A really very long time in the past I keep in mind a recreation my dad put in on our new PC, it was Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. At the moment I wasn’t excellent at it, however I all the time remembered it fondly. Then got here the follow-up to the sequence; the Soul Reaver video games. They appeared well-regarded, and it was a few years after their launch earlier than I obtained to them. I keep in mind not getting far with the controls and placing the sequence apart, till now! Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered resurrects these classics again into the fabric realm, with a brand new coat of paint in addition.
Set within the land of Nosgoth, a spot that has lengthy fallen into decay resulting from a earlier all spherical unhealthy resolution by the Vampire Lord Kain. Considered one of his vampiric lieutenants Raziel, good points the ire of Kain by attaining shiny new wings, which ends up in Kain tearing up Raziel’s new wings and is solid into the lake of the useless to rot for hundreds of years. As soon as Raziel is free of the lake of the useless, now a Wraith he’s despatched on a revenge quest by means of a ruined Nosgoth to cease his brethren and Kain. Soul Reaver 2 picks up proper after the primary recreation, with a while journey thrown into the combination as Raziel seeks to assist restore a damaged world.
There may be loads of gothic ambiance and vampire drama throughout the 2 video games, but it surely’s not till the second that the narrative picks up. Over twenty years later it won’t really feel as recent, but it surely’s a traditional for a motive. Famend recreation business author and director Amy Hennig performed a giant half in Soul Reaver (and Kain titles) earlier than occurring to do even greater issues with the Uncharted sequence. The story of Raziel, and to an extent Kain, have stood the check of time greater than the remainder of the sport.
On this third-person action-adventure recreation, Raziel will run, leap/glide, punch and stab and push and pull loads of issues round. This stuff are considerably higher to do within the remaster with some QoL enhancements, but it surely’s nonetheless constructed on a 20+ 12 months outdated recreation. Platforming is awkward, particularly when on slim surfaces, not to mention the frustration when you fall and must work your method again to the place you fell from. Then there’s the fight – attacking, blocking and dodging. None of them really feel nice, and these have been improved from the unique video games.
As a Soul Reaver, you possibly can leap between the fabric realm and the spectral realm. Raziel does face limitations within the materials realm; initially, he can not swim, and his well being slowly drains until replenished by souls. There are methods round these limitations as you progress, however initially, it may be pretty fast to get despatched again to the spectral realm. In fact, you don’t and may’t spend all of your time hanging out within the spectral. You possibly can’t work together with as a lot there, nor are you able to swim by means of water. It’s meant to be an fascinating strategy to transfer by means of the realms as development and puzzle fixing would require you to utilise the advantages of every realm. Solely it may be a ache to need to go discover the closest level within the spectral realm to have the ability to shift over, it’s solely normally a gentle inconvenience that stacks up on the opposite points.
I’m actually torn on the Soul Reaver video games, they aren’t unhealthy video games by any means. Whereas being fondly remembered classics doesn’t imply they’re as enjoyable to play after 20 years of progress. To not diminish by any means the enhancements made to assist make the video games extra approachable. Whereas I’ve just a few points with the sport which I’ll go into after, it nonetheless remained a set the place I wished to expertise the Soul Reaver story. I do hope we’d get to see the remainder of the Kain/Soul Reaver titles on the Swap/Swap 2.
From very early on it was simple to get disoriented when in enclosed areas. With no actual distinguishing options, I’d typically be trudging by means of corridors the place I wasn’t 100% certain I wasn’t simply going again the place I got here from. Whereas there’s a world map, it undoubtedly might have benefitted from a map of the realm to scale back some sluggish exploration. The world map is accessed by a press of a button in Soul Reaver 1, however within the sequel it’s important to choose it by means of the stock. I don’t know if it was as a result of the primary recreation didn’t have a map and the sequel did, so there was no motive to make it simpler to entry.
Whereas there’s no escaping that a number of components of the sport have aged poorly, one of the vital annoying is the Save system. For the primary recreation you possibly can Save from the menu anytime, though whenever you reload you don’t return to the spot you saved. Within the sequel there isn’t any save choice within the menu, neither is there autosave. I thankfully discovered this out once I finally got here to a save level, not after dropping out and returning to the sport solely to start out recent. After leaping again into the unique recreation, discovering myself again at the place to begin actually knocked my enthusiasm down a notch. There’s a portal you should utilize to journey to the areas you’ve unlocked, however until you keep in mind precisely the place you left off you’re going to have some legwork to do.
Whether or not for the sake of authenticity or not, a remaster of a recreation from an period with less-than-ideal save techniques ought to think about fast saves a quality-of-life enchancment. Since not every thing in a remaster is 100% genuine anyway, including this characteristic wouldn’t be sacrilege. It wouldn’t essentially change the sport—simply scale back pointless padding.
On the click on of the Proper stick, you possibly can seamlessly change between the traditional visuals and the up to date remaster work. I do know it’s not precisely the primary recreation to do that, with the Tomb Raider remasters additionally having the ability to do that, but it surely stays cool. With rose-tinted glasses (and never having spent loads of time with the originals) it may be a shock that Raziel didn’t all the time appear like that. Generally it’s enjoyable simply to change between the 2 as a result of it occurs immediately.
With Soul Reaver’s connection to the Legacy of Kain sequence, the gathering would have benefitted from additionally having Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain included. The Soul Reaver video games offer you sufficient to work from, however it could’ve been a pleasant inclusion. What’s included on this package deal is bonus content material that lets you view and play deleted sections from the video games. lts a pleasant addition that not many video games embody.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered offers the sequence a recent coat of paint and introduces quality-of-life enhancements that make the video games extra approachable in 2025. Nevertheless, they nonetheless present their age, and the shortage of enhancements to the save system hinders the momentum of an already difficult expertise. Regardless of this, there’s nonetheless lots to get pleasure from—particularly for individuals who have been ready for these classics to get a brand new lease on life.
Ranking: 3/5
