Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)

☄️ Quel plaisir de retourner dans les ruines de Nosgoth ! Un jeu culte pour un bon paquet de raisons : Son ambiance sonore, son univers dark fantasy hérité du premier blood omen, ses combat avec notamment les possibilités multiples de venir à bout de ses adversaire, ses énigmes environnementales, sa narration, son double monde et sa direction artistique. Pour un jeu de 1999 c'était quand même un tour de force de proposer tout ceci, de manière aussi soignée. Les soucis majeurs étaient la clarté des objectifs, la gestion de la caméra et un problème pour s'orienter car il n'y avait pas de carte.

📀 Concernant le remaster en lui même (de ce soul reaver 1), il fait très bien son travail de remaster et pousse un tout petit peu plus loin en proposant des contenus bonus intéressants comme des scènes coupées et des niveaux inédits. La possibilité d'alterner à la volée avec la version originale du jeu est très agréable. 2 Jeux pour 30 euros avec un remaniement des textures, des modèles 3D et même des cinématiques entièrement refaites pour l'occasion, Je trouve ça plutôt honnête.

👾 "Jeu Retro" c'est quoi ? On découvre des jeux quilsontvieux ! C’est quoi un jeu vieux ? C’est quoi le retro ( Qui êtes-vous ? que faites-vous dans ma chambre ?) Je pars du principe que 2 générations de consoles en arrière on arrive sur un jeu vieux/retro, mais n’hésite pas à partager ta définition de jeu retro avec nous. Bienvenus dans le monde des saves states, des gros pixels, des polygones et des sons plus stridents !

▶️ Lien de la Playlist Jeu Retro : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZvXdeKRAzfITAqpRS8aep0y5GioOXTrS

⌛ La chaîne twitch est ici : https://www.twitch.tv/sandmap

Replaying this again through the Remaster. My prior experiences have been with the PS1 original and up to the final boss on the Dreamcast with a HD texture pack. My memory is a bit hazy, so I might be inaccurate with comparisons, but I have to say that this version is probably the best way to play the game. Switching between original and remastered textures on the fly, an in-game map, a checklist for collectibles, free-control over the camera, icons for interactive elements, and a compass. Nice QoL additions. The remaster even includes builds for cut levels. This collection is probably a dream come true for LoK fans.

As for the game itself, it feels a bit outdated. The game's strengths are its presentation, voice acting, story-telling, world building, immersion, and atmosphere. Everything else kind of falls apart for me. The combat feels clunky and Raziel's attacks feel stubby, the game is cryptic and lacks good conveyance, and movement also feels clunky causing exploration to be a pain in the butt. The game is at its best when you're just solving puzzles, but all the other elements detract from the experience because they are frankly not that enjoyable. Getting the titular soul reaver doesn't even feel great since you can only use it at full HP, but enemies can punish Raziel's stubby attacks, so it's easy to lose. Bosses are fun and creative (other than Kain ironically), but normal enemies are a chore that are there to add tedium. It doesn't help that combat feels inconsequential since there isn't a punishment to losing health other than being inconvenienced by spawning at the beginning of the game. I enjoyed my revisit of the game, but I enjoyed it less than I was expecting to.

Beat while finding all the spells and upgrades, according to a walkthrough. There was 1 place I could not get to just outside the giant skull where a block was on top of the climb. I guess I had to platform up higher and shoot the block off, but no way was I repeating that annoying platforming. I know this game is supposed to be well liked but I did not see it. The story was good, and the voice acting and atmosphere were great, but the gameplay was decidedly not good. By far the worst part of the game was the complete lack of map, which made me reluctant to play through to the end and explore for side stuff. It was a huge disappointment given the excellent map in Blood Omen. The game was a Metroidvania, but without a map the sense of exploration and using new powers to backtrack for treasure was more tedious than fun. Every game should also have a compass and mini map to help with basic navigation; another failure of this game. The camera was pretty bad too, especially with its abysmally slow turn speed. Playing on the PSP, I had to use the analog stick to move the camera and go into look mode, which was very awkward. The game played a lot like Medievil, but there were no key binding options. I would have changed camera controls to L1 and R1, put soul suck and sneak (which I never used) on the stick, and put target lock on a face button. The fast travel was annoying because it used symbols rather than sensible names.

The combat was simple and not much fun. The character had such short range, moved so slowly and knocked enemies back so much that is was troublesome to keep enemies in range. I really had to play it safe with single quick hits until they were backed up against something, or use dash attacks. I did like how the environment or weapons were needed to actually kill enemies, but many places where this would be most needed were surely lacking. I had to kill some enemies by crushing them with blocks. I found it incredibly awkward to pick up stunned enemies and throw them into hazards; they really did not stay stunned long enough for the crappy camera controls, and half the time he immediately threw them despite me keeping the button pressed. The pole weapons were better but he completely failed to take advantage of their reach. Later I used the soul blade by running around enemies in circles or figure 8s, just like in Medievil, but the character had an annoying delay before accelerating to full speed. The best combat was with the force bolt ranged attack, and the upgraded fire bolt, though most of the time I found it better to just run past enemies. I think the game needed more combat challenges, like having to kill all enemies in a room to proceed. As it was, the enemies were only a nuisance and sometimes in the way of the platforming and puzzles. There should also have been fodder enemies that could be killed with basic attacks. I found the soul sucking mechanic to be worse than the blood sucking in Blood Omen. It was more of a chore to mitigate the passive health loss, took to long to get the souls in, and was annoying to have to eat an impaled enemy during battle if I wanted to use the same spear. I hardly ever used the magic spells because there were no battles that needed them. At best they were useful when I took a hit and lost the soul blade. They should have been usable during boss fights to bypass the gimmicks. I did not like the bosses because of those gimmicks. I tried to fight the 1st boss like it was Dark Souls; circling dodging behind him to stab. But no, bosses are immune to damage. I had to look up the walkthrough for each boss, though I did figure out the fish boss and Kain without help. There was almost no penalty for dying; just eat some souls in the spirit world and phase back. The only real penalty was having to repeat some platforming. The worst platforming was in the drowned abbey, with those sequential jumps where falling sent me back to the start of the level. I had to do the entire place 3 or 4 times, and learned to jump straight up and glide to the small platforms. I almost quit at the sound cathedral when I had to glide up on gas coming from 3 pipes. I only had 1 pipe going and did not realize it was impossible to proceed without all 3 going. The walkthrough did not help, instead I found the solution in the gamefaqs forums. I missed knocking down pipes in the previous shaft, and had to turn a wheel in the organ room. This puzzle could have used more guidance. The cutscene showing the 1st pipe spewing gas threw me off and made me think the puzzle was solved. Otherwise the platforming and puzzles were not bad. The block puzzles were tedious, but I respect the game for striking a good balance between complexity and not overstaying their welcome. Most of the times I had to check the walkthrough were when I had to switch to the spirit world to change the level geometry. This was something counterintuitive that the game did not teach well.

I really thought this game would be much better than this, after experiencing Blood Omen. But the multitude of poor gameplay mechanics made it a slog that required a walkthrough for much of it. The game was not frustrating though, which puts it ahead of Medievil 2, but only by a little.

6.9/10

Не осилил.

Разиэль эволюционировал раньше Каина, за это его скинули в Бездну. Спустя много времени какой-то Старший Бог его оживил, чтобы тот выпилил своих братьев и Каина. Пока Разиэль был в отключке в мире наступил пиздец: вампиры деграднули, людей осталось мало. По ходу игры Разиэль выпиливает всех своих братьев, узнаёт, что раньше они все (и Разиэль тоже) были сарафанцами-людьми-паладинами и боролись с вампирами, а обратил их Каин. Найдя Каина Разиэль слушает какую-то пафосную херню от него и прыгает за ним в прошлое. Конец.

Клёвый дизайн персонажей, хорошая пафосная озвучка, шикарный саундтрек и... невыносимый геймплей. Игра адово устарела. Вроде бы типичная метроидвания, но из-за тугой камеры (стиков на Плэйстэйшн ещё не завезли) играть в это тяжко. И безумно скучно, потому что боёвка тут буквально однокнопочная, а головоломки — перемещение кубов. Игра в принципе короткая (если знать что делать — часов 6 со всеми секретами), а сюжета — минут на 40. И заканчивается всё клиффхенгером.

Играть в это скучно, больно и не нужно. Лучше просто глянуть прохождение или вообще только игрофильм.

I will admit I didn't have any expectations coming in that I would enjoy this, because I find the general aesthetic of this game to not be very appealing to me.

I trudged through the almost completely awful gameplay for a solid hour before dropping it. It's some seriously tedious shit, with spam x combat and a uselessly easy impaling system and block puzzles and platforming puzzles galore that only pad out the content to a ridiculous amount. That's fine though, people do not think even slightly positive thoughts of this game in terms of gameplay, so I did myself a favor and watched the cutscenes.

Of which, left a rather goodish story impression for me. It's actually a rather light read overall, which makes the game's length and padded out content so retroactively worse considering that the story here could be told in less than an hour quite cleanly. But what is played around here are some interesting themes and perspectives of one's own fate, with two characters giving completely different sides of how they consider the knowledge of everything being predestined.

It doesn't develop anywhere in a super interesting fashion unfortunately as far as the first game is concerned. Kain and Raziel are entirely set in what they think of their fate being determined off the bat, and there isn't much added development other than the histories of their lives being grey and riddled in blood. It leaves a very unsatisfying impression overall, clear setup for a sequel that I might play (but will most likely watch instead).

That's as far as it goes in terms of positives though, because other than I guess the decentish music there's very little here. The game almost brutally breaks off any sense of emotional attachment, and the aesthetic while very decently set in gothic horror has not aged very well at all.

If you can tolerate the garbage gameplay you will find a rather alright story to consume that is very clearly setup for a greater sequel, but overall I'd just read the script or watch the cutscenes like I if you are even slightly interested. Limit your suffering. (4.5/10)

While playing this game, i've noticed lots of things and elements that i really love in games, the abilities you get that help you progress further, like a metroidvania or a legend of zelda title, the sense of exploration. Raziel's visual is pretty badass, and the plot, just like it's predecessor, is great as hell.

The problem is that playing it in 2020, you realize that so much things in this game doesn't work so good nowadays, the platforming are so inaccurate, 'cause the controls are very unpredictable and the combat is really bad and boring even for that days.

If you don't matter these "problems", you should play it, it's a really great game, it's just that, obviously, it was so much greater when it was released, but didn't aged very well.

Just one more thing: the controls of the PC version can be even worse, keyboard sucks in this game and to configure a gamepad is hell of a headache.

I've finished the game. Fought Kain for the second time, but this boss fight disappointed me a bit. Way to easy for a final boss fight, I didn't remember it like that. However, the last piece of game after the sundial "puzzle" was amazing. Lots of puzzles in this zone, easier ones but satisfying ones. The cutscenes in the portals of time were amazing. I can't wait to continue this adventure. I'd only done Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver once, but not the other ones. I hope I'll do them soon.

I've killed Dumah. Holy fuck this guy gave me problems. That three stacked blocks puzzle gave me a headache, and when I finally found Dumah, I just kept trying to kill him with my bare hands and freaking sticks, took me half and hour to figure out you actually have to burn the fucker in a furnace. Damn, I didn't remember that one. An easy kill but the hardest one to figure out.

I've returned to the gate in Dumah's Clan site and now I'm supposed to meet 'my master'. Kain, I guess? I don't really remember. It's been more than 10 years since I last did this game.

Let's continue, now that I have Dumah's power to 'move stuff I couldn't move before' (?). What the heck does that mean? I don't know and that's why I love this game.

I've killed Rahab and recovered all glyphs! Took me about 3 hours to get the Fire Glyph and the Fire Reaver, then another 1 hour and a half to get the Sunlight Glyph neared the Silenced Cathedral on that lighthouse. Wow. That was really time consuming but satisfying! Now, to kill my final brother, Dumah.

Right now I've recovered the sound glyph and must make my way to my brother from another mother Rahab in the Drowned Abbey. Amazing. It's been like 15 years since I last jumped on this boat. I don't even remember Rahab's face.

And Raziel was actually a Sarafan priest! Holy shit. I definitely didn't catch all the details when I was 7 y.o

When this game came out, I remember being intrigued by Raziel's Todd McFarlane-esque design, but I thought the game would probably be too scary for me. My curiosity persisted into adulthood, when I attempted to play on Steam but gave up when I couldn't configure its controls to my liking.

So now that I've finally completed the game on my trusty Dreamcast, did it live up to 18 years of hype?

The Good

• The voice-acting is pretty incredible for the time. Each character speaks their florid dialogue in a dramatic and convincing way.
• The world is very ambitious (again, for the time). The lack of "loading" screens makes every environment feel truly connected. The warp room design is pretty brilliant. Enemies, bosses and environments almost always feel thematically consistent with each other.
• Unlocking new abilities is rewarding. While the main ones act mostly like keys, the "climb walls" ability gave me retroactive Breath of the Wild vibes. And the optional glyphs can feel really awesome if you use them in the right situation.
• Raziel's design is super cool. I love the way the Soul Reaver looks. I like how Raziel tilts his face toward off-screen enemies.

The "Meh"

• The controls feel very, very 32-bit. Platforming is plentiful and clunky. The camera needs a lot of help, and on Dreamcast in particular having to manage it with the D-pad is aggravating.
• I want to like the combat, but I just don't. Despite having terrifyingly huge claws, you can't kill anything without a weapon, and you lose your main one in a single hit.
• It's not that I mind block puzzles, but I wasn't expecting them to make up such a large percentage of the game.
• I wish more of the game happened in the Spectral Plane, because its twisted architecture and black-light color palette are way more visually interesting than the dusty gray tones of the Material Plane.
• The cliffhanger ending was kind of a bummer.

My Takeaways

I'm glad I played Soul Reaver. It's easy to see why it impressed so many when it was released. It was fun to recognize ideas introduced here that clearly influenced the rest of the industry.

But the years haven't been kind to the compromises made during the game's troubled production. Players today should keep that in mind going in.

If you're interested in a deep-dive look at the game and the differences between its ports, I highly recommend this video: