Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was forward of its time when it launched in 1999 for the unique PlayStation. From its storytelling and worldbuilding to the technical prowess behind its interconnected world and revolutionary Realm shifting, developer Crystal Dynamics created a near-masterpiece of environmental and narrative design, with concepts and ideas that also resonate to at the present time.
Now, 25 years later–and 21 years because the final sport within the series–Legacy of Kain makes its overdue return with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered, bundling collectively two of the best action-adventure video games of all time. Developed in partnership with Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr–the latter of which not too long ago launched the equally packaged Tomb Raider I-III Remastered–this bundle reintroduces the world to vampire protagonist Raziel and his quest for revenge towards the eponymous Kain. With improved visuals and a contemporary management scheme, it is a stable remaster that, above all, showcases why these video games are so revered.
Set within the decaying land of Nosgoth–where vampires are apex predators and people cower inside walled cities–the first Soul Reaver begins with Raziel committing the sin of surpassing his grasp, Kain, in evolution. Because the self-proclaimed king of Nosgoth, Kain sired and raised Raziel as his eldest lieutenant and son, tasking him and his 4 brothers with besieging the land and decimating humanity to make sure his despotic rule. By rising a set of wings, nonetheless, Raziel is deemed to have threatened Kain’s supremacy and is thrown into the Lake of the Useless to endure for all eternity. After rotting for hundreds of years, Raziel is resurrected by a dormant god and set on a path of vengeance to hunt out his brothers and kill them earlier than doing the identical to Kain.
This units up a comparatively simple plot that is enriched and broadened by glorious writing all through. Written and directed by Amy Hennig–who would later go on to pen the primary three Uncharted games–Soul Reaver displays a cinematic aptitude that was unusual on the time of its launch. Impressed partially by John Milton’s iconic poem, Paradise Misplaced, there’s an ornate model to the sport’s writing, permeating a way of gravitas that is splendidly delivered to life by a forged of educated stage actors. It is a wealthy, gothic story of genuine vampire mythology, but Soul Reaver and its sequel additionally confront extra philosophical themes equivalent to free will, predestination, and cyclical violence, supplementing each video games’ improbable worldbuilding and including depth to their characters and their motivations.
A part of the explanation why the writing is so efficient is as a result of it is mirrored in Nosgoth itself. Within the first Soul Reaver, what was beforehand a grandiose land is now eternally decayed. “As soon as a testomony to mankind’s defiance of Kain’s empire, this towering cathedral now stood derelict, the people who worshipped right here, centuries lifeless,” Raziel says upon coming into the Silenced Cathedral. This spiral minaret was constructed as a holy weapon, meant to blast a lethal hymn that will destroy each vampiric creature in Nosgoth: “a colossal instrument of brass and stone.” Earlier than it might serve its goal, nonetheless, the cathedral was attacked and its weapon disabled–the large reverberating pipes fell silent.
When Raziel arrives, you must traverse the labyrinthian depths of the Silenced Cathedral, manipulating the airflow of those pipes to ascend the tower and attain the higher spires the place one among your brothers resides. It is this marriage between mechanics, story, and worldbuilding that distinguishes Soul Reaver as a triumph in sport design. Whether or not you are exploring the murky waters of the Drowned Abbey or unveiling the mysteries of The Tomb of the Sarafan, every a part of Nosgoth is drenched on this identical intertwined excellence.
On the time of its launch, it was additionally a technical marvel, using stage streaming to create a seamless, interconnected 3D world with no loading screens. We’d take stage streaming with no consideration now, however Soul Reaver was one of many early pioneers of the expertise. What’s extra spectacular, and nonetheless endures to at the present time, is the sport’s bold Realm shifting. When Raziel awakens from his everlasting torment, he is been stripped of his vampiric glory and is now a wraith, cursed to feed on souls as an alternative of blood. Trapped inside an eroded husk along with his wings now ragged, Raziel can shift between two overlapping Realms: the Materials and the Spectral. Within the latter, the bodily Realm turns into distorted, warping the geometry of the world round you. Impassible obstacles like water merely dissipate–it has neither heft nor lift–fissures in rocky partitions remodel into open passages, and platforms contort to disclose new pathways.
With improved visuals and a contemporary management scheme, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is a stable remaster that, above all, showcases why these video games are so revered
In comparison with different 3D titles out there on the time, the size of Soul Reaver already felt enormous. With the ability to shift between two concurrently loaded realms in real-time, primarily forcing you to contemplate every room as two separate rooms, was simply the cherry on prime. It is fascinating and by no means felt like a gimmick, offering a platform for most of the sport’s environmental puzzles.
These conundrums take up the majority of your time, whether or not you are lining up blocks to finish murals, reactivating antiquated equipment to open the trail ahead, or ringing two bells to smash a glass wall with their thundering soundwaves. For probably the most half, Soul Reaver’s puzzles are participating, even when some variation of every one has appeared in different video games since. The frequency of block-pushing puzzles is far too excessive, although, which rapidly turns into tedious. The sport’s save system can also be odd and is one space of the remaster the place issues ought to’ve been altered. It can save you your progress at any time, however loading one among these saves at all times sends you again to the sport’s begin level. Warp Gates can be utilized to teleport again to the place you had been, however this forces you to replay sections over once more, including unnecessary backtracking to a sport that already requires you to run again by means of beforehand visited areas on a number of events.
Luckily, Soul Reaver 2 includes a extra conventional save system, letting you save and reload at particular checkpoints. That is presumably as a result of the sequel is a leaner, extra streamlined sport than its predecessor, missing any of the non-compulsory facet areas of the primary sport. Its puzzles are additionally extra various, specializing in the completely different elemental powers Raziel unlocks all through the sport with some advanced riddles. The sequel’s dearth of bosses is disappointing, although, and even with some enhancements to combat–like including a block and extra weapon variety–fighting enemies remains to be secondary to exploration and puzzle-solving.
Fight does have its deserves, nonetheless. Vampires cannot be killed by merely hitting them sufficient instances. As an alternative, you must tough them up till they’re weak sufficient to be grabbed, then both burn them in daylight, drown them in water, or impale them on spikes earlier than siphoning their souls. This forces you to look at your environment within the midst of battle; launching a vampire onto a 10-foot-high spike is at all times exhilarating. Fight is probably the most archaic facet of each video games, however there are nonetheless some attention-grabbing concepts right here that deftly merge with different facets of every sport’s design.
By way of what was modified for this remaster, one of the vital vital enhancements is that each video games now function full management of the digital camera, letting you regulate it with the suitable stick. Not with the ability to do this can be a main barrier to entry when trying to replay the unique video games, so this places them extra in step with fashionable third-person video games. Raziel’s nonetheless not the smoothest character to regulate, however there are solely a few irritating sections within the first sport the place exact platforming is required. Determining the place to go subsequent is one other occasional difficulty with the unique because of the sport’s open nature and non-existent map. The remaster alleviates this considerably by including a compass and world map, together with a little bit of textual content that states the present goal, however neither is especially impactful. The compass is just useful through the few cases when a personality tells you to move in a selected course, whereas the world map primarily capabilities as a key for every of the warp gate’s symbols. Though it’s a good contact to incorporate an outline of Nosgoth’s geography for the primary time.
The visible improve is the obvious change, with extra detailed character fashions and textures, fashionable lighting results, and dynamic shadows. Some had been frightened previous to launch as a result of each video games seemed too brilliant in early screenshots, shedding their authentic darkish and gothic aesthetics, however that is not the case within the ultimate launch. You’ll be able to immediately toggle between the brand new graphics and the previous, and it maintains the identical gritty temper in each. Actually, the remaster feels prefer it’s slapped a brand new lick of paint on the unique video games greater than something. There is a definitive enchancment, nevertheless it’s underwhelming that just a few notable blemishes nonetheless stay, whether or not it is the Soul Reaver blade regularly clipping by means of the ground or the dated hearth and water results that seem unchanged.
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Past this, the remaster additionally has a plethora of bonus materials to dive into, together with explorations of the sequence’ lore, tons of paintings and renders, previous demo movies, outtakes from the recording periods, a music participant, and plenty of misplaced ranges now you can play for the primary time. These previous relics are similar to an interactive museum, letting you discover unfinished areas that had been reduce from the unique sport attributable to time restraints, finances points, or inventive selections. It is a captivating have a look at the sport’s improvement and what may need been if issues had gone otherwise.
It could typically be robust to understand video games from the previous as a result of a lot of sport design is constructed on iteration. That is not an issue with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered. There are archaic parts to each video games, but it is shocking simply how nicely they maintain up at this time. There is not any doubt that enhancements to the sport’s controls and, to a lesser extent, their visuals contribute to this, however the principle motive they persevere is due to their masterful melding of story, worldbuilding, and mechanics with a handful of revolutionary concepts. Very like Raziel, this is not an ideal revival, nevertheless it preserves a pair of traditional video games and, in a perfect world, will entice a brand new viewers to a sequence that has been dormant for a lot too lengthy. Hopefully, that is just the start of its resurgence.