Legacy of Kain Reviews

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain completed. A wonderful little yarn about a vampire who knows he's better than you. Starts out with an intense gothic atmosphere and relatively straightforward plot. From revenge to world saving. But that atmosphere never leaves and god do I love it for that. From the area design to the enemies and even the secrets, the game is drenched in medieval gothic fantasy. The areas are interesting to explore and learn about and combat is *just* the right level of challenging that you want to figure out a good strategy for any given enemy type. Did I mention Kain is better than you? The delivery on all his narration is absolutely peak and I can see why people love him. Also I mentioned secrets didn't I? Well it's not something I could indulge in myself due to not wanting to spend unnecessary time on the game. But the secrets aren't just your usual PSX/PC game of the era affair. Some bonus items and maybe an enemy with a silly hat. Rather the game has a level of consistency in it's hidden lore that brings to mind the best of Dark Souls. Hidden shrines to an otherwise unnamed god, a lost city, or something as simple as a hidden path that has viable lore reasons for existing. (There's an uncomfortable number of serial killers you can find around the world inside towns) It's something I give the game a lot of credit for since at the time, it meant you had a lot to do and find even well past the point of needing the items for combat. (To the point where one secret wasn't found until 2020. Though that one was due to shuffling the world map around before launch making the hints now nonexistant) Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver complete. That, that was one I wish I had when I was younger. Dear god it's ambitious. The dual world gameplay, the relatively unique "find a lethal blow" combat system, the zelda style open world on the PSX with no loading zones (Just metroid style corridors) plus the genius nature of the spirit realm being a 2nd life so you don't have to be worrying too hard about death. Hell, even the block pushing puzzles have a delightful extra dimension to think about. That's normally where you'd go "yeah, but as ambitious as it was it didn't really nail it" but actually it's still extremely fun to play. To puzzle about the dual worlds looking for the loose threads to continue onward, rather thematic actually. The boss fights and story perhaps suffered, seeming more like afterthoughts than fully fleshed out. But that's alright, it means the core gameplay got the focus it needed to be enjoyable. There's perhaps a few times where one might go "Where do I go next I'm lost mum please pick me up." But considering the game is encouraging exploration and revisiting areas for secret abilities and the like, that's hardly a sin. In line with Blood Omen as well. 9/10, a retro gem that is basically *crying* for a remaster. Or at least a definitive re-release in some collection. Hey they put out a survey, maybe a one two punch of "new game announced" and "legacy collection released on switch, steam, etc" But one can only dream. Soul reaver 2, eventually. I don't wanna rush the series even still. *History Abhors a Paradox* Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 complete... And wow, let's talk about that. The gameplay? It's dull, bad even. A carbon copy of Soul Reaver 1, but completely blindingly linear with none of the clever design or impactful abilities. No upgrades, just keys to open doors on this strictly linear path. Combat is worse, world design unmemorable, and gameplay serves as little more than a way to delay the next cutscene. But the story, oh my god this story. The voice acting, the multi-faceted characters, a plot that twists and winds around itself while remaining consistent and constantly expanding via new revelations and actions. Every single character in this game is engaging and absolutely captured my attention through every single second of the surprisingly well animated cutscenes. Raziel is perhaps one of my new favourite protagonists in gaming and I can't wait to see how Blood Omen 2 and Defiance completely fuck it up. If the games every got a remastered collection, this one could just be a movie. Go full 358/2 days. Because holy crap is that story well put together.

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