We reached out and spoke with the creative and Art director at the Game Kitchen in regards to their latest title Blasphemous! Read their thoughts on the development and a few behind the scene things of this religious inspired Metroidvania.

1. What inspired the creation of Blasphemous?

I think it was the necessity to create a unique setting for a video game genre that was familiar to players, that when they looked at any screenshot they would know immediately how to play and that the artistic section could do the rest.

2. Why was it important to incorporate themes of religion, redemption and punishment into the game?

It was mainly a creative and artistic decision. Looking for the only setting we wanted for the game we liked the idea of mixing those concepts that have been represented in art and apply them to a dark fantasy video game.

3. Blasphemous has an art style that's both disturbing yet extremely beautiful. How were you able to achieve that?

We tried to emulate the Spanish religious art of centuries ago that could be dark and macabre but at the same time, being related to religion added a beautiful side. It has been a work of several years of research and development to really find the unique and original art that we were looking for for the game and we believe that the effort has been worthwhile.

4. There's a strong sense that the gameplay and world design were inspired by classic Metroidvania games and From Software's Bloodborne. Was there any other games, films or books that helped shape Blasphemous?

The influences are very diverse. From the point of view of gameplay, in addition to the classic Castlevania, we have been influenced by hack&slash games like Devil May Cry and Dante's Inferno, and old games like Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Knights of the Round, Straider which we love.

5. What was the process like to refine the gameplay (combat and exploration) to such a high quality?

It is a matter of trial and error, of working and iterating, changing, taking risks, and tweaking again. We as developers and players give a lot of importance to game-feel in video games and put a special effort to get the game-feel we wanted. About the exploration, it was a very hard job to do because we lacked previous experience in this type of genre, but through the effort and iteration we were finally satisfied.

6. Was there anything you had to cut or wanted to implement for the final version of the game?

When developing video games, you should always leave things out in order to be able to complete the game according to the established dates. It's something we developers have to learn to live with. Hopefully, a lot of the things we had to leave out we will be able to include in future updates to the game.

7. Did you ever feel that the graphic violence and themes of the game might be too much for some gamers?

I don't think much about it because I think that nowadays players have access to a huge catalog of games of different genres, styles and themes for them to choose from. As it happens with cinema, television or literature, as there is a part of the audience that does not feel comfortable with certain topics, our responsibility is to warn and inform about the products as best we can.

9. What are you most proud of about Blasphemous?

Probably what I'm most proud of is the design of the characters we put a lot of effort into and also their in-game animations. It has been a pleasure to work with such an amazing team.

You can read our review of the awesome Blasphemous via the link below.

http://www.game-news.co.uk/review/UK/3654/Game/Blasphemous

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