The Legacy of Kain series is, admittedly, one of my favourite game series of all times. It's hard to imagine that the original Soul Reaver game was released over 25 years ago, so being able to have a remastered version to play is fantastic.

In terms of the games, we'll split it in 2.

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The older of the 2 (obviously) has the most to benefit from the remaster treatment, and benefit it does. The textures and character models have all had a lot of care and attention placed upon them, making it look and feel detailed and reigniting that will to explore. The models in particular are fantastic, the amount of detail added just brings them to life. The textures too add a lot, and I'm sure I've discovered a secret in a grave yard I wasn't aware of previously.

The gameplay remains as it was originally, and while a 25 year old game won't be to everyone's taste and things have moved on from block puzzles, I've still found myself scratching my head in the odd place where the memory has completely left me.

Any Legacy of Kain fan doesn't come solely for the gameplay however and the story, in it's refreshed glory, still has more detail, mystery and intrigue then a lot of modern games.

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Again textures and character models have been refreshed, surprisingly though using the ability to flick between the original and remastered textures, either some have been replaced entirely in both versions or the old versions still stand up nearly 25 years later. I've flicked between both at times and noticed little to no difference. Artistic preference then triggers some things and the small details changed I find myself preferring some of the older textures over the remastered ones. Time Streaming chambers I notice little difference between and the forges (while I'm still only about half way through) have some details which look better in the original texture format.

Character models are a bit hit and miss at times also. Mobius looks refreshed and refined, however small details have been lost. The original textures show the faint outline of his iris which adds to the emotion but sadly have been lost in the new model. Other small details appear in the same way in Soul Reaver 2 which doesn't detract from the story or gameplay massively but it's sad to see these lost.

Unfortunately the gameplay for Soul Reaver 2 doesn't stack up the same way as Soul Reaver 1. While playing with Mouse and Keyboard I often find myself battling with the camera and the sensitivity of it, it wants to go one way and I want to focus on another area. There's times in the light forge where it's got stuck on/behind an object and I can't see what I want. This could be a relic of the controls - SR1 I originally played on PC, SR2 I played on PS2.

As with Soul Reaver 1 however, the story continues to shine out from amongst everything else.


As a fan, I'm more than happy with this, yes SR2 shows it's age and has some issues and SR1 appears to have much more attention paid to it. SR1 though has had over 25 years of fans and the community prodding away at it to have a much deeper understanding of it's mechanics. Someone new, they may and probably will find issues. Persevere with the gameplay however, the story is really where it's at.

These remasters are the first bitter, taste of that terrible illusion - hope. And I'm along for the ride.

There's so much to say about this series, specifically these two, but this is genuinely one of the most beautiful stories ever. Not beauty as in pretty, but just the depth it goes into and the character work.

Both games are unfortunately very dated, and the Remaster does little beyond graphics to fix that. Because of this, my love is likely based in nostalgia. However, if you don't read past this: if you've ever been curious about Legacy of Kain, start here. If you miss playing the Soul Reaver games, this is a just remaster.


The first game in the title has the most graphical improvements. All the characters look insanely better and all the details you had to imagine as a child are actually clear and visible this time (Melchiah, most notably).
Gameplay is mostly the same, but this time it's designed for modern keyboard + mouse. The map is pointless, as well as the compass and interaction indicators, which I hope people turn off. Unfortunately, because the original was a PSX title, there are far more noticeable seams and this IS still a PSX game, no matter how they change the paintjob.
Beyond that? It's the same game and you'll love - or hate it - for the same reasons. Bonus content is cool.


As much as I loved this on the PS2, it has aged far worse. They genuinely tried to do more with the combat and traversal, but in execution it really doesn't seem like it worked as good as I remembered. I got pissed off multiple times because of the combat or actually getting lost in the world itself.
The camera angle is better than the OG Steam release with mouse + keyboard, but it's still not perfect. Despite that, it's the same amazing storyline that sets up Legacy of Kain: Defiance as it always did. Graphically it's also pretty impressive by just how much was remastered.

This game was a little hard for me to get into. The gameplay really held it back for me. Granted, I'm glad they made this game, as it is really cool to bring back classics. But since the gameplay felt so archaic, the bits where the animations and textures weren't quite up to snuff really held it back for me. Especially in the first game. Still I'm glad Aspyer remastered it.

However, I think I would only recommend this game to fans of the original series or people who are intrigued in the story. The rest of the game is very painful.