Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered

This remaster also has a lot of extra stuff that fans will absolutely love to dive into.

Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered is a great collection, elevated more by the simple joy of playing through the campaigns again.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 - 2 Remastered brings together two classic action-adventure games, allowing modern gamers to experience Raziel's quest for revenge with updated visuals and refined systems. The remaster preserves the rich narrative, cinematic storytelling, and intricate lore that made the originals unforgettable, while adding accessibility features like highlighted interactable items and a map. While some cryptic gameplay elements and unchanged textures may challenge newcomers, this collection is a must-play for fans of narrative-driven adventures and a brilliant way to revisit Nosgoth.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is an old AAA title from the PlayStation 1 era with such strong core design elements that just a facelift using HD textures and refined character models turns it into a decent modern indie title. It is a must-play for those who take video game history seriously and want to understand the evolution of this young art form throughout its history.

Aspyr bundles two games together instead of releasing them separately in a more profit-driven approach, adds some great behind-the-scenes and deleted content, and otherwise keeps everything largely intact. Whether fixing up a bit more would have been a better choice is something we’ll never know. But it’s no coincidence that I fell in love all over again with these two legendary games and their unforgettable game world. Never change a winning team. [Issue#361, p.12]

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is a by-the-book remaster that successfully breathes new life into these 20-year-old masterpieces. The more I played, the more I craved, and I truly hope that this is just the first step in the revival of this beloved franchise.

The remaster of both Soul Reaver games looks better and still plays well, though it clearly shows its age as a game from another era. It also highlights the significant evolution action adventure genre has gone through, with outdated issues like poor camera angles, level design, and archaic save systems feeling like true relics of the past. The biggest disappointment is that the remaster didn’t push further by adding user-friendly features that the games desperately need. However, when the music swells, the excellent voice acting shines, and the titular blade of the Blue Angel of Death gleams in the dark, all is forgiven. Soul Reaver still holds an atmosphere that pulls you in more reliably than Raziel’s missing jaw.

If you bounced off the originals, or if you have reliable access to them and don't mind their dated graphics, then Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered might not be worth the cost of admission. But if you've never delved into the world of Nosgoth, are looking for a great story, and don't mind putting up with some archaic mechanics, it's an easy buy.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is a perfect remastered collection, with many interesting extras.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered is an impeccable remaster collection. While it has a few flaws, the narrative, world-building, soundtrack, and voice acting make the games a gratifying experience.

It can sometimes be tough to appreciate games from the past because so much of game design is built on iteration. That isn't a problem with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered. There are archaic elements to both games, yet it's surprising just how well they hold up today. There's no doubt that improvements to the game's controls and, to a lesser extent, their visuals contribute to this, but the main reason they persevere is because of their masterful melding of story, worldbuilding, and mechanics with a handful of innovative ideas. Much like Raziel, this isn't a perfect revival, but it preserves a pair of classic games and, in an ideal world, will attract a new audience to a series that has been dormant for far too long. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of its resurgence.

Soul Reaver and its sequel are both perfect storms of story, voice work, soundtracks, and now they have the final pieces they needed to become classics for a new generation with revamped controls and now gorgeous graphics. While I’d like to see the execution be a touch cleaner, the sum of its parts is so damned strong that it lets you experience this incredible game all over again. I know you, Raziel. You are worthy.

There is such a richness in these games, and I’m so glad their re-release in remastered form allowed me to finally experience them. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is a brilliant collection for those who love Soul Reaver, and the perfect introduction for new, curious players.

If you want to open the doors to a nostalgic world, Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is the way to go. However, if you are used to modern gaming standards, you should keep your expectations low.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is like the two-sided coin dilemma. On one side we have two video games that are true milestones of video game entertainment, up until now impossible to play in an acceptable way on modern platforms. If the coin had fallen on this side, Soul Reaver would have been condemned to oblivion. On the other side we have a remaster that only makes a few indispensable changes. In any case, heads or tails, the game is rigged and no one wins. I would like to think that there could be a third option, a monumental secret hidden somewhere, but the truth is that we can do nothing but settle for this double remaster and hope the series continues in some way or another.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered embraces nostalgia with excellent visual enhancements and plenty of extra content. However, its dated gameplay and rough edges make it far more suited to longtime fans than younger players.

Aspyr continues their recent but crucial work of restoring legacy games with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, and it’s arguably their best work yet. The visual fidelity and style upgrades are meaningful, only touching the fundamentals minimally so the twenty-plus-year-old cult classics remain the historic ventures they always have been. Though the untouched level design will feel at times dated with players, it’s a janky and charming pair of games that are dripping with edge. Nostalgic fans and lovers of 2000s broodiness and creative design won’t want to miss this one.

A thoughtful overhaul of two classics that nevertheless leaves a lot of potential untapped.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered has the undoubted merit of preserving and re-proposing in an updated key a saga that still today has all the cards on the table to fascinate the public, thanks to charismatic characters and an evocative imagery. The process of updating the experience implemented by Aspyr is fluctuating, and fails to stem the effects of the passage of time, especially evident for the first Soul Reaver. With the hope of one day being able to witness the announcement of a true remake of Raziel's epic, The Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered manages at least to attenuate the nostalgia of the fans of the first hour, with a rich package of extra content and the possibility of reliving, at a modest expense, two games that have made history.

Combat and platforming controls remain unchanged, which benefits Soul Reaver 1 but hinders Soul Reaver 2 and its clunky movement tweaks. Both games flaunt lavish character upgrades and stunning re-renders of the original's cutscenes. Still, environment texture upscales are often unnoticeable, and the lack of video options is a sore point, especially as the all-new map screen misbehaves on 16:10 screens at launch.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is probably a must-play if you were obsessed with it 25 years ago, but probably missable if you didn’t play it the first time around. It’s got some interesting ideas and it delivers on some of them, but overall, you’ll probably need nostalgia goggles to get the most out of it.

To all the Soul Reaver fans out there, I apologize. Perhaps there’s some essential flavor that nostalgia adds to the soup, but I’m sadly missing it. For me, coming into these games cold was a dreadful shock. The big stretches of empty space are pretty painful. Fighting enemies is easier than I expected, but still not terribly engaging. The puzzles are stretched out over the same bizarre layouts, which makes them more frustrating. The visuals are a major improvement over the old games, however. I like the narrative’s premise well enough, but it was hard to get into the swing of things. Again, mostly due to the archaic gameplay. If you’re a fan of the old games, then Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered will be a breath of fresh air. On the other hand, new players will likely have a very difficult time with these games.

The Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered feels barebones. You get these titles with a few new bells & whistles and not much else. It is thoroughly disappointing for a game that was in more need of a full gameplay remake than just a graphical uplift. With so many great remaster/collection packages hitting, I wish this one had been given a little more love.