Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was ahead of its time when it launched in 1999 for the original PlayStation. From its storytelling and worldbuilding to the technical prowess behind its interconnected world and innovative Realm shifting, developer Crystal Dynamics created a near-masterpiece of environmental and narrative design, with ideas and concepts that still resonate to this day.
Now, 25 years later--and 21 years since the last game in the series--Legacy of Kain makes its overdue return with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered, bundling together two of the greatest action-adventure games of all time. Developed in partnership with Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr--the latter of which recently launched the similarly packaged Tomb Raider I-III Remastered--this bundle reintroduces the world to vampire protagonist Raziel and his quest for revenge against the eponymous Kain. With improved visuals and a modern control scheme, it's a solid remaster that, above all, showcases why these games are so revered.
Set in the decaying land of Nosgoth--where vampires are apex predators and humans cower within walled cities--the first Soul Reaver begins with Raziel committing the sin of surpassing his master, Kain, in evolution. As the self-proclaimed king of Nosgoth, Kain sired and raised Raziel as his eldest lieutenant and son, tasking him and his four brothers with besieging the land and decimating humanity to ensure his despotic rule. By growing a set of wings, however, Raziel is deemed to have threatened Kain's supremacy and is thrown into the Lake of the Dead to suffer for all eternity. After rotting for centuries, Raziel is resurrected by a dormant god and set on a path of vengeance to seek out his brothers and kill them before doing the same to Kain.
This sets up a relatively straightforward plot that's enriched and broadened by excellent writing throughout. Written and directed by Amy Hennig--who would later go on to pen the first three Uncharted games--Soul Reaver exhibits a cinematic flair that was uncommon at the time of its release. Inspired in part by John Milton's iconic poem, Paradise Lost, there's an ornate style to the game's writing, permeating a sense of gravitas that's wonderfully brought to life by a cast of trained stage actors. It's a rich, gothic tale of authentic vampire mythology, yet Soul Reaver and its sequel also confront more philosophical themes such as free will, predestination, and cyclical violence, supplementing both games' fantastic worldbuilding and adding depth to their characters and their motivations.
Part of the reason why the writing is so effective is because it's reflected in Nosgoth itself. In the first Soul Reaver, what was previously a grandiose land is now eternally decayed. "Once a testament to mankind's defiance of Kain's empire, this towering cathedral now stood derelict, the humans who worshipped here, centuries dead," Raziel says upon entering the Silenced Cathedral. This spiral minaret was constructed as a holy weapon, intended to blast a deadly hymn that would destroy every vampiric creature in Nosgoth: "a colossal instrument of brass and stone." Before it could serve its purpose, however, the cathedral was attacked and its weapon disabled--the massive reverberating pipes fell silent.
When Raziel arrives, you need to traverse the labyrinthian depths of the Silenced Cathedral, manipulating the airflow of these pipes to ascend the tower and reach the upper spires where one of your brothers resides. It's this marriage between mechanics, story, and worldbuilding that distinguishes Soul Reaver as a triumph in game design. Whether you're exploring the murky waters of the Drowned Abbey or unveiling the mysteries of The Tomb of the Sarafan, each part of Nosgoth is drenched in this same intertwined excellence.
At the time of its release, it was also a technical marvel, utilizing level streaming to create a seamless, interconnected 3D world with no loading screens. We might take level streaming for granted now, but Soul Reaver was one of the early pioneers of the technology. What's more impressive, and still endures to this day, is the game's ambitious Realm shifting. When Raziel awakens from his eternal torment, he's been stripped of his vampiric glory and is now a wraith, cursed to feed on souls instead of blood. Trapped inside an eroded husk with his wings now ragged, Raziel can shift between two overlapping Realms: the Material and the Spectral. In the latter, the physical Realm becomes distorted, warping the geometry of the world around you. Impassible obstacles like water simply dissipate--it has neither heft nor lift--fissures in rocky walls transform into open passages, and platforms contort to reveal new pathways.
With improved visuals and a modern control scheme, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is a solid remaster that, above all, showcases why these games are so revered
Compared to other 3D titles available at the time, the scale of Soul Reaver already felt huge. Being able to shift between two concurrently loaded realms in real-time, essentially forcing you to consider each room as two separate rooms, was just the cherry on top. It's fascinating and never felt like a gimmick, providing a platform for many of the game's environmental puzzles.
These conundrums take up the bulk of your time, whether you're lining up blocks to complete murals, reactivating antiquated machinery to open the path forward, or ringing two bells to smash a glass wall with their thundering soundwaves. For the most part, Soul Reaver's puzzles are engaging, even if some variation of each one has appeared in other games since. The frequency of block-pushing puzzles is much too high, though, which quickly becomes tedious. The game's save system is also odd and is one area of the remaster where things should've been altered. You can save your progress at any time, but loading one of these saves always sends you back to the game's start point. Warp Gates can be used to teleport back to where you were, but this forces you to replay sections over again, adding needless backtracking to a game that already requires you to run back through previously visited areas on multiple occasions.
Fortunately, Soul Reaver 2 features a more traditional save system, letting you save and reload at specific checkpoints. This is presumably because the sequel is a leaner, more streamlined game than its predecessor, lacking any of the optional side areas of the first game. Its puzzles are also more diverse, focusing on the different elemental powers Raziel unlocks throughout the game with some complex riddles. The sequel's dearth of bosses is disappointing, though, and even with some improvements to combat--like adding a block and more weapon variety--fighting enemies is still secondary to exploration and puzzle-solving.
Combat does have its merits, however. Vampires can't be killed by simply hitting them enough times. Instead, you need to rough them up until they're weak enough to be grabbed, then either burn them in sunlight, drown them in water, or impale them on spikes before siphoning their souls. This forces you to observe your surroundings in the midst of battle; launching a vampire onto a 10-foot-high spike is always exhilarating. Combat is the most archaic aspect of both games, but there are still some interesting ideas here that deftly merge with other aspects of each game's design.
In terms of what was changed for this remaster, one of the most significant improvements is that both games now feature full control of the camera, letting you adjust it with the right stick. Not being able to do this is a major barrier to entry when attempting to replay the original games, so this puts them more in line with modern third-person games. Raziel's still not the smoothest character to control, but there are only a couple of irritating sections in the first game where precise platforming is required. Figuring out where to go next is another occasional issue with the original due to the game's open nature and non-existent map. The remaster alleviates this somewhat by adding a compass and world map, along with a bit of text that states the current objective, but neither is particularly impactful. The compass is only helpful during the few instances when a character tells you to head in a specific direction, while the world map essentially functions as a key for each of the warp gate's symbols. Although it is a nice touch to include a depiction of Nosgoth's geography for the first time.
The visual upgrade is the most obvious change, with more detailed character models and textures, modern lighting effects, and dynamic shadows. Some were worried prior to release because both games looked too bright in early screenshots, losing their original dark and gothic aesthetics, but that's not the case in the final release. You can instantly toggle between the new graphics and the old, and it maintains the same gritty mood in both. In fact, the remaster feels like it's slapped a new lick of paint on the original games more than anything. There's a definitive improvement, but it's underwhelming that a few notable blemishes still remain, whether it's the Soul Reaver blade frequently clipping through the floor or the dated fire and water effects that appear unchanged.
Beyond this, the remaster also has a plethora of bonus material to dive into, including explorations of the series' lore, tons of artwork and renders, old demo videos, outtakes from the recording sessions, a music player, and a number of lost levels you can now play for the first time. These old relics are comparable to an interactive museum, letting you explore unfinished areas that were cut from the original game due to time restraints, budget issues, or creative decisions. It's a fascinating look at the game's development and what might have been if things had gone differently.
It can sometimes be tough to appreciate games from the past because so much of game design is built on iteration. That isn't a problem with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered. There are archaic elements to both games, yet it's surprising just how well they hold up today. There's no doubt that improvements to the game's controls and, to a lesser extent, their visuals contribute to this, but the main reason they persevere is because of their masterful melding of story, worldbuilding, and mechanics with a handful of innovative ideas. Much like Raziel, this isn't a perfect revival, but it preserves a pair of classic games and, in an ideal world, will attract a new audience to a series that has been dormant for far too long. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of its resurgence.
