Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered

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.