Home / Features /Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is brilliant, but these games deserved full-on remakes ByRichard Seagrave 9 December 20249 December 2024
Developed by Silicon Knights and published by Crystal Dynamics, I still have fond memories of 1996’s Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain for the Sony PlayStation. A 2D action-adventure game played from a top-down perspective, it puts players in control of the titular Kain, a nobleman-turned-vampire after making a deal with a necromancer to get revenge on those who murdered him. In an effort to cure his vampirism he then travels the lands of Nosgoth, and ultimately its fate lies in his hands.
Fast forward a few years and we then got a sequel – one with a new third-person perspective and 3D world. Set centuries after the events of Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver introduces players to Raziel, lieutenant to the now vampire lord Kain who, after having the audacity to evolve before him by growing wings, is cast into the Lake of the Dead. Brought back to life as a wraith by the Elder God, he’s tasked with getting his revenge by killing Kain and saving Nosgoth on the process. His adventure continues in Soul Reaver 2, and now both of these titles have been bundled together and given the remaster treatment for modern consoles and PC.
Digging into Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered in 2024, it’s clear that these titles are rightly remembered as classics. Right from the off, Raziel’s story is gripping, making you eager to explore the lands of Nosgoth in search of Kain. Gameplay-wise there are host of neat touches, such as a Raziel being able to switch between the material and spectral planes.
In the material plane Raziel can make use of physical objects such as weapons to slice and skewer his enemies, but his lifeforce steadily depletes. There are some obstacles in the material plane, however, such as bodies of water and impassable gates which simply do not exist in the spectral plane.
Aspyr has gone to great effort in remastering both Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and its sequel, vastly improving the visuals of both games and making small but important tweaks such as allowing you to control the camera with the right stick. As such, they’re more enjoyable to play than ever before.
There’s a wealth of extras for fans, too, including galleries of art, a music player, playable lost levels, and more. And so, if you’re a fan of the series, I can’t recommend Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & Remastered enough. You’ll genuinely love it.
There are elements of both games that simply haven’t aged all that well, however. One of those is combat, which is admittedly better in Soul Reaver 2 but still basic and scrappy by today’s standards. Raziel’s short attack range combined with a lacklustre lock-on system and a camera that doesn’t always want to play ball results in battles that be very messy at times, bringing the overall experience down.
The save system of the first game might drive some players up the wall too; while you’re given the option to save from the game’s pause menu, when you resume you’ll always start in the spectral plane and have to teleport close to where you left off by remembering the symbol of the area you were in.
As good as this bundle of remasters is, then, I can’t help but feel that both Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 would have been more worthy of full-on remakes. The story that runs through this series is fantastic, but the gameplay, as improved as it is, still feels somewhat archaic. And so, while fans are likely to lap Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered up, newcomers might not find themselves being won over unless they keep an open mind and look past some glaring flaws.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
