Andrii Kovalenko6 min read

Is Blasphemous a Soulslike? Yes, With Nuance

Is Blasphemous a soulslike? Yes — checkpoint death penalty, punishing bosses, a connected world. But it's a 2D metroidvania first, with no stamina bar.

Yes, Blasphemous is a soulslike — but calling it one and stopping there undersells what it actually is. It's a 2D metroidvania that borrows the soulslike death penalty, checkpoint rhythm, and boss design, then wraps all of it in a Catholic-guilt aesthetic that no Dark Souls game would touch. The label fits; it just isn't the whole shape.

Here's what "soulslike" actually means, which parts Blasphemous nails, and where it deliberately walks away from the Dark Souls template.

What "soulslike" actually means

The term gets thrown at anything hard, but a real soulslike has a specific set of load-bearing parts, and they all trace back to Dark Souls:

  • A death penalty you run back for. You die, you drop your accumulated currency where you fell, and you have to return to that exact spot to reclaim it — die again on the way and it's gone for good.
  • Checkpoints that respawn the world. Resting at a checkpoint refills your health and healing charges but revives every ordinary enemy between you and the next one. Progress is measured shrine to shrine.
  • Deliberate, committal combat. Attacks and dodges have weight and recovery. You read spacing and pick your moments instead of mashing, and traditionally a stamina bar caps how much you can do before you're exposed.
  • Bosses you learn by losing. Each boss is a pattern, not a wall. You die, you read the tell, you come back knowing the next beat. The difficulty is a teacher, not a filter.
  • An interconnected world told through the environment. The map loops back on itself with shortcuts you unlock, and the story lives in item descriptions and level design rather than cutscenes.

Hit most of those and you're a soulslike. Blasphemous hits nearly all of them.

Where Blasphemous fits the mould

Death in Blasphemous works exactly the way the genre demands. When you fall, the game leaves a fragment of guilt at the spot and docks part of your Fervour — your magic capacity — until you go back and retrieve it. That's the souls-run-back loop, reskinned as the game's penance system. It's the single clearest signal that this is a soulslike and not just a hard platformer.

The checkpoints are pure Dark Souls too. You rest at Prie Dieu shrines to restore health and refill your healing flasks (Bile flasks, here), and the ordinary enemies between shrines come back when you do. The rhythm of pushing out from a shrine, banking progress, and pushing again is lifted straight from a bonfire.

The combat is deliberate and the bosses are the real exam. Each of Blasphemous' boss fights is a set of patterns you study by dying to them, and the first game's decision to withhold a dodge roll means you survive by reading distance and timing rather than rolling through everything. That's more souls-like, not less — it forces the careful, spacing-first mindset the genre is built on.

And the world is a single connected place told through implication. The map of Cvstodia folds back on itself with shortcuts and locked routes, and the lore arrives through grim item text and environmental detail instead of exposition. If you want the full picture on the game itself, our is Blasphemous worth it verdict covers who it's for.

Where it diverges from Dark Souls

Three things keep Blasphemous from being a straight Dark Souls clone, and they're the reason the honest answer is "yes, with nuance."

It's a 2D metroidvania first. The camera is side-on, movement includes precise platforming, and the map is structured around traversal unlocks — new abilities that reopen old areas — which is metroidvania grammar, not Souls grammar. Strip away the death penalty and you'd still call it a metroidvania. If you're fuzzy on how those genres relate, we break down what a metroidvania is and how roguelike and metroidvania structures differ separately.

There's no stamina bar. This is the biggest mechanical break. Dark Souls governs every attack, dodge, and block with stamina; Blasphemous doesn't. You swing and dodge freely, which makes the moment-to-moment faster and more platformer-like than a true Souls game. The punishment lives in enemy damage and the death penalty, not in a depleting meter.

The theme is guilt, not decay. Dark Souls is about entropy and a dying world. Blasphemous is about Catholic penance, suffering as devotion, and grotesque religious iconography — the guilt-on-death mechanic isn't just a souls reskin, it's the whole thematic spine.

Is Blasphemous 2 a soulslike?

Yes, and it drifts a step further from the template than the original. Blasphemous 2 keeps the death penalty, the shrine checkpoints, and the pattern-driven bosses, so the soulslike core is intact. But it hands you a dodge roll and three switchable weapons with their own skill trees, which makes combat more flexible and a touch less strictly souls-like than the first game's spacing-only approach.

The trade is deliberate: the sequel is smoother and more legible, which some players read as slightly less punishing. It's still a 2D soulslike metroidvania — it just wears the "soulslike" part a little more loosely. Our is Blasphemous 2 worth it breakdown goes deeper on what changed.

So, difficulty — is it harder than Dark Souls?

It's hard in a different direction. Blasphemous asks for platforming precision on top of combat, and the first game's missing dodge roll makes spacing unforgiving in a way some Souls veterans find tougher. Against that, it's shorter, the death penalty is gentler than a full Souls run, and Blasphemous 2 softens the navigation considerably. Whether it's "harder" comes down to whether 2D precision or 3D positioning is the thing that trips you up.

The short version: Blasphemous is a soulslike the way a great cover is the same song — the structure is unmistakable, but it's arranged for a different instrument. If you came for the souls death loop and punishing bosses, it delivers. If you came for Dark Souls exactly, the 2D camera and missing stamina bar will remind you it's its own thing. For more in the same vein, our games like Blasphemous roundup and our best roguelike metroidvania games list both place it in context.

If you want the souls loop with a twist of time

If what pulls you to soulslikes is the death-and-learn loop and a dark, punishing world, KUTO: The Lock of Time is worth following — and to be upfront, it's our own upcoming game, so weigh that as you read. It's a time-bending action Metroidvania: side-on movement, a fast melee weapon, an interconnected world of branching layouts, and bosses built to be learned. The difference from Blasphemous is that it runs on a die-and-retry loop by design — death ends the run, not your knowledge, and you push back in knowing more.

You play Jokoan Kuto, an outcast from the Order of the Time Guardians, betrayed by the gods, who escapes death by merging with the titan Kronos. That bond arms him with the Scythe of Kronos — a fast, physical hack-and-slash weapon — and command over time itself: bullet-time, rewind, dash, and more. You carry two time powers at once and swap which pair you bring between runs, a build decision you commit to before each attempt.

KUTO: The Lock of Time is coming soon to Early Access on Steam for Windows.

Add KUTO: The Lock of Time to your wishlist on Steam to follow it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Blasphemous a soulslike?
Yes, with a caveat. It hits the core soulslike beats — you lose your accumulated currency where you fell and must return for it, checkpoints (Prie Dieu shrines) restore health but respawn enemies, combat is deliberate rather than frantic, and bosses are patterns you learn by dying. But it delivers all of that as a 2D metroidvania, not a 3D Dark Souls clone, and it has no stamina bar.
Is Blasphemous like Dark Souls?
In spirit, yes. Blasphemous shares Dark Souls' death penalty, checkpoint rhythm, punishing bosses, and cryptic environmental storytelling. The big differences are the camera and structure — Blasphemous is a side-on 2D platformer with a metroidvania map — and the combat, which drops the stamina bar and adds a guilt system that penalizes death until you clear it.
Is Blasphemous 2 a soulslike?
Yes, and it leans a little further from the formula than the first game. Blasphemous 2 keeps the death penalty, shrine checkpoints, and tough bosses, but adds a dodge roll and three switchable weapons, which makes combat more flexible and less strictly souls-like. It's still a punishing 2D soulslike metroidvania at heart.
Does Blasphemous have a stamina bar?
No. Unlike Dark Souls, Blasphemous has no stamina meter governing attacks, dodges, and blocks. You can attack and dodge freely, which makes the moment-to-moment combat faster than a traditional soulslike. The punishment comes from enemy damage, the death penalty, and boss patterns rather than from stamina management.
What is the penance or guilt system in Blasphemous?
When you die, Blasphemous spawns a fragment of guilt at the spot and drains part of your Fervour (magic) capacity and stats until you retrieve it — the game's version of losing your souls and running back for them. It's the mechanic that most clearly marks Blasphemous as a soulslike, wrapped in the game's Catholic-guilt theme.
Is Blasphemous harder than Dark Souls?
It's differently hard. Blasphemous demands precise platforming alongside its combat, and the first game's lack of a dodge roll forces careful spacing, which some players find tougher than Dark Souls. But it's shorter and more forgiving on the death penalty than a mainline Souls game. Difficulty comes down to whether you prefer 2D precision or 3D positioning.

Keep reading

Games Like Blasphemous on Mobile (Android & iOS)

Blasphemous itself plays on your phone through Netflix Games — so if you searched this from a phone, here are the dark soulslikes and metroidvanias actually worth downloading on Android and iOS.

Blasphemous Story Explained: the Miracle & Endings

Blasphemous tells its story in fragments, item lore, and imagery. Here's the throughline — the Miracle, the Penitent One, and the true ending that leads into Blasphemous 2 — laid out plainly.