Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Review
Summary: Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is an old AAA title from the PlayStation 1 era with such strong core design elements that just a facelift using HD textures and refined character models turns it into a decent modern indie title. It is a must-play for those who take video game history seriously and want to understand the evolution of this young art form throughout its history.
4.2
A vintage gaming experience
Before Amy Hennig created one of the most popular PlayStation franchises and became known as the mother of the Uncharted franchise, she was the legend who wrote, produced, and directed Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver during her time working with Crystal Dynamics. Of course, this revolutionary franchise was forgotten as the wheels of time turned. Yet, Saber Interactive breathed a new life into the franchise and brought it back to the land of the living with Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
Soul Reaver Remastered follows the story of the feud between two powerful vampires Kain and Raziel. Kain’s story begins as a human aristocrat in Blood Omen which is the very first installment of the series. By the end of that game, he has become the most powerful vampire and aims to rule the world. To that end, he creates several vampire elites as his loyal servants one of whom is Raziel. But when the servant out-grows the master, Kain betrays Raziel and casts him into the abyss, turning him into a new undead creature that walks between worlds. Fuelled by vengeance, Raziel uses his newfound powers to bring Kain to justice.
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered sets the beginning and end of Raziel’s quests for vengeance and despite starting as a revenge story and being more than 25 years old, it still holds quite a few surprises. The fantasy settings of the story combined with the well-written and rooted lore of the land of Nosgoth -which is the scene of a constant crusade between humans and vampires- makes the story easy to sit through and pretty intriguing.
The first and foremost point about Soul Reaver Remastered is that it’s a remaster and not a remake of a 26-year-old game. The core gameplay mechanics of the game are as old as the original Resident Evil 2 and released for the same console: the original PlayStation. Yet, the ideas, gameplay scenarios, and most of its mechanics such as enemy lock-on or auto ledge grab in platforming or even the third-person camera are as fresh and perfect as modern masterpieces such as Elden Ring. It is unbelievable how ahead of its time Soul Reaver was and that is what has blown me away! That is perhaps why unlike other games from that era that cannot be enjoyed except as a remake, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered can still be enjoyed and only makes you wonder what a greater experience could a remake of the series bring to the table.
The game features an open-world map with some Metroidvania elements which means players gradually unlock new abilities such as climbing specific surfaces that enable them to get past some obstacles that were previously insurmountable. The game renders two relatively distinctive worlds simultaneously. In addition to the gothic world of Nosgoth, players can switch to a distorted spirit world that lies under the skin of Nosgoth. Raziel can move between the spirit world and the real world in real-time in order to get past some environmental challenges such as bodies of water that are non-existent in the spirit world. This duality in the environment of the game and its use as a puzzle-solving and platforming mechanic in Soul Reaver is not only the cornerstone of the concept that brought us games such as The Medium and Lords of The Fallen but is so perfectly implemented that the later games hardly improved upon it.
The combat is perhaps the most dated aspect of the game. Players need to lock on enemies and attack them with melee weapons while blocking or dodging enemy attacks. On one hand, landing attacks and dodging are a bit rusty due to the fixed camera angle during lock on and that adds an unwelcomed difficulty to the process. On the other hand, the combat scenario of the game is so perfectly aligned with the lore of the world and other gameplay mechanics that it remains fresh to the last moment. Most enemies encountered in the game are vampires and as we know, vampires only die from specific wounds such as sunburn or getting staked through the heart. That is why every enemy first needs to be weakened and then killed either by being thrown under sunlight or being impaled. Going through this process is especially challenging when surrounded by multiple enemies. Later on when Raziel gains access to the mythical sword Soul Reaver, he can kill enemies directly but at the cost of his own health which makes sure the difficulty of the game remains balanced throughout the game as Raziel gets new magical powers.
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is an old AAA title from the PlayStation 1 era with such strong core design elements that just a facelift using HD textures and refined character models turns it into a decent modern indie title. It is a must-play for those who take video game history seriously and want to understand the evolution of this young art form throughout its history. It’s definitely old, but not outdated which turns it into a vintage gaming experience. I could only wish this remaster marks the beginning of a new era for this priceless franchise.
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