The Cain’s legacy The series finally rose from the grave after 20 years of sleep. True vampire behavior, of course, although not as its creators originally intended.
Crystal Dynamics tried to continue the activities from 2003 Cain’s Legacy: Rebellion with a spectacular appearance Cain’s Legacy: Dead Sunbut it was ultimately canceled for, I guess, murky reasons. What we have now isn’t a full-fledged continuation of the story, or even a now-classic cushioned reboot.
This is a remaster of two classics Soul Reaver titles by Aspyr, the same studio behind some damn good titles Tomb Raider original remasters of the trilogy and it does not disappoint!
When it comes to appearance, Aspyr is once again making fans an offer they can’t refuse. You can switch between remastered graphics mode and classic mode on the fly. If you’re just here for the newer graphics, you’ll be very cheerful, as both games – especially the original – have been given a very respectful shine.
This isn’t a remake, rather Aspyr’s apparent attempt to make the original games look as good as possible. As a long-time fan of the series, I’m quite satisfied with the approach. The only possible downside is that it may not attract the attention of up-to-date players as it does not feature current-gen graphics.
I didn’t like the first trailer that Aspyr showed. Some of the enemies – especially Melchiah, the first boss – looked a little too colorful for the monstrous pile of rotten flesh he was supposed to be. I’m very cheerful to report that Aspyr has noticed this as well and has finally given a welcome delicate to the game’s enemies. First Soul Reaver it’s now a bit brighter and more colorful than it used to be, but it certainly remains by far the most stunning of the two.
If you’re just looking for a newfangled way to recreate a classic game, this is also the game for you, as you can now enjoy the original graphics in never-before-seen high resolution. At least on PC, this remaster even outperforms this one Tomb Raider trilogy. Although Tomb Raider The classic graphics mode of the PS5 remaster introduced a higher resolution, which forced players to “enjoy” the game at an unstable frame rate on the original PlayStation. But not here. Both games run smoothly in all graphics modes, even on less than top-of-the-range PC hardware.
There is also an improvement in the quality of life. While the gameplay of both Soul Reaver it has aged much better than e.g Tomb Raiderit’s a thing of the past, it could still exploit some modernization – and it certainly got it. The camera is now fully modernized, allowing players to control it with the right stick, providing much more intuitive controls and leaving the shoulder buttons free for other functions. There are also graphical indicators that appear whenever you approach an item that you can interact with. Some may find it a bit too much hand-holding, but at least in the original format, some of the game’s crucial visual elements may prove too hard to distinguish from the regular scenery.
If you look at the screenshots above, you will also notice the presence of a compass. This is also an addition introduced by the remaster. I initially laughed at this idea when the compass came along Tomb Raider has always been one of the most useless features in gaming history, but I didn’t have the full picture. This compass actually works quite well when paired with a map, which is another up-to-date feature. It’s only recently come to my attention that some players find the world of the original game a bit labyrinthine, which will certainly facilitate make for a smoother experience.
Another thing that works in the remaster’s favor is the story – one element that can’t really be changed much – as it remains as fantastic and engaging as ever. Ditto is responsible for the voiceovers and music in the game. All the most crucial and harder to fix features of this series have really aged like good venerable blood – the kind you don’t have to worry about.
This remaster also includes a lot of additional content that fans will surely love to delve into. Whereas Soul Reaver 2 had a less complicated development cycle thanks to the sequel to one of the best games on the original PlayStation, the original’s development was famously confused.
While you could never tell just by playing the game, the original game was the result of a very rushed development cycle. It was never intended to create a series, but to tell a one-off story. While I’m glad I finally grew into something bigger and better, I – and many others – spent years wishing I could revisit the extensive amount of material that was ultimately cut.
Now, in addition to tons of chilly concept art, fan art, and tons of written lore to facilitate guide players through this world, players can gain access to several smaller levels for the first time. These areas do not feature remastered graphics and have no enemies or working puzzles, but fans will understand how great it is to finally visit places that have gone down in history as myths.
Aspyr shows its craftsmanship and care, which makes me hope that the studio really is the one that will finally create the upcoming remaster of the second – and more – Tomb Raider work of the trilogy.
