Gory Metroidvania Blasphemous launches next month

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Give me that old-time religion.

After a wildly-successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017, Blasphemous is just about ready to launch, bringing its heavy metal version of gore-soaked religious iconography to PCs and consoles September 10.

Presumably on the strength of its gory concept gifs, Blasphemous raked in more than $333,000 during its crowdfunding campaign, which isn't half bad considering  developers The Game Kitchen were asking for $50,000. Since then, Blasphemous has been picked up by publisher Team17, and now it's ready to pulverize heretics everywhere with a throwback 16-bit visual style that somehow manages to make The Binding of Isaac seem pleasant.

You play as the Penitent One, who as Fraser has observed is being punished with a metal party hat that is way too tall. The good news, I suppose, is that it provides some protection from the crown of thorns he's also always wearing.

There are other punishments, of course, which you can glimpse in the trailer. One of them is apparently having your arms torn off by a giant blindfolded baby. You know, normal, run-of-the-mill penal code stuff.

However, the Penitent One isn't a mere punching bag for overgrown arm-ripping babies. As you play, you'll unlock new sword combos and offensive prayer abilities, which you can use together to brutally execute the hellborn mooks that cross your path.

The developers have left a mature content warning on Blasphemous' Steam page, which warns players that the game "may not be appropriate for viewing at work" due to nudity or sexual content, frequent violence or gore, and general mature content. In other words, it's a Megadeth album cover in video game format, so naturally I'm down to give it a whirl.