It's time to book a trip back to memory lane, specifically in Nosgoth, as the story of Raziel is retold in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Review Overview
What is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered?
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is the remaster of the second and third installment of the Legacy of Kain series which was originally released in 1999 and 2001, respectively. The series was known for its storytelling and overarching narrative over a total of five games.
Set after the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the game introduces Raziel, a former lieutenant of the titular Kain, as he seeks revenge against Kain for casting him into the abyss and discovers the secrets about his existence and the history of Nosgoth. The story continues in Soul Reaver 2, where Raziel chases Kain through time and learns more about the truth of the Hylden and the manipulation of history done by the Elder God.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered features:
⚫︎ 2 Games in 1
⚫︎ Nostalgic Action-Adventure Gameplay
⚫︎ Graphics Upgrade
⚫︎ Intricate Storytelling and Worldbuilding
⚫︎ Bonus Content of Concept Art, Unfinished Levels, Etc.
 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
 GoG |
 PSN |
 Switch |
 Xbox |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Noticeable Graphics Upgrade Improved Controls and Movable Camera Faithful Remake |
Dated Gameplay UI Wasn’t Improved as Much |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Overall - 72/100
The Legacy of Kain series is one of the series that challenged other games to level up in terms of storytelling in the action-adventure genre. While Aspyr kept it as faithful as it can be, this series badly needed a remake. As a remaster, it’s completely faithful. It improved on graphics and controls, but sadly, doesn’t really revive the series as a whole.
As a fan of the gothic series, I appreciate the better looking models and Quality-of-Life (QoL) upgrades, but it’s not even as great as the other remasters that we’ve seen from other games. Regardless, it’s officially the best way to experience some of the best games of the series, and I’m still hoping that the series will have a revival of some sort or we could just live in a timeline where the series is alive and well or actually finished.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Story - 10/10
The story of the Soul Reaver 1&2 introduces Raziel, as he seeks the truth behind the secrets of Nosgoth. The narrative is completely untouched, so it still follows the wraith’s journey of revenge, which then turns into awareness of the nature of his cyclical destiny. It’s one of those games that really went for a narrative and had engaging gameplay to boot back in the day, and it still holds up after all these years.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Gameplay - 7/10
In a gameplay perspective, the remasters don’t exactly hold up in today’s standards. However, it is a complete improvement from back then, especially in a time when the double analog sticks weren’t a thing yet. With movement that’s more familiar to modern gamers and a movable camera, it’s a clear upgrade.
But, don’t expect combat to be something like Stellar Blade or Black Myth: Wukong, since it really is more of a facelift. There’s also the issue of Soul Reaver 1 being more open or classic "Zelda-like" compared to the sequel being a lot more linear. In terms of other weird problems, the former lets you save anywhere, while the latter doesn’t. It’s not the best remaster out there, but it’s something the fans can use to replay the games in current gen systems.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Visuals - 7/10
The visuals are clearly an upgrade to the original games that were released back in ‘99 and ‘01. In a way, it’s an HD remaster of the visuals, without breaking the game’s classic image. There’s even an option to make the models look like the original ones if you want to see the difference of detail. It’s not the best visual upgrade, though. Since the backgrounds and environments weren’t given as much love as the models and other weapons. The UI is also pretty bad compared to other remasters we’ve seen recently, as it kind of looks like the old DVD menu you’d find before starting a movie.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Audio - 6/10
The games highlight the voice acting of Michael Bell (Raziel), Simon Templeman (Kain), and Tony Jay (Elder God) as its best assets. The quality of the audio is noticeably better, but other than the stellar voice acting, it doesn’t have much else going for it. The gothic music is still decent as I remember, but wasn’t really memorable in my experience.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Value for Money - 6/10
It does have its fair share of bonus content like concept art, developer commentary, and other unfinished levels, but there aren’t any game-changing differences. You still do have the benefit of having two great games in one pack, however, compared to the remasters of the Marvel vs Capcom Collection and Beyond Good and Evil, it’s pretty subpar.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Review: Faithful, Pretty, And Decent
The Legacy of Kain games are one of the first games that started my love for games, so seeing them in a new remastered form is definitely something of a full circle moment. This also sparked my initial love of character design of the dark hero design and of course, the Soul Reaver being an "arm lightsaber."
In a literal sense, it was one of the first games I’ve ever played and even revisit from time to time over the decades. It exposed me to video games as more than just the gameplay, and as an interactive story with gameplay being the engine to keep the narrative going. I enjoyed it back in the day, but this remaster made me realize that this series sorely needs a remake.
Nostalgia In Pure Form
Aspyr is no stranger to remasters as they’ve done similarly to the Tomb Raider trilogy early this year. It’s a textbook remaster, as they didn’t touch anything else other than the visuals and the controls. As an added bonus, they even added the same function from the Tomb Raider remaster which allows you to freely switch between the upscaled visuals and the old models.
For fans of the series, it’s the same story that follows Raziel’s journey of slowly seeing the bigger picture and the secrets behind the history of Nosgoth, vampires, and his own destiny. It’s a very compelling story that I would recommend people to experience at least once. I would even argue that it was very ahead of its time as a whole.
Visual Upgrades, But Not For Everything
It’s noticeable that the game got a huge visual upgrade at a glance. The models look amazing, and they’re the biggest star in this remaster. The in-game character models are much more detailed and look better than their older counterparts. In essence, Raziel doesn’t look like a walking skeletal alien, as he’s much more detailed and actually looks something like Starcraft’s Zeratul with his new model. Moebius also looks a lot better in his age as well as Kain’s vampiric appearance being a lot more menacing than I remember.
However, the big issue with this remaster is that not everything was upgraded as well, which is also as noticeable as the upgrades. The moment in Soul Reaver 2 when Raziel walks out of the castle and sees the Nosgoth of the past, for some reason, still looks as it was before. I’ve seen HD upscaling technology in the form of older emulated games, so I’m not entirely surprised if something like that was used for the different locations, backdrops, and environments in the game.
The game also has issues on the UI as the main menu really looks similar to your retro DVD menus that you’d find before starting the movie. It’s also pretty bad considering you have other remasters to compare from like Beyond Good and Evil, Marvel vs Capcom, and Dead Rising.
Quality-of-Life Changes, But…
Built in the time when controllers didn’t have analog sticks yet, Soul Reaver 1 feels way better to play now with the upgraded controls. There’s also a lot more options to change for more accessibility like subtitles, toggleable vibration options, and adjustable stick sensitivity. Additionally, the games even have new in-game maps, a compass, and a few hints to help players out since the series was known to be full of puzzles and doesn’t really hold your hand in solving them.
Now that’s good and all, but the main issue really is that the gameplay doesn’t quite hold up. In a time where action RPGs are all the rage, something like this wouldn’t interest the average gamer, despite the compelling story. I would even go so far as to say that the gameplay was never the series’ strong suit especially with each subsequent release. Also, the fact that Soul Reaver 1 went from a Zelda-style game and evolved to a more linear style of game in the sequel, pretty much solidified the focus on the narrative instead of having a more complex game.
Faithful, But We Needed Something More
As a remaster, it’s decent and honestly, pretty. It works, but it could’ve been something more instead of something that just tugs at our sense of nostalgia. As a big fan of the series, I kind of wish for a full remake of the series, which is something of a fleeting dream nowadays, since the series has been in limbo since Defiance.
Granted, Aspyr did a good job in making the game look great, perform well, and play better than its original releases. But I do wish the series never ended on a cliffhanger, as fans definitely deserve a resolution to Kain and Raziel’s story. Hopefully the rest of the games get a remaster so that the series isn’t completely forgotten, but I’ll still hope for the game to get a continuation after all these years. Well, at least this review got an ending that the series might never get.
Is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Worth It?
Wait For a Sale Or Watch the Cutscenes Instead
Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are some of, in my opinion, the better narratives there are in games in general. Back in the day, it was one of the few games that explored a more gray area without really defining good and evil. At $29.99, you get two great stories in one, and that’s it. It’s a decent remaster to relive the nostalgia of the series, but it really needed a remake or a tv adaptation or movie to highlight the story even more.
The gameplay is very outdated and while the visuals are better, it didn’t go above and beyond for all of its visual aspects. If you’re a big fan or very interested in the series, I’d recommend to wait for a sale instead or just watch the whole story in cutscenes as the gameplay really isn’t what makes the series what it is.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Epic |
GoG |
PSN |
Switch |
Xbox |
| $29.99 | |||||
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered FAQ
What are the System Requirements to play Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered?
The System Requirements (as listed on Steam) are as follows:
| Specifications | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 or above (64bit) | |
| Processor | Intel i3 / AMD FX-4100 | Intel i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 5800 |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce GT 620 1gb / Radeon HD 8670D | NVIDIA RTX 2080 /Radeon RX 6750 |
| Storage | 2 GB | |
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Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Product Information
|
|
| Title | LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER 1&2 REMASTERED |
|---|---|
| Release Date | December 11, 2024 |
| Developer | Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics |
| Publisher | Aspyr |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic, GOG), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered Official Website |
