The Legacy of Kain games are some of the most quintessential late 90s and early 2000s gaming. In the Soul Reaver pair of games, now remastered in HD glory thanks to Aspyr’s Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, you control a vampire-turned-wraith known as Raziel who must kill his brothers, conquer his father and escape the underworld. It is broody, dark and dingy and that edge charm is timeless. What isn’t timeless, despite its remastering, is its level design and pacing. Like its setting, many moments of both Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver games make you feel like you are in hell. And yet, I loved it and appreciated the hell out of it for the weird and historic ventures they are.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is another of the quality and loyal remaster projects that Aspyr has under its belt despite its relatively short time in operation. Much reverence is held to the source material like Tomb Raider I-III Remastered earlier this year. Save stunning up-resolution work, a majority of the features and charm of the Soul Reavers are untouched.

This is apparent when you launch either game and are greeted with the incredibly hokey but lovable pre-rendered 3D cutscenes that kick it all off. Whether it’s witnessing Raziel being turned into a wraith and banished to the underworld or seeing him continue the cliffhanger of the first game into the second, it’s engrossing gothic vibes. 

The atmosphere keeps up throughout the entirety of both games. Those temple halls that you’re walking through early in Soul Reaver 2, knocking down creatures, vampires and crossbow-wielding religious devotees are drenched in edge that you don’t see enough of in games anymore. Hey older readers, remember when you would search the internet in the early 2000s for video edits to Devil May Cry with Papa Roach backing music? That’s the kind of vibes and gothic prestige I’m talking about here.

The Soul Reaver games were already quite striking games for their day, but the remastering treatment just makes everything shine a little bit more. Raziel looks a little less scrappy and low-res, detailed in all his brooding glory. Tapestries in dungeons now being higher fidelity adds for exciting atmosphere. Cracks in walls, brick detailing and so forth are just a lot clearer and refined. Crucially, this also means that puzzle readability is a lot more concise. When you’ve slotted an object into a slot correctly in a puzzle, the brightness on said object changes ever so slightly to the textures around it, now being able to mentally check off that puzzle piece. Of course, no harm no foul for the fiercely loyal fans who will prefer the look of the originals; Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered does the tried and true things that remasters like Halo: The Masterchief Collection do where you can toggle on and off both the old and new graphics at any time at a moment’s notice.

It was important that the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver games took these big strides too. Originally developed by Crystal Dynamics and licensed for the PlayStation, this was Sony’s answer to Nintendo’s Zelda, if not an edgier and more moody one. Of course, you probably know how that went: Nintendo is impenetrable and there wasn’t a lot of Legacy of Kain games following this, but over the twenty-plus years since Soul Reaver 1 & 2 remained enshrined in cult classic status. A piece of gaming history. That shows in playing it today. The old warts are still there but the charm remains strong to this day.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Remastered 1 & 2 thankfully hasn’t changed the combat except for implementing a tidier control scheme than what was there prior. You’re still hobbling about as your gremlin wraith self picking up objects such as spears and torches to deliver fatal blows on vampires, creatures, and the like. To truly ensure these beasties stay dead for good, you do what is still the most metal thing in games; you pull down your mask that covers your grizzly faces and you eat their God damned souls. Additionally, some enemies can only be tackled in the spirit world rather than the main world. Combine this with the fact you can pick up and carry these otherwise disposable weapons with you between environments and you get a bloody soul-sapping spirit sword, there’s a lot of exciting ways to do some damage. Though I would never claim to call it as deep or involved as the Greats, this almost makes the games feel like immersive sims.

While the Soul Reaver games spin a lot of good and original ideas out of the 3D Zelda formula, they also adapt a lot of the bad and dated ideas. For one, it’s hard to ever ascertain what you need to do. You’re never all that guided and it’s unclear whether the missing thread you’re missing for game and narrative progression is to revisit a previous area or just work out whatever damned secret path still is yet to be found. The first game is more egregious with this and only gets worse the more you progress. When I finally found myself making solid progress, it was throttled by a long slog that was several back-to-back sliding block puzzles that took a little bit too long to resolve. Combine this with the same-y environments that you’re experiencing in that first game which are often just cave-like environments and temple walls with little variation, and you might feel like you, like Raziel are trapped in the underworld.

Soul Reaver 2 at least learnt from some of these lessons.  Puzzles are a lot less of a fuss and the level design is smarter and intertwined more sensibly so that you won’t get as lost… even if the narrative still isn’t the best at explaining where to go next. I promise you if you’re a newcomer like me and don’t know these games like the back of your hand, some of your experience will be a lot less miserable if you’re not afraid to have a guide or walkthrough up on another screen as you play.

For all of its faults and dated elements, I’m also glad Aspyr left these rough edges untouched, only ironing out kinks. The last thing I want in remasters and remakes is having them stomp all over and ruin the original’s legacy and charm. Aspyr implemented just the right amount of hands-on, ensuring this be a quality and historical collection of some beloved cult classics. Its reverence even goes into its history too; implementing lost levels and a previously cut day and night system. Good. This is the weird funky little Zelda-like that tried weird and cool ideas. This is the game that was developer Amy Hennig’s directorial debut, projecting her into further gaming stardom and providing her the opportunity to create a quality franchise in Uncharted. You better bloody believe this game shouldn’t be allowed to be lost to time.