Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered – the soul stealer is back, but with a catch. Review

PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch

Played on PC

The Legacy of Kain series took off as quickly as it faded. The first Blood Omen was an entertaining and dark vampire adventure, and its sequel, Soul Reaver, proved to be one of those rare games that can be called a timeless classic. 25 years ago, it was already using technological and gameplay techniques that would come into use much later, and the unique design of Raziel, the main character, is still recognizable at first sight. However, then something went completely wrong. In three years, Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance were released one after another, each worse than the other, so after 2003 the franchise went into the abyss of oblivion. Over two decades, there have been only a few attempts to return to it, but the online shooter (!) Nosgoth never made it out of the open testing phase, and Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was canceled, although, judging by the leaked videos, it was already in more advanced stages. less working condition.

However, the lack of new releases did not stop fans from exploring old games all this time, finding beta and alpha builds, talking about them and supporting fan sites. Therefore, the announcement of remasters, rumors about which had been circulating for a very long time, was greeted quite warmly. Thanks to the updated versions, both Soul Reavers received a facelift and work on all modern devices without dancing with tambourines or installing third-party patches. Alas, there are many questions regarding the technical execution of the remasters.

Are you sleeping?

⇡#Soul stealer with plastic surgery

After another replay of the first Soul Reaver, we can safely say that it was significantly ahead of its time in everything. This is one of the few games of that era where voice acting was taken very seriously. Only Kojima with Metal Gear Solid was better in this regard. The plot, despite the genre, surprised with its attention to small details and offered to plunge into the centuries-old history of the gloomy Gothic Nosgoth, withering under the yoke of the vampire Cain.

In addition, the project used a unique technology for streaming texture loading at that time. There were no loading screens after launching the game, which on the PlayStation 1 (and on PC with the Dreamcast, for that matter) looked like black magic. Especially considering the size of the map – it cannot be called an open world in the modern sense, but there were enough secrets and optional locations, seamlessly connected to each other (including teleports). You get a new ability – and go ahead, explore previously inaccessible areas. Although the most interesting feature of Soul Reaver, which no one has really repeated yet, was the ability to switch between the spectral and material versions of the world, which changed its geometry. This worked both for the puzzles, since you had to think in two dimensions, and was woven into other aspects. For example, after losing health, Raziel in reality went to the spirit world, and was not thrown back to the last save.

Ugly (in a good way) bosses have become even nastier in the new version

Soul Reaver perfectly understands its strengths and uses them to the maximum, so playing it is a pleasure. She’s damn good at immersing you in a state of “flow,” not letting you tear yourself away from the screen, and constantly inviting you to move on and on. The game, unlike many of its colleagues of that time, helped the user not to get lost thanks to somewhat vague but understandable tips, and at the same time did not lead the hand too intrusively. Therefore, the compass and map added in the remake look slightly out of place – figuring out what to do and where to go will not be difficult without them. Even for those who will try the game for the first time.

Soul Reaver 2, in turn, seriously improved the plot. A bunch of new information about the history of Nosgoth, the origin of vampires and Raziel himself, the cunning multi-stage plans of several antagonists, time travel hundreds of years into the past and future – the sequel had a great basis for surpassing its predecessor.

But, unfortunately, the second part took a hundred steps back in terms of gameplay and felt rushed together. The entire passage consists of running from the castle to the forest and back along one corridor, but in different eras. There are no secrets, no well-developed world from the first part, no interesting abilities, no entertaining exploration, no improvements, no normal interaction with the environment like the ability to burn vampires with sunlight. There aren’t even bosses. The game also imposes a crooked combat system, constantly locking you in the same room with your enemies. It’s funny to even compare the sequel with the previous part – these are projects of completely different weight categories.

In his free time from devouring souls, Raziel works part-time as a plumber.

However, both were included in the collection of remasters, which was collected almost all over the world. Aspyr, whose track record ranges from good (Tomb Raider I-III Remastered) to very bad (Star Wars Battlefront: Classic Collection); the development manager was Raina Audron, a longtime fan of the series and the author of HD textures for the original version of Soul Reaver; Well, Saber Interactive – judging by the credits, the latter got the bulk of the work.

Visually, the remasters, in my opinion, were a success. The epic CGI splash screen of SR1 and the cutscenes of SR2 were remade in high resolution, the models of Raziel, bosses and enemies were radically redesigned, adding more details to them. Overall, everything looks decent, and the ability to switch between old and new graphics allows you to quickly compare both versions:

But, oddly enough, the update does not win everywhere. Let’s say here the new version looks sterile. The details of the environment in the original are more suitable for an ancient palace:

With Soul Reaver 2 the situation is a little more complicated. Many projects for the PlayStation 2 were stylized, so even now they look more or less normal, except that the resolution is funny. The sequel also benefited from fresh models, but you have to look for the difference in the environment with a magnifying glass. Try to guess which version is which, regardless of the hero model:

What’s disappointing about Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered are the bugs. At least in the PC version. There is at least one in SR1 blocking passage right before the final boss. It is very easy to stumble upon it – if you start to assemble the puzzle before discarding all the blocks, then one of them then falls into the other, and nothing else can be done with it. If you don’t notice and save, then that’s it, start the game again. SR2 is already far from the best game, and the remaster added strange “jitters” of textures in some cutscenes, in some places these same textures simply do not load, animations of enemies in some places do not play properly, Raziel sometimes does not respond to keystrokes, and several achievements do not open without serious bicycle crutches. Taking into account other minor roughnesses, the impression is not the most pleasant.

In addition, in one of the dungeons the game may, out of the blue, ask you to hold a key to skip something – and freeze if you do this. Save points in Soul Reaver 2 are scattered very far from each other, so this unintentional breaking of the fourth wall may well set the fifth point on fire. At the time of publication of the material (and about a month after the release), not a single patch had been released, which was very disappointing and, of course, affected the rating. If anyone is reading this article from the future, where the problems were finally fixed, feel free to add a couple of points.

Textures decided to take a day off

The Soul Reaver collection is interesting if only because in one box we are offered both the best game in the series and one of the best games in general, and its disgusting sequel. I highly recommend SR1 to everyone, but in the case of SR2 it’s better to just read the script or watch the cutscenes on Youtube. The remasters did a good job on the appearance, and the opportunity to finally launch the first Soul Reaver on all modern platforms cannot be overestimated. However, the technical condition of the collection raises many questions, especially when you come across bugs that “hang” the game or block progress. Still, Soul Reaver deserves much more careful treatment.

Advantages:

• The first Soul Reaver is still going strong and is finally available on all modern platforms;
• Both games benefited from the facelift, even if SR1 benefits from it much more than SR2.

Disadvantages:

• Bugs, a lot of bugs: small, medium, critical – there are plenty of them all;
• SR2 is already crooked, and the remaster added technical problems to it.

Graphic arts

The new look is most noticeable in the SR1, but in the SR2 you have to look out for the differences. In any case, the graphics have been improved enough for the games to look good on modern systems.

Sound

The music, voice acting, and sound design of the SR1 are still awesome. SR2, in turn, suffered greatly in terms of audio support, and this was not corrected in any way.

Single player game

The first Soul Reaver still surprises with both the structure of the world and the delicately built pace. Given its short duration, it can be flown unnoticed in one pass. It’s better to avoid SR2.

Estimated time of completion

5-7 hours for each game.

Collective game

Not foreseen.

General impression

A good remaster, thanks to which Soul Reaver returned to all platforms. The only sad thing is the presence of bugs in both games: you could close your eyes to small ones, but not to those that lead to freezes or block further progress.

Rating: 6.5 / 10

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