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Hollow Knight is not among the games named as an inspiration in the located developer accounts about Blasphemous. In a 2019 post, The Game Kitchen’s Enrique Colinet identified Castlevania, Dark Souls and Doom, alongside southern Spanish folklore and Seville’s religious history. That omission does not prove Hollow Knight had no influence; it means the available statements do not establish one.
What the developers named as inspirations
In a September 9, 2019 PlayStation Blog post, Enrique Colinet, identified as a game designer at Team17, described the team’s approach as mixing southern Spanish folklore with inspiration from games including Castlevania, Dark Souls and Doom. Hollow Knight does not appear in that list.
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Blasphemous 2 - Nintendo Switch | Buy on Amazon | |
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Blasphemous Deluxe Edition (Nintendo Switch) (Renewed) | $149.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Blasphemous Deluxe Edition - Xbox Series X | $69.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Colinet also described cultural sources that shaped the game’s setting and protagonist:
- The Penitent One: The character drew on historical religious elements around Seville, including penitents wearing sanbenitos during the Spanish Inquisition and modern religious processions in the region.
- Cvstodia: The fictional land was an exaggerated take on the developers’ own region and history, with architecture and places rooted in southern Spain.
- Soundtrack: Andalusian flamenco informed the music, which Colinet said was recorded with real instruments.
The Game Kitchen describes Blasphemous as an action-platformer combining hack-and-slash combat, exploration, narrative and pixel art. Those broad genre features can invite comparisons with other games, but resemblance alone is not evidence of direct influence.
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- Explore a fuller Non-Linear world - Having awoken in a strange new land, your journey starts anew in a series of enchantingly grotesque landscapes, oozing Gothic charm and littered with unforgiving traps. How you tackle the labyrinthian world remains at your discretion, there is no wrong turn to be made, only scores to settle
- Savage Combat - The Penitent One shows no mercy, and with a series of new weapons offering new moves, brutal executions, and expanded combos, destruction will rain on any that stand in his way
- Customize your playthrough your way - Blasphemous 2 offers up new ways to play, with the ability to customise and improve your base skillset, alongside several new unique weapons to unleash devastating attacks on enemies
- Grand Intense Boss Battles - Hordes of monstrous foes stand between you and your goal; twisted bosses with unique attack patters and sundering abilities will put your skills to the test as you fight to stand triumphant when the dust settles
- Explore a deep new world - A whole new world awaits, bustling with mysterious new NPCs to interact with, some will offer aid, some will ask for it, and others will send you on death defying missions to obtain long forgotten items. With so much to see and do, the stories and myths you encounter will help you unpick the games myriad of secrets, granting you a deeper understanding of this strange new world
Why players may compare Blasphemous and Hollow Knight
Both games are two-dimensional action adventures built around exploration and combat, so a player might notice similarities in how they feel or look. Those shared elements are not enough to show that one directly inspired the other. The developer statements available here name other game influences and explain specific cultural sources for Blasphemous; they do not offer a complete feature-by-feature comparison with Hollow Knight.
What the level-design account says about exploration
A separate November 6, 2019 interview with level designer Enrique Colinet describes the team’s goals for Blasphemous’s non-linear map. The intention was to let players explore optional corners without making everyone backtrack or revisit areas after gaining new abilities.
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- Overcome fearsome enemies and deadly traps as you venture through a variety of different landscapes, and search for redemption in the dark gothic world of Cvstodia
- Release the power of Mea Culpa, a sword born from guilt itself, to slaughter your foes. Acquire devastating new combos and special moves as you purge all in your path
- Unleash your wrath and relish in the gory dismemberment of your adversaries - all in beautifully rendered, pixel-perfect execution animations
- Hordes of gigantic, twisted creatures stand between you and your goal. Learn how they move, survive their devastating attacks and emerge victorious
- The Deluxe Edition also includes the 'Alloy of Sin' And 'Golden Burden' Skins, digital soundtrack, digital artbook, digital comic, stickersheet and poster of Cvstodia
Colinet also described a practical change during development: in June 2018, the team moved from scrolling environments to a screen-based map. The earlier levels felt too large, were difficult to build collaboratively and caused performance problems. The resulting areas were organized into districts, zones and scenes.
For world flow and shortcuts, the interview points to Dark Souls and the classic God of War games—not Hollow Knight. Colinet specifically cited classic God of War as inspiration for the satisfying return route created when a boss encounter opens a gate back near an area’s beginning. This explains reported design choices, but it should not be treated as an exhaustive record of every influence on the game.
Rank #3
- Overcome fearsome enemies and deadly traps as you venture through a variety of different landscapes, and search for redemption in the dark gothic world of cvstodia.
- Release the power of mea culpa, a Sword Born from guilt itself, to Slaughter your foes.
- Unleash your wrath and relish in the gory dismemberment of your adversaries - all in beautifully rendered, pixel-perfect execution animations.
- Discover and equip relics, rosary beads, prayers and Sword hearts to give you the new abilities and stat boosts you need to survive
- Hordes of gigantic, twisted creatures Stand between you and Your goal. Learn how they move, survive their devastating attacks and emerge victorious.
What can be concluded—and what cannot
The careful answer is that Hollow Knight is not a documented inspiration in these developer accounts. The named game influences include Castlevania, Dark Souls, Doom and, for a particular shortcut design idea, classic God of War. The accounts also connect the game’s world and protagonist to Andalusian and Sevillian history and culture.
Neither the 2019 developer post nor the level-design interview explicitly says that Hollow Knight did or did not influence Blasphemous. Not naming it cannot establish that the developers never drew from it; it only means a direct influence claim is unsupported by these statements.
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