Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Review

Where remasters and remakes are concerned, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver has got to sit atop the pile of most requested games to be given a new lease on life and hardware. Twenty-five years ago, Raziel’s journey to kill his maker, Kain, resonated with audiences as one of the greatest games of all time. Featuring the intriguing Gothic world of Nosgoth, a superb soundtrack, fantastic writing and some of the greatest voice acting of all time, Soul Reaver has become a much-loved, bona-fide classic. And for almost as many years fans have been clamouring for more in the world of Nosgoth, whether that be a new game, remake or remaster.

Now twenty-five years later, Aspyr, in conjunction with the original Legacy of Kain development studio, Crystal Dynamics, has remastered the first two games in Raziel’s trilogy saga, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 and 2. So prepare to draw your curtains and dive deep into the depths of Nosgoth to experience two parts of one of the greatest video game stories ever told.

If you haven’t played Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver games before, then the less you know concerning the story the better so we’ll give just a basic overview here. Raziel, our anti-hero, is killed by Kain when he develops an ability that his maker doesn’t have.

But death isn’t the end and Raziel is resurrected by an Elder God to kill Kain and save Nosgoth from its current state of corruption and decrepitude. Of course, all is not as it seems and the further into the dark Raziel pursues Kain, the more damming the answers presented become. The Soul Reaver part of the Legacy of Kain series still stands tall in the narrative department. The writing is fantastic and the story is simply phenomenal, presenting twists, turns and terrible revelations that culminate in one of gaming’s most epic, emotional gut punches.

This brings me to one of the few flaws in the collection: the omission of the final part of the Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver story in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. True, Defiance is the fifth game in the series and lets you play as both Kain and Raziel, while clearly focusing on finally ending the story, it still continues on from the ending of Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 2. So this collection ends on a cliffhanger which leaves me hoping that a Legacy of Kain Remastered collection is in the works.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver plays out as an exploration-based hack-and-slash game with a heavy focus on environmental puzzles. At the time, beyond the dark, Gothic fantasy setting, Soul Reaver was notable for its world warping/shifting mechanic: an at the time unprecedented real-time level warping technology that shifted the world around you from a normal state to a spectral, ghostly state with architecture that warped and twisted like something from a Tim Burton production. The technology was stunning back then and is, quite frankly, still stunning now.

At the time, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver was no slouch in the combat and exploration arena either, creating a world filled with secrets that required you to switch between planes to solve. There were powers to discover, such as the ability to withstand immersion in water which is lethal to vampires, and life upgrades to discover.

Most of the game’s puzzles are resolved around blocks and could be pretty tiring. Combat worked with a basic combo system, a dodge mechanic and the ability to weaponise the environment around you. From using shafts of light to makeshift spears, the world was full of weapons to use. If you didn’t suck up a vampire’s soul after killing it, it could eventually resurrect. The act of eating souls restores your health and lets you remain in the physical world.

While Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver played a truly epic card in an epic environment, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 2 made some changes to the formula that didn’t always sit well with me. The game introduced save points that could be quite a distance apart whereas you could save anywhere in the first game. And while the story continued its epic arc and phenomenal writing and voice acting, the level design was a lot more linear and corridor-based, with repeating locations in different time eras and far too many crowd fights.

I’ve consistently mentioned Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver’s voice acting because it’s truly phenomenal with some amazing and nuanced performances from some of the best writing in videogames. That was true then and is true now. Complementing the voice work and action is a truly stunning score that I’ve never forgotten in twenty-plus years.

For the purpose of this remaster, Aspyr has done exactly what I wanted from one: they’ve kept the phenomenal voice acting, audio score and gameplay completely intact. For Soul Reaver purists like myself, this is perfect. The same level of amazing work that Aspyr brought to the Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Trilogy, has been brought to bear here.

For starters, you’re looking at digital preservation done right since we can now play the Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver collection with no hassle on modern hardware. Aspyr, with the help from Crystal Dynamics, has dived deep into the game’s copious production material and source code to breathe new visual life into these games.

Let’s get all the visual stuff out of the way in the form of the most obvious. Significant work has been done on the game’s character models, from Raziel to his brethren to the world’s enemies. Hero characters have received the largest makeover, with more detailed character models and textures. From the skeletons infused into Melchiah’s shoulders to Raziel’s glowing eyes and scary visage, the details fit in completely with the original aesthetic.

Environments seem to be largely the same, though some areas do seem to have an increased polygon and detail count. Most notably it’s the textures here that have been reworked into high-resolution assets. The original games didn’t have skyboxes so Aspyr went ahead and created some for the remasters.

These are a welcome addition to the game’s new lighting system which supports dynamic lighting and character shadows. A full day and night cycle has also been implemented as it was a cut feature from the original. You can swap between the original visuals and remastered ones at the press of a button.

I love the new visuals myself. The detail is stunning at HD resolutions and you only need to take a closer look at the quality of the textures for the cloth that Raziel has around the area his jaw used to be to get a glimpse of the work Aspyr has put in. For those who enjoy it, there’s also a photo mode to play around with.

Controls have also been updated to work properly with analog sticks while the camera control is now mapped to the right stick as per modern standards. Aiming to throw objects or shoot energy blasts is now a lot easier with this than the original cumbersome control scheme.

With the press of a button, you can swap between the game’s original look and the new, remastered visuals. Personally, I think that the original visuals still look stunning today in high resolution, but I also really love the new higher-resolution models and textures.

For those who find it easier to get lost, there’s also a new map and compass to make seeing all of Nosgoth’s wonderful tourist locations easier to find. The map screen also details how many of the game’s collectables you’ve found per area when said location is highlighted.

A special shout out to the game’s performance which runs at 60fps near flawlessly.

Furthermore, Aspyr has brought a wealth of promotional and behind-the-scenes material to the game’s bonus menus. There is the usual, lovely production artwork to comb through along with the soundtracks to listen to. For most, it will be the addition of the game’s cut levels that will get the most attention.

While they weren’t put back into the game, Aspyr has included them in their rough, playable form as a sort of virtual museum to see areas you could have played in. For me the videotaped voice recording sessions are a stunning highlight, watching the voice actors in a recording booth throwing out their lines and playing off against each other.

Of course, since the Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver collection is a set of old games, certain aspects have not aged well. Combat is finicky by today’s standards. It gets the job done but could be tighter and the camera can still be a pain in smaller locations and when you’re too close to walls. And those block puzzles are still frustrating and bring the pacing down.

Even with the issues you expect from old games, this remaster collection is fantastic. As someone who tries to play the first Soul Reaver on a yearly basis, Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have made it easier for me to do so now in a gorgeous, easily controlled and comprehensive package. I’ll overlook the lack of Defiance in this package if we get a Legacy of Kain series remaster but for now, I will most likely be booting up this collection far too often.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Trailer

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The code was provided by the publisher.