Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Evaluation + Steam Deck Efficiency

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 &2 Remastered was supplied by Aspyr for evaluate. Thanks!

Earlier than heading into this evaluate, I did not truly know something in regards to the Legacy of Kain collection apart from seeing a few trailers right here and there and listening to about it when it first launched over 20 years in the past. Heck, I did not even know what style these video games had been. However because it seems, these are literally fairly competent third particular person action-adventure video games, and I perceive why they gained a cult following after they had been first launched. However how do they maintain up now, 25 years later? Do the remasters do the video games justice? Let’s discover out.

To start out with, calling these video games a “Remaster” is perhaps somewhat beneficiant. There are higher-resolution textures and barely enhanced fashions all through, with some improved lighting too, however general, the sport stays very related. Primarily, it seems to be like a 1999 sport acquired upgraded to a 2004 sport. Visually, the video games will not be very spectacular and nonetheless resemble PS2-era video games.

The second sport advantages even much less from the visible improve, presumably as a result of it is newer, and the textures had been already barely larger high quality than the primary sport. Nevertheless, some textures will not be upgraded in any respect within the second sport, and others simply have a light uplift in decision. The fashions are a greater improve than the textures, although. Whereas some are smaller upgrades, others are reasonably huge facelifts, which change into apparent in case you toggle between the 2 modes in a cutscene, for instance.

A easy click on of the suitable thumbstick switches the sport between the basic visuals and the “remastered” visuals, which modifications textures, fashions, and even the decision of the menus. So, in case you do wish to go on a nostalgia journey, you may play the video games completely of their basic guise.

I am additionally not sure if the sounds have been up to date from the originals, having by no means performed them. Nonetheless, the voice appearing is fairly first rate, contemplating I would not assume most individuals would play this sport for the storyline, which can also be satisfactory.

Gameplay-wise, the video games seem equivalent to the unique releases, so in case you did play the unique launch, there’s in all probability a great deal of nostalgia right here. Nonetheless, in case you did not, you would possibly discover a number of the gameplay to be a bit irritating, with a considerably dodgy digicam that does not deal with vertical motion too effectively and considerably stiff motion, particularly whenever you’re airborne or swimming, which may end up in a number of missed jumps or frustrations.

Fight within the sport is not your typical run-of-the-mill affair in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver although, the enemies you combat are fellow undead creatures, and due to that, they’re technically immortal, typically talking. Which means you may want to make use of completely different strategies to defeat your enemies, both bringing them into the sunshine, setting them on hearth, impaling them, or throwing them into the water.

At first, this distinctive mechanic helps stop the sport from devolving right into a button-mashing session. Whenever you enter a room, you are looking the setting for potential weapons or methods to dispatch your foes, not simply operating as much as them and mashing the X button to defeat them. That may simply stun them, so you should utilize your setting extra simply to complete them for good. Sadly, this mechanic type of goes by the wayside as you progress by way of the sport, and by the second sport, you may simply button mash.

There may be additionally some puzzle-solving, nevertheless it often includes pushing a crate or another object to a selected place so you may both entry a brand new space or activate a mechanism to entry a brand new space. You is perhaps scratching your head at first, however when you get the dangle of it, you may begin recognizing what the sport needs you to do in sure locations.

The most important puzzle I discovered in each video games is the place to go! The world design is kind of akin to a 3D Metroidvania, with varied interconnected areas that you could find yourself looping round and going again by way of, and that is fairly cool, however it might probably additionally result in some confusion. Each video games have a map that permits you to see key factors, however these areas will be fairly huge, and there is not any native map, so in case you’ve taken a break, it may be somewhat complicated determining which manner is ahead and which is backward. Thankfully, the second sport is a bit more linear and simpler to observe, however the first sport is kind of maze-like.

The video games mean you can change between your bodily and spectral state to discover the identical space within the two worlds and progress. Sadly, it would not at all times do an incredible job of speaking when that is crucial. I typically stored forgetting to vary, and you may’t at all times change everytime you want, so it may be a little bit of a headache.

The primary sport additionally has portals for quick journey, the place you select a logo representing a spot to go to, which suggests checking the map after which memorizing the proper image for the world you wish to teleport to and maintaining it in thoughts. On the identical time, you scroll by way of the painfully gradual portal selector. This entire factor might have been solved by exhibiting the precise identify of the portal you are teleporting to on the display.

It might sound like I hate Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, however I believe these video games are fairly pleasant. If in case you have performed these video games up to now, then the remasters are a great way to expertise them once more.

It is simply that not a lot has modified right here. I do not assume something relating to coding/mechanics has modified; the marginally up to date textures and smoother fashions are appreciated, and the worth tag is cheap for the 2 video games that ought to offer you at the least 15 hours of gameplay every. It is not at all times straightforward to return and play a sport from the Nineties, and with me having no nostalgia for these video games, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver hasn’t aged tremendously effectively.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered – Steam Deck Efficiency

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered runs nearly completely on the Steam Deck. The sport fills the Steam Deck’s show appropriately, so there are not any black bars to fret about. Controllers are absolutely supported, so there are not any points there both.

The principle challenge I discovered is that the map display in Soul Reaver 1 was oddly zoomed in, which means the perimeters of the display had been minimize off. I might guess that this is a matter with the Steam Deck being a 16:10 show, and it would not hurt the sport’s playability, nevertheless it’s value mentioning.

Beneficial Settings – 60 FPS

Set the SteamOS body fee restrict to 60 and a TDP Restrict of 5W.

There are not any graphical choices in both sport, so there’s nothing to configure right here. With the 5W TDP restrict, it’s best to have a relentless 60 FPS all through each video games, with a slight traversal stutter every now and then.

As you would possibly anticipate, each video games’ energy draw is extremely low, round 6-7W in my playthrough. This implies Steam Deck LCD house owners ought to anticipate about 5 hours of battery life, whereas OLED customers can anticipate a very good 7 hours.

There was no fan noise, as anticipated, and temperatures stayed very low, not exceeding 60C.

Accessibility:

The one accessibility choices in these video games are rebindable controls and subtitles for cutscenes.

Conclusion:

The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remasters ought to scratch that nostalgic itch you may have for these video games, however in case you did not play them after they had been new, you would possibly wish to give these video games a miss. They’re merchandise of their time and do not maintain up too effectively with antiquated gameplay, lack of quality-of-life options we have come to anticipate these days, and visuals that also belong 20 years in the past.

Nevertheless, the video games carry out flawlessly on the Steam Deck. They require little or no energy draw to attain 60 FPS and have good controller help. The one flaw I discovered was that the map is just too far zoomed in on the primary sport’s map display, however except for that, every thing works as you’ll hope.

Our evaluate relies on the PC model of this sport.

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