Episode 163 - I'll Stop Killing Humans - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

You did not survive the podcast, Raziel. Welcome to Fanbruary! As we have for the last three years, this month we’re going to be looking at games suggested by members of our community and we’re starting today with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver! This is an action/adventure Metroidvania title from 1999 and, especially considering the era in which this released, it has a lot going on. The game has full voice acting for all characters, a not insignificant world to explore and a large amount of side content for the player to stumble onto. Over the course of the game you will pick up a few traversal abilities, health and mana upgrades, spells, and an upgrade to your weapon by exploring the world. That said, this game shows its age pretty significantly and has a number of features and design decisions that maybe don’t hold up so well playing them in a modern context. Whether that be controls, enemy design or the mechanics of puzzles and combat, there is always something off about most systems that really put a hinderance on your enjoyment of the game. What are these? Well, tune in to hear us discuss the exploration-focused world that the game presents, the different things the game tries in the Metroidvania genre, and to hear us say what every 90s kid would about water levels and swimming. Thank you for joining us again this week! We got a lot of great suggestions from you all for this month and it has been genuinely hard to narrow down which games best meet our criteria for great Fanbruary titles, and Soul Reaver felt like a good pick to start us off because it’s fairly well-known, but not one we would likely go back to had it not been suggested. After playing it, it’s fair to say that we understand why the series has the reputation it does, though it’s also a pretty powerful reminder of the effect nostalgia can have on our perception of something. Were we too harsh on the game? Are you a long time fan who is upset we only played this game and skipped Blood Omen? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we’re going to be talking about Valheim, which will be our first episode on a survival game, so we hope you’ll join us then!