Blasphemous
UX / UI Analysis
What follows is a post-release analysis of the UI / UX for the Blasphemous demo.
I was not part of the development team and this is my personal / professional opinion only.
STRATEGY
Game Outline
Blasphemous is a Metroidvania action-adventure game taking place in the fictional region of Cvstodia. Players assume control of the Penitent One, a silent knight wielding a sword named Mea Culpa, as he travels the land in a pilgrimage. - Wikipedia
After playing the game, I can see considerable influence from the souls-like genre. This adds an inherent aspect of difficulty due to the “perma-death” mechanic and we can make some assumptions about the target demographic based on this.
Competition can be deduced from the style and gameplay but can also be found in “best of” lists online.
Key words and phrases
Souls-like
Metroidvania
Pixel art
Atmospheric
Dark
Difficult
Competitor Analysis
Blasphemous stands amongst some of the titans of the genre and doesn’t stumble over any game destroying usability issues. Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Hollow Knight all have a similar death mechanic to Blasphemous and all the shown games exist in either the “hard game” or metroidvania genre or both.
People familiar with the games here will naturally find their way to blasphemous and therefore should quickly become proficient in any similar game mechanics that are present.
Online Feedback
The game has reviewed well with generally mid to high scores. Recent reviews on steam are extremely positive
Polygon liked it and mentioned that a bestiary would be a nice addition. Something present in Nioh but not in Dark Souls.
Some players show frustration with the spikes killing you instantly, saying its at odds with the healing mechanic.
Gamespot and other players complain that there isn’t enough fast travel points, which makes traversing through the levels a bit boring when backtracking.
There are contradicting points of view on the controls being either good or unresponsive.
It seems that most criticism revolves around a perceived lack of depth in the combat and enemy variation but we can also gain an insight into players wish lists for future updates or DLC from the above.
STRUCTURE
Basic Screen Flow
Overall the game screens are well organised with nothing so out of reach that its impossible to find. Navigation between different screens is also smooth and easy to understand.
However, I found that having the options menu only being accessible through the map screen less than ideal. This raised a flag that this part of the interface required a little more investigation.
Options System Map
This is a more detailed version of the options menus of the previous system flow map. Here I’m showing how the pages are linked together and also what functions and menu items can be found within those screens.
The only real issue I found is that the gameplay tips are not available outside of the in-game options menu, which, as I mentioned before, makes it hard to find.
Gameplay System Map
As I mentioned previously, the gameplay tips should really be accessible in the options menu outside of gameplay as well as in-game. It isn’t a huge issue but feels inconsistent.
Another minor point but important for PC is the ability to completely quit out of the game while playing. As it is now, you must first navigate to the map screen > game options > exit to main menu > exit game. This process could be at least one click shorter.
Diving deeper into how the in-game menus relate to each other, I started to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to combine them into one main hub screen. This would also affect the options menu so I will expand on this in the following section.
SKELETON
Hierarchy And Organisation
Looking more closely at the in-game menus I realised that there are some wasted interactions. If the player wants to switch between the inventory and map they have to go via the gameplay. This is a big barrier to flow as the player enters and exits the gameplay state without actually playing the game. This is even further compounded if the player wishes to access the in-game options.
The user journey for someone who wants to check the map, then check their items and maybe double check their route to a missing item is unnecessarily complicated.
On the next page I will demonstrate how this could be reorganised and streamlined.
In-game Menu Wireframe
My proposal to streamline the in-game menus would be to combine them into the same screen. The existing tab style inventory menu can be expanded to accommodate the map on the far left and the options on the far right. This way, when the player is accessing menus, there is no need to go through the actual gameplay, everything is taken care of in one place.
This has the added bonus of raising the visibility of the in-game options screen which was somewhat hard to find within the map screen.
The map screen can still have a dedicated button for activation, the same as the inventory, and the options screen is still one click away from the map but much more visible.
The tab style menu is a powerful solution for complex systems. It works well in Ghost Of Tsushima, among other games, and could work in the same way here.
SURFACE
Visual Design And World Building
The artwork and music are beautiful and atmospheric and the “inquisition-gothic” style is a very unique aesthetic in a genre crowded with fantasy settings. The character designs are unique to the aesthetic and are always on brand within the established world. I’m not the only one that thinks this as the art direction has been universally well received.
The choice of font is stylistically nice but also a little difficult to read. There is a trade-off happening here between readability and style so it would be best to give people the option to adjust it if they feel the need.
The embellishments in menus and on UI elements (UI artwork) are fitting to the world and play a big part in the games immersion without becoming clutter. It helps to reinforce the feeling that you don’t leave the world of the game even when you are navigating the inventory menu.
Game Feel And Tutorial
The feel of the game is very good. Menu items all give visual and audio feedback when selected and activated. Furthermore, the feedback given when attacking, landing from great height, parrying, riposting and healing all feels great. Special mention also to the last hit on a boss, turning the screen black and red, which was very satisfying.
If I were to make adjustments they would be minor. Things such as being able to pull yourself onto a ledge by pressing jump as well as up and maybe removing instant death from spikes.
My one major issue would be with the tutorial system. For the most part it is clear but I found it a little intrusive for a game that could dare to be a little more opaque. For example, the parry technique could be explained with button prompts without stopping the action. The first rest at the shrine also may not need pause and explanation. The finisher move was oddly not explained in-game, but just having the button prompt appear at the appropriate time is enough to encourage people to experiment without stopping the flow of play.
One of the main missteps I felt was the explanation of the dash / slide technique. It was only explained after dying in a situation where using it would have saved the character. This felt cruel and the omission of this vital information builds ill will in an already unforgiving genre.
Accessibility
On pc, key bindings can be customised, which is good, and there are subtitles but that’s about as far as the accessibility options go.
Playstation controller inputs are not supported, it continues to display X, Y, A, B, etc. for button prompts which would be quite confusing for anyone who has no experience with that style of controller.
There are no colour blindness options and I feel that the contrast between some of the body text and backgrounds is a little low. To compound the readability issue, a custom gothic pixel font is being used for all text and can be hard to read in longer paragraphs. I do appreciate the world building and atmosphere that this font choice brings but would be wary in the testing phase of any complaints and maybe offer a more standard font swap in the options.
We could also consider adding difficulty options or accentuating enemy attacks with colours to make them more apparent to people with visual impairments.
FIXES
Priority Break Down
High priority fixes are marked in italics. The reasons for these choices will be expanded upon in the following section.
Title Screen / Main Menu
“Pilgrimage” could be changed to “Begin Pilgrimage”
Show button function - e.g. “A: accept” - like on other screens
Options
When leaving deeper pages back to the top options screen the game should not move the cursor back to the top option
Add notes or tool tips for some of the adjustments - e.g. V-SYNC and scaling mode
Expanded accessibility options
Save Slot
Include more completion information - e.g. how many cherubs saved
In-Game
Streamline tutorial - e.g. less interruptions just showing button prompts
Explain dodge mechanic before death, when it becomes needed
Tutorial notes body text could be higher contrast
More explanation on death screen - e.g. “Press any button to continue from last checkpoint”
Text pop up when picking up item could stay on screen a fraction longer
Add function to press inventory button after picking up an item to view it straight away
Button prompts could use a little more highlight as can be hard to see on some backgrounds
Death mechanic should appear after first death, not the second
Let jump key also pull the character onto a ledge when hanging
In merchant menu, let back button be used to exit, not just menu navigation
Add ability to quit to desktop from in-game
Map
A key is required to explain the icons on the map diagram
Inventory
Could use a note for which button controls scroll function
Ability to close the inventory screen using the same button that opens it
General
Should rearrange in-game map, inventory and options screens to smooth out the flow
Add support for playstation controller button prompts
Accessibility
Add choice of more standard easy to read font
Add option to enlarge text
Add colour blindness options
Add visual aids for enemy attacks and collectables etc.
Add difficulty settings
Priority Explanation
Another very high priority fix would be adding a key to the in-game map. Currently there is no explanation of what any of the icons mean and the player is left to deduce that the blue highlight is their current position. This severely hinders exploration and collection of items. Eventually it can be deduced what the various elements of the map represent but it currently is not intuitive as it is not a single learning experience.
Accessibility is also a very high priority as excluding people based on ability can mean losing a large amount of potential revenue. Not to mention that games are for everyone and a person should not be left out due to short sighted planning. There are many options and adjustments that can be built into games to make them accessible to the largest number of people but some of the most basic include adding the choice of a more standard and easy to read font, options to enlarge text and colour augmentation options for colour blindness. We can also include support for playstation controllers and notes or tool tips for option menu items such as V-SYNC and scaling modes. All of which can make a large difference to how well we encourage gamers of all backgrounds and experience levels.
The highest priority fix is the restructuring of the map, inventory and in-game options screens. Changing this would make in-game menu navigation much less cumbersome and reduce intra-menu navigation by one or two clicks. I believe its also less jarring to the player to navigate one menu rather than jump between a few via the in-game screen.
Next on the list is to streamline the tutorial. If we can remove pauses from the gameplay for most or all of the tutorial elements then game immersion is never interrupted. This would require testing as a balance must be struck between understanding and immersion. A sub-fix of the tutorial would be adding an early explanation of the dodge mechanic as explaining it after a death due to not using dodge feels cruel and lessens the players good-will towards the game, ultimately hurting retention. This is the same for explaining the death mechanic after the first death instead of the second.