Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Review – A Welcome Return

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered developed by Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics is available now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered is back better than ever with an improved graphic art style and restored lost content. I remember playing Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 on PlayStation as a kid and not having a damn clue what to do, I wasn’t a good gamer as a kid by any means, but messing with the game’s mechanics of draining souls, gliding, throwing enemies into different things to destroy them, it was all mesmerising being that young. Now that I’m much older I am still loving the mechanics, sure they feel a little dated in some ways, but gliding, reaping souls and throwing enemies into spikes on the wall is still undeniably fun to this day.

The story remains the same as before and unchanged which is great I loved playing through the story and it gained a lot of fans over the years since its release. For those not in the know, after the original Legacy of Kain games Kain was set on a path to destroy the 9 pillars to restore balance in the fictional world of Nosgoth. In time it turned out that Kain was the true last pillar and needed to be sacrificed to restore the balance, but he refused in a true villainous move. Many years later Kain has raised a few vampire armies and is quickly trying to control the world of Nosgoth all for himself with great success. Each vampire answers to him and none must surpass him in any way especially evolving into a greater vampire.

Along comes Raziel one of the top-ranking vampires proud of his new evolution he shows off his newly evolved wings. Kain doesn’t like this one bit, he slashes his wings and completely destroys him by throwing him into the underworld for an afterlife of suffering and torture. 500 years later a voice awakens Raziel, who is now a Soul Reaver, Raziel uses souls to visit the land of Nosgoth and can traverse both the living and dead worlds to achieve his goal of revenge. Raziel ultimately wants revenge on Kain for what he did to him and his bretheren. Once Raziel gets back to the land of the living it seems everything is in disrepair and Kain has seemingly lost control. In Soul Reaver 2 the story continues from where the first game left off and introduces many new story revelations and interesting plots. The story in both Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 still holds up today from the moment I switched the game on and the introduction scene played out, it gripped me from the get-go. The story is what kept driving me forward, always wanting to find out what happens next and seeing the downfall of Kain’s rule is interesting with so many different backstories to each character.

The gameplay mostly remains unchanged in the way of controlling Raziel but the game as a whole comes with a few quality-of-life updates such as a new map to keep track of where you need to go, an easier save system, and more. Each system just ensures that some of the original issues have been ironed out. I always enjoyed the more complex gameplay of the Soul Reaver games, especially having to make sure that any of the undead enemies are truly dead by making sure they have been either burnt, thrown in water or pinned up on a spike on the wall and consuming there soul to ultimately destroy them which is satisfying every time. Navigating the Nasgoth labyrinth is a memorable experience for many reasons especially when shifting between the land of the living and the dead. My only gripe, however, trying to find your way around at times can be quite challenging. I am not ashamed to admit I got lost quite a bit and ended up getting a little frustrated but once you find your way again it’s simple enough, using the portals is a helpful tool if you can remember the symbols of what leads where. Earning new upgrades along the way introduces new ways to traverse the map, it also unlocks paths to new areas you haven’t previously been to and I liked that, it kept me engaged. Unfortunately some of the puzzles I found really difficult and had to find walkthroughs, I’m not a puzzle fan at all so for others they might be easier than I am making out. I didn’t run into many bugs on my way through, just the odd glitch here and there but it is a pretty solid experience.

When it comes to the Aspyr remasters there’s a feature that I just adore, being able to switch from the remaster graphics to the original graphics, they did this with the Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3 and I am hooked. Being able to compare the two is great because sometimes it’s difficult to remember what the original truly looked like, nostalgia goggles can sometimes leave us thinking the game used to look a ton better but being able to compare them both is brilliant, it’s a good job it wasn’t streamed as I click that button a lot which might be distracting to some. The remastered graphics are great, and the characters, enemies and objects have all been restored to look a lot more modern, they aren’t the greatest-looking things in the world but they do look a lot better and breathe a new breath of air into it all. The audio remains completely unchanged, and the music fits with the game quite well though it definitely has that PlayStation 1 charm. The voice acting is the same and in parts, you can really tell it was a game from that era but still holds up well.

Verdict

Whether you’re a Legacy of Kain series fan or a newcomer, it is a game worth playing for its interesting mechanics and story. Some parts of the game definitely still feel old and a little frustrating in places. There are quality-of-life changes that do bring a bit more of a modern feel to it and being able to switch the graphic styles is entertaining. I do love what Aspyr are doing with the remasters, I love being able to compare them, I feel this is a feature that more games should have in the future. I ran into a few bugs and map navigation really irked me at times but overall, it is worth going back to relive Raziel’s story.

At this current time, if you want to play most of the Legacy of Kain games, the original Legacy of Kain games are available on PsPlus Premium or can be bought on the store if you want to know more about the whole universe.