Ever since Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver stalked onto the scene a quarter of a century ago, it’s fair to say that the trials and tribulations of its spectral protagonist, Raziel, have lingered long in the memories of those who were lucky enough to play it back in the day. With a whole new generation of gamers having now either not played Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, or don’t even know what it is at all, it’s on the 25th anniversary of Crystal Dynamic’s finest hour that we believe a remaster is long overdue. Here’s why.
A Genuinely Captivating Narrative
For the uninitiated, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is actually a sequel of sorts to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, a grisly top-down action RPG which released for the PC and PSOne consoles earlier in 1996. Taking place roughly 1500 years after the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver shows us a world devastated by the corrupted Pillars of Nosgoth. A collection of pillars that are essential to the balance of life in the world, their guardians were killed by Kain only for Kain to refuse to sacrifice himself to save them, damning the entire world of Nosgoth as a result. What a lovely fellow.
Instead of merely just letting players continue to take control of that game’s vampiric protagonist Kain, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver instead shifted focus to Raziel, one of Kain’s most trusted vampire lieutenants. Naturally, with older vampires being a fairly evil and paranoid sort, Raziel finds himself subsequently betrayed by Kain before being ‘reborn’ as a wraith courtesy of the Elder God, a hidden deity that controls the Wheel of Fate, an ethereal mechanism by which souls are reincarnated. With nothing but a burning vengeance in his soul (or whatever is left of it), Raziel becomes hellbent on killing Kain and in doing so we see themes of redemption, moral ambiguity and more all become woven into the grand tapestry of Soul Reaver’s narrative.
A World Of Opulent Devastation
There is perhaps no better avenue to become fully immersed in the blood-soaked plight of Raziel than to take in the environments which surround him. Soul Reaver invites the player to explore the depths of Nosgoth, a thoroughly destroyed world where the opulence of its past has been summarily replaced by a dark gothic nightmarish labyrinth of sprawling ruins, twisted metal and endless chasms. Exploring this gothic hellscape is also pleasingly much more interesting than just traipsing about in the traditional sense, as Raziel isn’t just capable of all the usual running and jumping one would usually expect, he can also use his massive wings to glide around the environment in ways that can only be described as being tremendously satisfying.
As such, a fully remastered Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver would prove to be an arresting prospect, to say the least, as Raziel’s world would find itself wonderfully embellished by higher resolution, improved framerates and a greater attention to detail than was possible when the game released all the way back in 1999.
Two Realms For The Price Of One
With Raziel finding himself newly reborn as a wraith, he also gets the added ‘bonus’ of being able to hop from the physical realm into a more incorporeal, spectral realm on command. It’s here where Soul Reaver’s commitment to environmental storytelling comes into play as the world twists and turns itself into an alternate vision of the physical realm, though here Raziel’s ability to physically interact with the environment is greatly limited. Much more than just a fancy gimmick, the dual-realm system is arguably the centrepiece of Soul Reaver’s action adventure design and game director Amy Hennig, who would later go on to work on the Uncharted games and next year’s Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra absolutely made the most of it too.
Imagine the scenario – you’ve reached the end of a long path which concludes into a massive room where all manner of destroyed walls and rubble block the way to your destination and Raziel seemingly has no other route to take. By switching to the spectral realm, our ghostly protagonist may continue his tortured journey just by simply walking through it. When shifting into the spectral realm, though Raziel cannot interact with any physical objects such as the array of blocks and switches which form the basis of Soul Reaver’s puzzle-solving foundations, he can walk through water and other such elements of the environment that would otherwise prove to be impassible in the physical realm and it’s the use of this dual realm mechanic which give rise to some truly fiendish puzzles that have absolutely stood the test of time.
Perfectly Judged Progression And Combat
The kicker to all of Raziel’s funky, realm-shifting powers is that he needs to earn them by defeating each of Kain’s vampire lieutenants before having a showdown with the big bad himself, adding a truly satisfying feeling of progression to the whole affair. Bringing Soul Reaver’s combat system into sharp focus and starting off with just his trusty claws, Raziel can inflict a reasonable amount of damage on the various vampiric foes and spine-chilling horrors that he encounters during his otherworldly odyssey, though he can also make use of various weapons laying about in the physical realm too such as spears, staves, torches and more.
Beyond such violent applications, Raziel can also dispatch his enemies by throwing them into environmental hazards such as flaming pits, endless chasms, spike-adorned walls or even just regular old sunlight if your foe happens to be of the vampiric persuasion. The dual realm mechanic also has combat applications, with certain enemies only able to be damaged in the spectral realm, while Raziel himself will simply switch to the spectral realm rather than present players with a game over screen if he suffers too much damage in the physical realm, cleverly side-stepping the usual zero health fail state. This is just one more example showing how Soul Reaver didn’t do things at all by the book and was all the better for it.
There’s Just Nothing Like It
It’s perhaps telling that in the twenty-five years since Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver stole itself into our hearts and minds, there’s not only been a gaping hole in the medium for a spiritual successor of some sort but so too has a full-fat, full-sugar re-release been conspicuously absent all of that time. With its beautifully dark tale of vengeance and twisted morality underscored by an intoxicatingly grim world destroyed by corruption, plus a dual realm system that permits a creative latitude of level design that other titles struggle to match, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is absolutely overdue a remaster – especially as this masterpiece celebrates its momentous 25th anniversary.
