While you assume again on the Soul Reaver video games, you consider their ambiance, their tone, and that always immaculate voice performing. What you do not essentially take into consideration is how awkward and clumsy they have been to play, and in the end those self same ups and downs apply to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and a pair of Remastered.
To be clear, each Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 deserve the remaster therapy. Even now, they stand out as distinctive journeys by way of a memorable darkish fantasy setting, full with nice characters and incredible storytelling.
Particularly, the unique Soul Reaver helped outline a console era. On the time of its launch in 1999, it was intriguing and mature like few different motion adventures.
The participant character Raziel is felled and killed by his grasp, the omnipotent Kain, within the sport’s opening scene. He was then resurrected a whole lot of years later, induced to hunt revenge by way of the honeyed phrases of a sinister energy.
Even by at this time’s narrative requirements, it is an ideal setup, and as talked about, the narrative does numerous heavy lifting in carrying the whole expertise. Soul Reaver’s script stays fashionable and compelling; The writing could seem overly dramatic, however some actually wonderful performances convey it to life. The sport was forward of its time on this regard and nonetheless holds up exceptionally nicely.
Structurally, Soul Reaver consists of largely linear environments that join to one another and interlock upon themselves, just like the design of a traditional Metroidvania. Moreover, Raziel unlocks new skills that pave the way in which to further areas and secrets and techniques as you progress.
Within the authentic model, backtracking might be a supply of frustration, even with the inclusion of places that may be quick traveled between. However on this remaster, the introduction of a map display screen helps you keep a greater sense of route. You will nonetheless must make a psychological observe of beforehand inaccessible areas and collectibles, which looks like a chore as the sport opens up, however the map means you will spend lots much less time attempting to recollect which places. neighbors of one another.
So the remaster provides you a map, however past that, developer Aspyr has determined to not make any changes to the sport. Soul Reaver’s mixture of motion, fight, puzzle-solving, and platforming nonetheless works as an entire, however the person components are actually exhibiting their age.
Particularly, fight is annoyingly unwieldy right here in 2024, a rarity given how fundamental the system is at its core.
Lots of the enemies Raziel fights are vampiric in nature and can’t be killed until immersed in water, pushed into daylight, or impaled. As such, battles can really feel extra like puzzles than skirmishes, as you will want to make use of your setting to realize victory.
Conceptually, the fight is participating and attention-grabbing, however in follow, jittery controls and stiff animations make fights really feel weightless and imprecise. Soul Reaver is just not a troublesome sport, however its extra demanding encounters could make you curse Raziel’s stubby slashes, a dodge that does not at all times register appropriately, and opponents who barely telegraph their assaults.
Soul Reaver 2 improves on its predecessor on this regard; Fight is a bit deeper, with extra outlined enemy sorts and an expanded collection of weapons for Raziel to experiment with.
However regardless of its launch two years later (on a brand new era of {hardware}, no much less), the sequel performs very equally, to the purpose the place we nonetheless it feels like a PS1 launch, simply wrapped in PS2-era imagery.
Soul Reaver 2 can also be a shorter sport on common, though one may argue that it’s because it spends much less time on lengthy puzzle sections. Actually, the sequel takes what Soul Reaver was praised for (the story, the characters, the ambiance) and makes an attempt to duplicate it.
Sadly, the result’s a much less impactful narrative due to how self-indulgent the title turns into. An usually overstuffed script slows down the story’s momentum (a key energy of the primary sport) and it is all an excessive amount of. clever on your personal good.
That stated, you’ll be able to nonetheless get pleasure from how the sequel elaborates on the encircling story and the motivations of its most important characters. Soul Reaver 2’s narrative will not be as nicely constructed, however is a well-intentioned escalation, and that is most likely sufficient for gamers already on the planet of the collection.
In abstract, then, Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 have the identical professionals and cons as they did over twenty years in the past; It is simply that these cons are much more prevalent when considered by way of the lens of recent gaming.
However we would be mendacity if we stated that these flaws drag the remasters all the way down to a disastrous diploma, and that is as a result of, as talked about, Soul Reaver’s ambiance and tone are nonetheless so sturdy and distinctive. Those that are nostalgic for the collection, like us, will benefit from the alternative to relive Raziel’s journey, warts and all.
Which brings us to the remaster itself. Each video games have acquired a reasonably vital graphical overhaul and, for essentially the most half, look nice. Belongings and textures have clearly been improved, however these visible enhancements don’t diminish the gothic kinds that made the unique titles so recognizable.
You may as well swap between R3’s authentic and remastered graphics with one click on, which is at all times an appreciated characteristic.
Nevertheless, the remaster seems to introduce some minor graphical errors. The digicam pans over sure fashions in scenes, for instance, and we encountered some unusual, out-of-place lighting results in choose environments.
As for extras, Remastered features a ‘Bonus’ menu within the deal, housing all kinds of attention-grabbing details about the event of each video games. There is a gallery full of artwork, a full soundtrack participant and even a brand new ‘Lore of Nosgoth’ assortment that summarizes key info.
However essentially the most spectacular factor is that you would be able to discover Soul Reaver’s minimize content material by way of the “Misplaced Ranges” choice. Now, these aren’t totally playable places, however visiting them continues to be numerous enjoyable, if solely to unravel the group’s method to degree design.
