Jon’s thoughts
The Legacy of Kain series is one that is beloved by fans but hasn’t seen a new entry in many years, not counting the failed MMO Nosgoth which emerged from a cancelled entry in the series. The games were helmed by Amy Hennig and asked deep philosophical questions while providing a great story and interesting gameplay. Of these games, the Soul Reaver Duology is considered the high point, and after years of fan demand, we have received new remasters from Aspyr, but are they worth checking out
The Soul Reaver games follow Raziel, once a lieutenant to the vampire overlord Kain, only to be betrayed and cast into an abyss for surpassing Kain in vampiric evolution. Raziel has been revived in the spectral realm as a wraith who must now feast on souls rather than blood and with the guidance of The Elder God ( voiced by the late great Tony Jay, aka the voice of every 90s Kid’s childhood), sets out to return to the realm of Nosgoth and gain revenge on Kain. It sounds simple enough, but soon things show themselves to be far more complicated.
The first Legacy of Kain game, Blood Omen, was a top down game that played akin to a 2D Zelda game mixed with Diablo, but Soul Reaver moved things into the third dimension and now more resembles the 3D Zelda games. The original release had some awkwardness in terms of movement and camera control and this has been adjusted and fixed for this new remaster. The new visuals looks amazing as well, but you can switch back to the original look if you want, with the press of a button.
Combat is still the same, with initial melee attacks that allow you to weaken enemies before finding a way to destroy them. If you just weaken an enemy, they will recover, but there are spike to throw them on, weapons to impale them them and so on. Once that is done, Raziel must consume their soul, or the enemy will return. Of course there is another reason as well, because Raziel must consume souls in order to maintain his life meter or he will be pulled back into the spectral realm.
You will need to shift back and forth between the spectral and material realm as the games go on, both to advance the story, but also to solve puzzles. Soul Reaver 1 has a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving and platforming sections, and if any of the puzzles feel too difficult, then you can get a hint to help you progress. Exploration and puzzles play as much of a role as combat in this game, and there is something else to consider.
Soul Reaver 1 plays very much like a Metroidvania, with Raziel acquiring new abilities every time he defeats another lieutenant of Kain’s, and is thus able to get access to new areas. Raziel will get new combat abilities as well, including his own version of the Soul Reaver sword, albeit a spectral version of the blade. Soul Reaver 1 does take some getting used to, but the sheer variety of what you can do, the exploration and the storytelling is astonishing for the time, even if the lock on mechanic is a bit lacking in this game.
Soul Reaver 2 tones down the overall exploration and Metroidvania aspects in favor of more streamlined combat and storytelling, but it is the storytelling that is very much appreciated. Soul Reaver 1 infamously had much of its content cut and a very abrupt ending, but Soul Reaver 2 managed to let Amy Hennig and her team go all out to create something special. These games have often been called the closest we will get to adaptations of The Elric Saga and it is easy to see why, as several ideas are clearly influenced by Michael Moorcock’s work, and some concepts and ideas are reused, albeit in different ways.
The Soul Reaver games are deeply rooted in gothic horror as well, and while Soul Reaver 2 tones down the puzzles and exploration, there is still much to do with atmosphere and narrative. The remasters have allowed the storytelling to be shown in new ways, with the audio that has been touched up and scenes that look amazing, such as Kain’s famous dialogue with Raziel in the second game, which we referenced in the title of this review. There were some scenes where the remastered visuals seemed a bit off, but fortunately they were not the majority, although there was some texture pop in during Soul Reaver 1. I was surprised how well these games ran on Switch, and while the visuals run at a lower resolution than other platforms, the 60 FPS gameplay was very much appreciated, and the game performed well both docked and in handheld mode.
One thing that stands out about this remaster collection though, is what else was added. There is so much bonus material to see, including lore material that lets you know more of the backstory of the land of Nosgoth and what is going on. There is also making-of content, large amounts of fan art and cosplay images and more to make this a package fans will love.
But something else was included as well, which needs to be mentioned. Earlier I mentioned that there was a lot of content that was cut from the game, and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered includes said cut content as a bonus feature. You can access these sections and play them individually, and obviously they are non canonical, but still a massive treat for fans of the series to have heard about these sections for a long time. Finally playing them is amazing, and while they are obviously in a rough state, show just how much love and attention was put into this package.
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered feels like a collection for fans of the series, by fans of the series. It not only presents two iconic games remastered, but puts them in a definitive package to show off the best the series had to offer. This is what remastered collections should be, and I hope the other games in the series can get remasters as well, to complete the experience. The coin has finally landed on its edge and you should check these remasters out.
Ryan’s Thoughts
The Legacy of Kain series has been a series that isn’t something I really enjoyed when it was first released. LOK Blood Omen was a game that I really couldn’t get into really. It just didn’t hold my interest much. I felt like it tried too much to be a dark and brooding Zelda tribute.
But when LOK Soul Reaver came out, I was all over it. The exploration with Raziel, the combat, the battles with Kain, all were really fun and entertaining to play and to watch play out. I started the game on the original Playstation and eventually beat it a couple of decades later on the Dreamcast. LOK Soul Reaver 2 is a game that I really only got into last year for a bit on the Playstation 2 and then never picked it up again.
So when this collection was announced, I knew I had to revist it and I am glad that I was given the opportunity to do so. Not only did I get a chance to revist a timeless classic in LOK Soul Reaver, but got to really dive into LOK Soul Reaver 2. Coming from the PlayStation and Dreamcast, I was a bit skeptical playing both of these on the Xbox Series X, but the controls really felt natural, even as forbidden as I otherwise felt playing on a platform that it was never originally released on.
Graphically, both of these games are really impressive. I like the fact that you can bounce between the remastered graphics and the original at the press of a button. Character models look extrodinary and you can tell how much work and detail went into every one of them. The only issue I have with the game graphically is t hat the textures look just slightly less blurry. I wish that they could have done a bit more with the textures on buildings, etc, like what they did with the character models. Playing the game with the remastered character models makes them feel ever so slightly out of place in the world they are interacting with. As much of a slight disappointment as this is, it’s nowhere near game breaking and can be forgiven.
As for the performance, the game runs as smooth as you would expect for this to run on a console like the Xbox Series X. Framerate is a solid 60 constantly. There is zero slowdown, and not a trace of texture, model, or set piece pop in to speak of.
The music in both of these games are iconic. Hearing them in this remaster makes me appreciate them even more than I did in their original forms. The music is crisper, crystal clear, and hits harder than it ever did before. Really adding a lot of volume and depth to the stories that these games tell. The voice acting in both these games are top notch. Again these are more hard hitting and crystal clear than they ever have been before. There is something to be said hearing the booming voice of Tony Jay in crystal clear HD sound. It’s enough to make your blood run cold, but in a good way.
In closing, the games themselves are amazing and made me really fall in love with them all over again. It really feels like playing these games again for the first time and it’s awesome to experience.
I am also very glad that they went the extra mile to include the bonus content. Being able to play cut content, and get a glimpse of these games behind the scenes really shows just how much went into the release of these games. I really hope that we see the rest of the series get the remaster treatment. I would love to dive back into the Blood Omen games and LOK Defiance.
These games are for die hard fans and for those that have only heard of but have yet to play this iconic set of games.
Fan or not, you can’t go wrong playing these games on your platform of choice. Can’t recommend these games enough!
Disclaimer: We were provided with review keys for these games
