After twenty long years, Crystal Dynamics’s classic Legacy of Kain series rises from its coffin. Thanks to Aspyr, this cult classic Soul Reaver vampire action duology gets a fresh coat of paint and some modern touch-ups in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
Once Cut Down
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered follows not the tale of the titular character Kain, but that of one of his soldiers instead. Set thousands of years after the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, you are Raziel, the once favorite “son” of Kain who through a cruel twist of fate finds himself growing wings through evolution… before Kain jealously strips Raziel of his wings and throws him off a waterfall. Alas, death had other ideas for Raziel.
Brought back as a wraith and guided by mysterious forces, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered sees Raziel on a path of destruction as he vows to stop his “brothers” and get revenge on Kain for the centuries of pain he has endured. However, not everything is quite as it seems in the gothic land of Nosgoth, and with much larger forces at work you’ll soon find yourself caught in a web of conspiracy, eldritch terror, and time travel.
The story across the two games in this package is deliciously engrossing and easily the strongest aspect of the franchise. The reason Legacy of Kain has such a cult following is just how well-written these games are. You’ll find engrossing lore, an enchanting cast, and a world steeped in so much history that once you hit the rather abrupt ending of Soul Reaver 1 you’ll be thanking the elder gods that you can jump directly into 2 and continue on this tale of vampiric deception and destiny.
Flying High
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered are 3D action-adventure titles where Raziel is tasked with exploring Nosgoth and taking Kain down. The worlds are somewhat open in concept, though areas are often closed off and require powers obtained through the story to access, much in the vein of the “Metroidvania” genre. The original game was released on Playstation 1 and had quite a staggeringly large and fleshed-out world, only for it to then be doubled in Soul Reaver 2 which launched quite early into the Playstation 2’s life span.
The gameplay in this remaster remains largely the same as the original Soul Reaver titles, with a few quality of life improvements sprinkled in to somewhat iron out the wrinkles the passage of time left on the originals. Still, I found that despite their age they have a very timeless feel to them that will surely ensnare any player that picks this collection up.
One nice change is that the original game would often nudge you in the correct direction via a cutscene, but in this new remaster there are more hints as to what you should do next. Soul Reaver 1 for example flat-out informs you where your next objective lies, which goes a long way to easing some of the more cryptic aspects of these old games and reducing the sort of ire some players will have had for them.
Frayed Wings
What I can’t really defend from the originals and hasn’t been tweaked presumably due to how hard-baked into the game it is is the borderline egregious amount of block pushing to solve puzzles. It’s even more frequent in Soul Reaver 2.
Another downside carried over from the original is the limp and unvaried combat. The boss battles at least are real standouts as they tend to be more puzzle-based affairs that go beyond just whaling on the two attack buttons you have and praying.
I was at least initially impressed when fighting vampires. You have to deal with them using somewhat traditional methods like impaling or sunlight. In Soul Reaver 1 you can grab enemies and throw them onto some of the gothic decoration that litters Nosgoth, which is quite an interesting way to slay them. Unfortunately, I soon enough found times when they would just stand on top of impending doom rather than actually being slain.
Another headache I had throughout both games was delayed or even dropped inputs when it came to jumping and gliding. This is something you do a lot throughout the game. It never happened to me in an area that would set me back that far, but it was enough to be more than a slight annoyance.
That said, it’s not all bad. A major selling point of the original titles was the “Spirit Realm”, in which Raziel can depart the Material realm and become an immaterial spirit. When shifting to this realm, the world distorts and changes around you despite appearing much the same. The Spirit Realm is used as part of many puzzles and ways to progress in the game, and it was absolutely mind-blowing that it could be pulled off on PS1 hardware back then.
Sequels Are Rarely as Good…
Like the Pillars of Nosgoth, something corrupts this package, and that’s Soul Reaver 2. While a fine enough game judged by the standards of the time, it is by a considerable margin the weaker part of the package. It’s a damn shame considering just how timeless the Soul Reaver 1 feels.
The second game in the Soul Reaver duology seems devoid of the excellent pacing of the first. Instead, there’s far more story and cutscenes packed in, leading to it sometimes feeling more like watching a movie interrupted by gameplay than the other way around. The feeling of exploration is lost in favor of more of a focus on combat and expanding Nosgoth too. While a noble attempt, the game feels almost funneled down a corridor of reused assets and the most spongelike, weak-feeling combat I’ve played in the Legacy of Kain franchise. I was very excited to revisit this game in particular out of the two, and despite the nostalgia, I’ve come away with a horrible taste.
Bonuses
A welcome addition to the remaster is a nice set of extras. There are tons of developer comments, fan art, promotional art, and even videos of voice actors in the studios with bloopers included.
What most impressed me was a section dedicated to making areas that were cut from the original Soul Reaver playable in the remaster. Anyone familiar with the series knows it had a lot of cut content, and I found it such a pleasant surprise to be able to play so much of it and see how it might have impacted the game. Sadly there’s nothing here for Soul Reaver 2, and I would have loved this re-introduced content to also have been included somewhere in the main game, but it’s still fantastic the developers went to this length regardless.
Sights and Sounds
On the visual side of things we have a mixed offering. While I applaud the effort Aspyr have put into making these titles look “modern”, and they have really done a fantastic job with that aspect, at times it’s at odds with the art direction and produces some really questionable results.
At the press of a button, you can switch between classic and modern graphical styles. Sometimes I couldn’t even tell without looking at Raziel’s character model which I was on, a testament to how good the original Soul Reaver still looks. Where it falls apart is yet again in the second game. Moebius has a new character model which looks fantastic, but Vordador on the other hand, despite being a powerful and most feared vampire, looks rather cartoon-like with bulging eyes and his tongue sticking out. Bizarre choices like this hold the title back from achieving the same remaster quality of Aspyr’s work on the Tomb Raider Remastered collection.
The audio is sublime. As with the originals, the voice acting here is almost addictive, especially paired with the brilliant writing. You just get such an aural treat that I found myself watching and listening to every morsel just to sate my hunger for another voice line from Kain or Raziel. They truly caught lightning in a bottle with these games.
The music is also fantastic and paints a brilliant atmosphere, regardless of if you’re exploring dungeons or just soaking in the ambiance of a ruined Nosgoth under Kain’s rule.
Verdict
I have a lot of pure nostalgia for these games, but I also feel that maybe Soul Reaver 1 aging so damn well carries the package here. While not a flawless ride by any stretch of the imagination, the world-building, the writing, and the atmosphere are still unrivaled. Aspyr has developed the ideal way to play a stone-cold classic (and the sadly lacking follow-up).
LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER 1 & 2 REMASTERED IS RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another Action-Avdenture game, you might want to check out Bakeru.
Many thanks go to Aspyr for a PlayStation 5 review code for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
