrique said, when people ask why did you make a sequel

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in part it's because we had so many things that we wanted to add into the first game

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like for example the three weapons

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it's something that we would have liked to have

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people sometimes request it would be nice to have some more variety on the weapons

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not only mea culpa, everybody loves mea culpa

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but it was something that we wanted to do

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and this gave us the opportunity to add all that kind of stuff

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And other than richer and deeper

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you guys are so stubborn to keep it very cryptic

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you told me about that in Seville

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we deliberately want it to be cryptic in terms of both

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perhaps narrative and also the way you guide the player

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I think it's nice in terms of guidance

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I think you don't feel lost at all

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but what about the narrative itself?

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Do you think you went too far?

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Sometimes I ask you about difficulty

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I think this is another thing

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sometimes I really don't know what they mean

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perhaps it's me

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but sometimes I want to really understand the reference

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or understand why this lady is telling me this

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in such an obscure way

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and sometimes as the penitent one

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I think I've lost my purpose

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I don't know why am I doing this

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what I was doing

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why am I heading this way

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why do I want to kill these people

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so how do you feel about that?

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and I know it's deliberate, right?

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Yeah, it's a matter of atmosphere

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everything is about atmosphere

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so we particularly like video games

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that give me a space to wonder

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to think and to activate my imagination

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so nowadays there are a lot of games

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that explain a lot to the player

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and that's ok

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but it's not my personal style

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I like games that activate my imagination

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and allow me to think and to feel the world

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in a special way

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so the narrative we did was very poetic

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maybe also cryptic as well

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but we think it fits with this weird world

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that everything is religious

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everything is poetic in a special way

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sometimes for me as an art director

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and the writer

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I rather have a character that shocks the player

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you have a bunch of those

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instead of explaining too much

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so I think it's a mix of visual

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that helps players to activate their imagination

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as maximum as possible

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and let the guidance to a side

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and all is about atmosphere

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he won't give me any clue

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for me to understand the game better

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you see that, he won't give me anything else

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we wanted to create the main plot

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very, I think, comprehensible

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so the main plot is understandable

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but the game is full of little stories

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I like to say that Blasphemous is not one story

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but a story made of small stories

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like small legends that live together in a world

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so you can read the item descriptions

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and you will find a short tale about that item

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that is interesting to keep in mind

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because it's also a clue sometimes

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on how you can use that item

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and you went really innovative in a few things

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in terms of gameplay

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I don't know for which one is this one

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but I enjoyed how you guys used this sun mechanic

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and I enjoyed how you guys used this

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I don't want to spoil it

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but the way you, in a specific scenario

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you go from one way of the screen to the other

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for example

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or how there's a specific collectible

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that makes a ladder or a tower for you to climb

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I think those are a bunch of examples

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of how you guys try to innovate

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into the metroidvania genre

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so what can you tell us about this

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about this going on?

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So many of those features and interactions

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are things that really fit into a metroidvania game

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and this time we wanted to make

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a more pure metroidvania game

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because Blasphemous, the first game

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is often called a metroidvania

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but it's not really a pure metroidvania

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there are some zones

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that are not really required to traverse

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which you can miss and it's okay

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but this time you need certain abilities

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to get through a new zone

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or to enter the new zone

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so as we wanted

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sorry, as we knew what we wanted to do

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we started the game from scratch

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we could fit these features into the game

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so we could have more creativity

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when the game designers had more creativity

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they were allowed to explore more new features

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more new mechanics and abilities

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that couldn't get into the first game

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because it was, let's say

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that the first game was made with

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limited budget and time restrictions

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so it was done straight this way

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but this time we had more time, the budget

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and the knowledge about how to do these things

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so there were so many new things to explore

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and there are many many things that were left

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behind

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for a threequel

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no no, these are mechanics

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that was coming, what's next?

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I think this is going to be a runaway success

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and congratulations on that

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what can we expect next from you guys?

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are you actually thinking about

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using this universe or something else?

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what we expect for sure

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are long holidays

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alright

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is that a game that you want to...

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we are waiting for more player reactions

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alright

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and reviews

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we'll think about all of those

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to see what we can do

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where to head next

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I forgot to mention the lost sisters

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that's another mechanic that I loved

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the way you use audio in there

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audio is fantastic in this game

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and the way you use audio to find something

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I don't want to spoil it but

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you sort of use audio to find secrets

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and that's interesting

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we're almost done here

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we also found a bunch of glitches

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small bugs etc

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I played on the suites

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I guess PC is leading here

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and then you guys

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converted to the suites

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they weren't game breaking

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only one was specifically annoying

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but the rest was like

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oh, this just needs some polish

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but you can play the game

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so what can you tell us about the status of the game

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how you plan to patch it

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in the upcoming weeks

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because it released yesterday

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well, the thing is that

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the PC version, the Steam version

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is the one that leads development

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so we create the PC version of the game

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and then there's this

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porting process

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in which the game is taken to different consoles

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and this is a process that takes some time

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so if you played the PC version of the game

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during a review

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you would have played the game

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that was released yesterday

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but if you were reviewing on a console

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you might have played a previous version

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of the game

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which contained some glitches

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and some bugs maybe

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but most of those were fixed

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for the PC version

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and anyway

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we know that when the game releases

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it's played by a huge variety

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of players with different PC configurations

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and different ways of playing

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which is something that

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it happens with the three weapons

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the different combinations for the board

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so we know that

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we might get some

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issues or some combinations

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that might not work

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but we already have an eye on those

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we already have a few things noted down

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the patch is coming

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it's coming already

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it's not that we have to wait

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all right, we have to cut here

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so quickly

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favorite character or boss

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and I start

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El Afilador

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Orospina

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Ok, thank you so much for your time guys

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enjoy the success

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I think it's really nice

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and I think it's a celebration

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see you back in Spain

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thank you very much