by One of the inclusions of the DLC of Strife and Ruin of Blasphemous is a curious arcade machine, quite hidden, in which a kind of very interesting 8-bit minigame is included and the truth is that it is quite funny (the detail is cool).
Said minigame is called Alcazar of Grief and is reminiscent of those old 2D side-scrolling games. In it we will have to handle penitente again in 8-bit version in a different adventure; simpler and such, but pretty cool. It’s a fairly short adventure (maybe you can do it in 10 min) but it’s also somewhat complicated, so you’ll probably have to give it a few tries until you can complete this minigame.
Alcazar of Grief hides some interesting things that of course we will mention in this post, in addition to the rewards that we can obtain from it. So nothing, let’s go with the guide.
HOW TO FIND THE ARCADE MACHINE
The first thing will be to find the Arcade Machine, which is actually quite hidden. You will have to go to the following location on the map (it is in Desecrated Aljibe ):
When you are in the room marked with a light blue color (turquoise blue… whatever) you will need the Plucked Nail from the mud to go to the raised area on the right. If you don’t have the Relic, take a look at the Relics post , where I tell you how to get all of them.
From there you will have to do a dash on the wall on the right and you will go through the wall to access a new area where you will find the arcade machine.
HOW THE ARCADE MACHINE WORKS
We will have to interact with her and she will ask us for 2500 Tears of Amendment in exchange for playing a game at Alcazar of Grief. My recommendation is that you go with a few Tears because unless you are a being from Olympus, you will normally die quite a few times and you have to go through the minigame all at once, there are no checkpoints or anything like that.
It is better that you leave the arcade machine for the late game since you don’t know if you will leave 2500 Tears (I highly doubt it) or 50k. First, prioritize spending your tears on the Tithe (the Albero donations and others) and when you have it to the maximum, yes, then I would start investing them in this arcade machine.
LOCATION OF THE 5 SKULLS
Regarding the minigame itself, I won’t talk too much because it is a linear minigame in which overcoming it will depend purely on your ability and if you insist a bit; Keep in mind that yes, that at the end of it a boss awaits you that luckily is very simple (he simply makes a forward attack that you will have to move away from, it is clearly seen when he does it and gives plenty of time).
What is interesting to mention is the issue of the 5 Skulls, and that is that there are 5 skulls hidden in the game and the idea is to collect them all so that when you overcome Alcazar of Grief you also get a Skin in passing (which I will also explain further down). how can you get another one that is quite hidden).
Let’s go with the location of the skulls:
- Skull 1 : At the beginning of the game, in the first steps (you will find some enemies with daggers) and there will come a time when a red chest containing the skull will appear behind you.
- Skull 2 : When we get to the dungeon (the area with the yellow background), practically at the beginning of it, we will have to hit a specific area of the ground and we will find a skull there.
- Skull 3 : A little further on, we will have to climb quite a bit through a room. When we reach the top, they will block the way down, right there you must go to the left and hit the wall to open a hole; stand there and after a while a chest with the skull will appear.
- Skull 4 : After going down the elevator of death, when you reach the bottom, you will have to hit a corner to make it appear.
- Skull 5 : Already in the area where the ground and bricks are golden, advancing a little through the area where some heads throw purple fireballs at us, we will have to hit a wall on the right (in the photo below you will see better which one) to open a hole, after this you must hit it again and get to the right completely so that a chest with the last skull appears.
But… getting them is not enough, you have to get them and beat the entire minigame. After the fifth skull you will no longer be very far from the boss at least.
When you get it you will get the Penitent Skin or Aspect called «Archaic Exaltation» with which we will wear the same colors as in Alcazar of Grief.
THE SECOND SECRET SKIN
As I have already mentioned before, we can get a total of 2 skins or aspects in Alcazar of Grief. The first is getting the 5 skulls and passing the minigame, the second however is more hidden .
We have to reach the end area, just after the elevator of death (it is the area where the floor, walls and others are like gold) and as we advance a little we will have to go over some platforms until we reach a wall where there is a chest. The fact is that if we jump to cross this wall to the right we will cross it and reach a secret room with a chest that contains this second skin called “The Adventure”. You don’t need to pass the minigame, as long as you catch it and die, they’ll give it to you. The Skin is all green, retro.
