Comparison

Hyper Light Drifter vs Blasphemous

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Hyper Light Drifter

Embark on an action-adventure RPG journey through a vast, ruined world filled with danger and lost technologies. Explore, battle vicious enemies, and uncover secrets in this hand-animated, visually stunning experience.

Highlights
  • Hand-animated visuals
  • Vast, ruined world exploration
  • Challenging combat
  • Weapon upgrades and skills
  • Branching paths and secrets
  • Evocative soundtrack
Features
Read full description

Finally, Heart Machine's award winning slash-'em-up arrives to iOS in the most polished and refined version yet, the Special Edition. ► Winner of the Audience Award and Excellence in Visual Art awards of the prestigious Independent Games Festival. ► 14 + nominations among the Best Visual Design, Best Audio and Best original Game categories. ► 9/10 Destructoid - A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage. ► 9.5/10 Game Informer - The combination of soundtrack, art, and combat creates a rabbit hole worth your full exploration. ► Eurogamer Recommended - Heart Machine's slash-'em-up is punishing and precise - and incredibly beautiful. ► 9/10 GameSpot - It is more than simply pretty; Hyper Light Drifter uses its visuals to both guide and relax you. The grandest vistas calm your pulse between difficult, breathless combat sequences. ► 8.5 Polygon - Hyper Light Drifter deftly mixes contemplative moments with breakneck action. ► 5 Stars Darkstation - The top-down action-RPG Hyper Light Drifter is an amazing game: gorgeous, a fascinating world to explore, tight controls, beautiful music, and the faith in the player for you to figure things out on your own. Echoes of a dark and violent past resonate throughout a savage land, steeped in treasure and blood. Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease. Hyper Light Drifter is an action adventure RPG in the vein of the best 16-bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale. Explore a beautiful, vast and ruined world riddled with dangers and lost technologies. Features: ● 120 fps gameplay on iPad Pro / 60 fps on iPhone and iPad. ● Compatible with MFi controllers. ● Game Center achievements. ● Haptic Vibration. ● From each character to subtle background elements, everything is lovingly hand-animated. ● Easy to pick up, difficult to master; enemies are vicious and numerous, hazards will easily crush your frail body, and friendly faces remain rare. ● Upgrade weapons, learn new skills, discover equipment and traverse a dark, detailed world with branching paths and secrets abound. ● Evocative soundtrack composed by Disasterpeace. ● All the content from the original game + more weapons, enemies and areas from the Special edition.

About

Blasphemous

Embark on a brutal action-platformer adventure in a dark, gothic world. Wield a blade forged from guilt, master hack and slash combat, and explore a cursed land filled with monstrous enemies and challenging bosses. This version includes all released DLCs for the complete experience.

Highlights
  • Explore a non-linear world
  • Brutal action combat
  • Savage executions and gore
  • Customizable character builds
  • Intense boss battles
  • Unlock mysteries and lore
  • All DLCs included
Read full description

Fight. Endure. Break eternal damnation. Blasphemous is an award-winning 2D indie action platformer with soulslike elements, offering brutal hack and slash combat and deep exploration across a dark, gothic world steeped in penance and suffering. Set in the cursed land of Cvstodia, ravaged by a twisted curse known only as The Miracle, you play as The Penitent One, the last survivor of the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow, bound to a cycle of death and rebirth. Face monstrous enemies, navigate deadly traps, and uncover hidden secrets in pixel perfect handcrafted levels. As you fight for redemption, you'll explore desolate cathedrals, forsaken wastelands, and blood-soaked dungeons, encountering grotesque monsters, merciless bosses and tormented souls along the way. Penance Never Ends. MAIN FEATURES - Explore a Non-Linear World: Venture through diverse platformer environments filled with fearsome enemies and deadly traps. Seek redemption across the dark gothic landscapes of Cvstodia. - Brutal Action Combat: Wield Mea Culpa, a blade forged from guilt itself. Unleash devastating combos and skills, and hack and slash your way through hordes of twisted monsters. - Executions & gore: Deliver savage executions with pixel perfect animations that celebrate brutal combat and grotesque detail. - Customise Your Build: Equip powerful Relics, Rosary Beads, Prayers, and Sword Hearts to shape your playstyle. Experiment with builds and unlock new progression paths to survive the impossible. - Intense boss Battles: Face off against colossal bosses and deadly mini-bosses. Learn their patterns, endure their fury, and crush them. - Unlock the Mysteries of Cvstodia: Meet a cast of tortured NPCs. Some will help, others will test your resolve. Unravel their stories and shape your fate in blood, guilt and damnation. ALL DLCs INCLUDED This mobile version includes all free DLCs ever released for Blasphemous, expanding the core game with new content, features, and challenges: - The Stir of Dawn – Unlock New Game+, encounter new bosses and enemies, and dive deeper into the lore. - Strife & Ruin – Brave the brutal Boss Rush mode and embark on a crossover quest with Miriam from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. - Wounds of Eventide – Witness the conclusion of The Penitent One’s first journey and unlock an ending that connects directly to Blasphemous 2. THE FULL BLASPHEMOUS EXPERIENCE – NOW ON MOBILE - Includes every feature and content update from the original PC and console versions. Switch between precise touch controls or full controller support (gamepad compatible) for a seamless experience. - No ads, no microtransactions. MATURE CONTENT DESCRIPTION This Game may contain content not appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work: Some Nudity or Sexual Content, Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content.

Screenshots

Hyper Light Drifter4 screens
Blasphemous4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Hyper Light Drifter at 4.9 against Blasphemous's 4.4. Hyper Light Drifter also leads on ratings volume (6.7K vs 243) and review sentiment (83% vs 72%). Blasphemous's advantage is chart position (#12 vs #131). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Hyper Light Drifter costs $4.99 and Blasphemous $5.59 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hyper Light Drifter holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hyper Light Drifter has 6.7K ratings behind it against 243, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Hyper Light Drifter's written reviews are positive against 72% of Blasphemous's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hyper Light Drifter ships an update every 6 weeks, Blasphemous monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Hyper Light Drifter versus Blasphemous: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHyper Light DrifterBlasphemous
Price$4.99 — better$5.59
Rating4.9 (6.7K ratings) — better4.4 (243 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better71.9% of reviews
Number of ratings6.7K — better243
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#131#12 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size813 MB921 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperAbylight S.L.The Game Kitchen Games

Customer experience

Hyper Light Drifter

All ratings6,721 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews544 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.0%
Negative11.8%

Blasphemous

All ratings243 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.9%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews498 reviews
Positive71.9%
Neutral9.6%
Negative18.5%

User reviews

Hyper Light Drifter

From 6.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🔥 Gorgeous game
  • 👍 Engaging gameplay
  • 🎨 Beautiful art style
  • 🎶 Excellent soundtrack
  • 🤯 Challenging but fair

Room to improve

  • 🤖 Unclear controls/tutorials
  • 🤕 Frustrating difficulty
  • 🤔 Lack of story explanation
  • 🤖 Unresponsive touch controls
  • 🤕 Imprecise aiming/platforming

Blasphemous

From 243 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth gameplay
  • 👍 Excellent art style
  • 💎 Challenging but rewarding
  • 🎮 Great on controllers
  • 🔝 Faithful port of console version

Room to improve

  • 🔧 Needs more customizable controls
  • 📱 Suboptimal touch controls
  • 🖼️ Blurry/low-resolution visuals
  • 🔌 Requires online connection
  • 📺 Lacks iPad optimization

Bugs and requests

Hyper Light Drifter

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game crashes when fighting in the tower
  • Background glitches and visual issues
  • Inconsistent frame rate on some devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add controller remapping
  • Improve touch control responsiveness
  • Provide more story context
  • Adjust difficulty settings
  • Add widescreen support for newer devices

Blasphemous

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Glitches with certain enemies and abilities
  • Game freezing when accessing controller settings
  • Blurry/unreadable text in certain languages

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to resize and reposition on-screen buttons
  • Support for offline play
  • Full iPad optimization and native UI
  • Haptic feedback for touch controls
  • Synced saves across devices

In-app purchases

None

Hyper Light Drifter

No in-app purchases

None

Blasphemous

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hyper Light Drifter free?
Hyper Light Drifter costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Blasphemous free?
Blasphemous costs $5.59, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Hyper Light Drifter or Blasphemous?
Hyper Light Drifter is rated higher. Hyper Light Drifter averages 4.9 out of 5 from 6.7K ratings, while Blasphemous averages 4.4 from 243 ratings.
Do Hyper Light Drifter or Blasphemous have ads?
Neither Hyper Light Drifter nor Blasphemous shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hyper Light Drifter or Blasphemous?
Hyper Light Drifter ships an update every 6 weeks, and Blasphemous monthly. Most recently, Hyper Light Drifter was updated on October 2, 2026 and Blasphemous on October 1, 2026.
Which is more popular, Hyper Light Drifter or Blasphemous?
Hyper Light Drifter currently peaks at #131 in the App Store charts, and Blasphemous at #12. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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