Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered PS5 Review. It’s been 21 years since Legacy of Kain Defiance officially ended the story of Kain on a cliffhanger. Though it was the franchise’s last story title, it continued with multiplayer spin-offs that didn’t capture the magic that this franchise delivered and left fans wondering if they will ever get a true sequel to Kains story. Now, more than two decades later, fans can finally experience two of the most memorable narrative adventure games the genre has ever known.
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Review
A Story So Good It Lasted For Over 25 Years
This remaster sees the return of both Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2, two titles that saw us take on the role of Raziel, who is the firstborn lieutenant in Kain’s vampiric army. After surpassing Kain in the evolutionary process by growing wings, Raziel has his wings ripped off by Kain out of jealousy, and is thrown into a watery abyss when he seemingly dies, only to away centuries later to the voice of an all-mighty being known as the Elder God.
Reborn as a Soul Reaver, Raziel can consume the souls of his enemies and sets off to hunt down Kain and get revenge for what Kain did to him. The story of Raziel and Kain is intertwined, and their connection to each other is what makes the character development so great.
Across both games, you unravel a conspiracy that spans centuries and generations. Once it all comes together, it is one of the best stories ever told. Though you only get to experience Soul Reaver one and two, its story spans three more titles not included in this remaster, which should be experienced.
The game’s narrative has been preserved with its incredible voice acting and award-winning writing. Kain and Raziel deliver exceptional performances across both games, but the delivery in Soul Reaver 2, in particular, is outstanding.
Fantastic Visual Remaster
Aspyr has become one of the most notable names in the remaster scene with their excellent work on Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft, but they have also come under fire for their remasters of the Knights of the Old Republic titles.
Soul Reaver 1 & 2 can feel like a double-edged sword. The Soul Reaver remaster seems to have gotten much more of the work put into it. It makes sense since it was developed for the PS1 and the Dreamcast. Soul Reaver 2 has also been given plenty of love and care, but not to the same lengths as its predecessor.
Soul Reaver has been given a dramatic visual overhaul. The textures are more detailed, and the character models have gotten a complete makeover.
One feature of this remaster is swapping between the original visuals and the game’s remastered visuals on the fly with the press of a button. You can even do this during cutscenes to see the massive differences between the two games. Even Soul Reavers’ opening CG cinematic has gotten an upgrade, bringing it up to full HD without losing quality.
Soul Reaver 2 Got The Short Stick
Soul Reaver 2, on the other hand, didn’t get the same quality upgrade. Maybe because it was a PS2 game it didn’t need as much work, but it’s noticeable in some locations.
Foliage has received some improvements, but some terrain and murals remain the same quality, as you can tell by switching between retro and remastered visuals. Its CG cutscenes also didn’t get the same love and had noticeable screen tearing and blurriness to its visuals.
One issue that has become evident in the remaster is how dark the game can get. Some areas in both games were so dark that I was forced to move to the spectral realm to see where I needed to go. These dark areas have no way of illumination unless you carry a torch you find in the environment or change the brightness on your TV.
Great Combat For Its Time, Struggles Today
Regarding gameplay, both games remain unchanged and valid to their original versions, for better or worse, with both having gotten some minor improvements such as allowing you to map your buttons however you want to the controller. Soul Reaver has gotten a map that tries to help you but ends up being as confusing as navigation in the original.
It’s a shame, as I hoped improvements were made to the game’s combat and hitboxes. Soul Reaver 1 & 2 suffered from Raziel almost standing still when he swung his weapons, and the hitboxes saw you missing a lot of attacks while taking damage from enemies who always managed to land a hit.
That’s not to say the combat is terrible; It just feels highly dated by today’s standards. Soul Reaver 2 keeps the improvements made when it was released on PS2, allowing you to block attacks, but it made enemies relentless and more difficult to take down.
Simple But Rewarding Puzzles
One thing that made combat so fun was the idea you couldn’t kill any of your enemies without consuming their souls. While vampires can be hurt and even impaled with a spear or set on fire – resulting in the soul leaving their body – you must actually consume the soul, or it may return to the corpse and resurrect them.
These aspects of Soul Reaver’s combat were unique and hold up to this day, providing different experiences. The game puzzles are another strong suit. Though simple in its design, Soul Reaver utilizes many moving blocks in its puzzles, like many games of its kind did then. Soul Reaver 2 expands on puzzles requiring different Soul Reaver elements to get through the game like the wind to create currents and fire to set things ablaze.
One element I wish was improved significant is the save mechanics. You can save your game whenever you want in Soul Reaver, but when you start the game up again, your progress will be saved up to the point you’re in, but you will have to start your journey to that location back from where you began the game—forcing you to trek back to where you left off.
Soul Reaver 2, on the other hand, forces you to find an actual saving location and manually save your game. These saves are far apart, and you could lose a lot of progress if you find yourself defeated. Some sort of new save system would have been very welcome.
A Solid Remaster For Better Or Worse
The collection features plenty of bonus content, accessible from the start: concept art, behind-the-scenes voice recording sessions, fan art, and even cosplayer images.
You can even explore lost levels and deleted locations. These areas are buggy and don’t feature any combat because they were cut from the game, and some weren’t finished, so they run in their native resolutions with none of the game’s improved visuals.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is an excellent upgrade to two games that are as good as they were almost 25 years ago. In all honesty, this remaster is mainly focussed on visuals, as nearly nothing was done to improve the actual gameplay. As such, if you didn’t enjoy these games 25 years ago, then chances are this remaster won’t change your mind about them today.
I have wanted this remaster for almost twenty years. Now, the entire Legacy of Kain collection bar Defiance is available on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and it’s a saga that should not be missed if you’re looking for a great story.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered will be released on December 10, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
Review code kindly provided by PR