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159-551: In Blood Omen , the player follows Kain , a slain nobleman newly resurrected as a vampire . Seeking revenge against his murderers and a cure to his vampiric curse, Kain is tasked with traversing the fictional land of Nosgoth and slaughtering the Circle of Nine , a corrupt oligarchy of godlike sorcerers, but slowly begins to forsake humanity and view his transformation as a blessing. Silicon Knights intended Blood Omen to be "a game which adults would want to play", intending to evolve

318-452: A Blood Omen sequel at the request of company management. Successive titles in what was now the Legacy of Kain series were produced by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos, whereas Silicon Knights walked away from the franchise to begin work on Too Human , and later Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem . In 2012, NeoGAF member Mama Robotnik highlighted public records of the 1997 court case. During

477-472: A tragic hero , "screwed by his own character flaws", and argued that this hamartia added to his depth. Since joining Naughty Dog , when asked whether Raziel or Kain is closest to her heart, Hennig has said that while Raziel is a sympathetic protagonist, she probably prefers Kain as a character. For 2002's Blood Omen 2 , developed by a different team within Crystal Dynamics, Kain returned as

636-488: A "great anti-hero". Kasavin again praised him in a review for Defiance , writing that "it's rare enough to find a truly memorable main character in a game, let alone two", and that the game's ensemble cast "[to some extent superseded] the problems in the gameplay". Ian Dransfield of Play has stated that "we totally and completely fell in love with [Kain]" and highlighted him as a "character who [needs] to be revived". Some reviewers were less enthusiastic about aspects of

795-629: A "self-righteous little twit" with villainy, seeking redemption and transcendence through knowledge, in contrast to an idealistic hero. Drawing from Joseph Campbell 's ideas, she felt it would be interesting to see how players interpret morality in this context, and argued that "the only way a hero can ever succeed is by following his own path. As long as he's following a path laid out by someone else, ultimately he's going to fail". Defiance portrayed Kain and Raziel as Sophoclean Oedipus -like figures, "being railroaded by fate". Hennig said that "they are heroes because they refuse to submit, even when all

954-444: A PlayStation 2 exclusive, and was ported to Microsoft Windows later that year. The developers' goal was to retain the elements that made its predecessor successful, but they decided to eschew the "complete a level , fight a boss " flow of the previous game in favor of a more narrative-driven approach. The plot serves as a direct sequel to Soul Reaver , picking up immediately after its ending. The player controls Raziel as he uncovers

1113-405: A cadre of vampire lieutenants to conquer Nosgoth's human kingdoms, establishing an all-powerful empire under his control while the land decays. 1500 years after the events of Blood Omen , Raziel, his first-born follower, transgresses against Kain, and is consequently executed. A demiurge -like entity known as The Elder God resurrects Raziel, who quickly confronts Kain. Kain strikes Raziel with

1272-399: A character". Shifting the focus of gameplay towards action, gore and combat instead of puzzle-solving, it retains several of the qualities which made the previous games popular, but was criticized for lacking innovation. Despite middling critical reception, it was released on four platforms and sold well. The setting, an enormous industrial city, is a departure for the series. While the game

1431-399: A conference, and they shared their mutual ambition to build "epic" games with bigger budgets and higher expectations than the then-current industry standard. Several publishers were sent The Pillars of Nosgoth , the science fiction concept Too Human , and a third competing Silicon Knights pitch. Too Human was almost pursued, but Crystal Dynamics—who felt that the high fantasy genre was

1590-463: A final battle between the two characters which Raziel wins. It is discovered that The Elder God is malevolent, and he and Moebius—his servant—had conspired against Kain from the outset of the series, considering vampires an abomination. Kain, after being presumed dead, returns, and reconciles with Raziel, who willingly enters the Soul Reaver. As he does so, he uses his powers to cleanse Kain of

1749-416: A flaw, Baldric of Game Revolution regarded the plot as intelligent and thoughtful, and commented on the game being "surprisingly amoral". Hugh Falk of PC Gamer echoed a complaint raised by both Gerstmann and Electronic Gaming Monthly that the graphics are excessively dark, and was disappointed in the artificial intelligence , but dismissed these as "minor" grievances with the conclusion that Blood Omen

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1908-623: A future date, sometime beyond the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 . Nosgoth however was never officially released, but began open beta in January 2015. The game officially shut down its servers on May 31, 2016. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is an upcoming video game developed and published by Aspyr that comprises the second and third games in the series. The remastered collection will include new features such as toggleable high-fidelity graphics,

2067-452: A lawsuit against their former partner for ownership of the series, requesting an injunction to prevent Crystal Dynamics from publicizing Soul Reaver . Silicon Knights, they reported, accused Crystal Dynamics of plagiarizing their concept for a sequel. The dispute was settled in private, with Crystal Dynamics retaining the rights to the game, and permission to create derivative work using its characters, provided they credit Silicon Knights as

2226-467: A legal battle, Crystal Dynamics retained the rights to the game's intellectual property, and continued its story with four sequels. To date, five games comprise the series, all initially developed for video game consoles and later ported to Microsoft Windows . Focusing on the eponymous character of Kain , a vampire antihero , each title features action , exploration and puzzle-solving, with some role-playing game elements. The series takes place in

2385-423: A lithe and devious vampire, to a "craggy" figure. As a playable character, he frequently narrates his thoughts through the dramatic device of soliloquy . In Blood Omen and Defiance , his battle cry and catchphrase is Vae victis , a Latin phrase attributed to Brennus meaning "woe to the conquered". In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain , Kain is introduced as a young human noble. In the game's prologue , he

2544-543: A modern control scheme, improved camera controls, a map and compass, "lost levels", a photo mode, and a day and night cycle which was cut from the original Soul Reaver . References to the collection first appeared at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024, with an announcement following at PlayStation 's State of Play presentation in September. The announcement and release of Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered coincides with

2703-460: A more complex and sympathetic character than Raziel himself". Sources which helped to formulate his role in the plot ranged from Biblical lore to Eastern myth and mysticism . In interviews preceding the release of 2001's Soul Reaver 2 , Hennig said that Crystal Dynamics had a huge investment in Kain as a character. His portrayal in this game extrapolated further from Blood Omen' s story, and

2862-483: A new protagonist , his lieutenant Raziel , who is executed by Kain and resurrected to exact revenge on his brethren and his master. Soul Reaver 2 had an accelerated development cycle and was released after two years, despite a switch to sixth generation consoles early in the project. It was initially targeted for release in late 2000 on the PlayStation and Dreamcast, but was reworked and released in 2001 as

3021-492: A new timeline in which vampires have been hunted to extinction; Kain is left the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth. After systematically tracking down and killing most of the guardians, he confronts Mortanius — revealed as the guardian of death, and the orchestrator of Kain's assassination. After killing Mortanius, a malevolent, mysterious being known as The Dark Entity emerges from Mortanius's body where he tells Kain that he

3180-419: A perspective", and hoped to determine how players would react in "a world where [they] had to kill innocents to survive". McCulloch, who wrote the majority of in-game texts, was urged by marketer colleagues to give characters more accessible names—he described some, such as Mortanius, as "Names from Hell", which were difficult to get past the "marketing censor". Cover art for the historical novel The Pillars of

3339-432: A preferable choice—made a deal with Silicon Knights to produce The Pillars of Nosgoth . Design work continued, with Amy Hennig at the helm as design manager, for approximately six to eight months before both parties reached agreement on the most suitable video game console to publish for. Hall, who had been "instantly taken" by the project, thought that "it was obvious this game deserved a [Legend of] Zelda -style take on

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3498-497: A second comic in early 2004, recapitulating the series' backstory, to coincide with the release of Defiance . Both Kain and Raziel also feature as playable characters in downloadable content for 2010's Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light . By June 2024, a graphic novel titled Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise was revealed to be in the works as a collaboration between Crystal Dynamics and Bit Bot Media and

3657-542: A series of internet leaks and resultant speculation. According to Kelion, it was to be set in the same universe as previous Legacy of Kain titles, but would not be "a traditional or even single-player LoK experience". The game was intended to be viewed as "very much on a separate branch to both the Soul Reaver and Blood Omen series", and Crystal Dynamics were not involved in its development. Kelion stated that Nosgoth would be more formally announced and revealed at

3816-488: A significant portion of his blood in exchange for powerful battle artifacts. A day and night cycle passes progressively - at night, Kain's attacks become more potent, and during full moon phases, some sealed doors become accessible. There is a Magical operation of maximum importance; the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood... Blood Omen introduces

3975-440: A spiked mace, twin axes, and the Soul Reaver, a two-handed flamberge . Suits of iron, bone, chaos, flesh, and wraith armor feature, and each combination of equipment has advantages and drawbacks. Spells, in the form of magical tarot cards, are used in both strategic and practical contexts, their functions ranging from summoning artificial light to mind control and the evocation of lightning storms. Shapeshifting enables Kain to assume

4134-428: A strong narrative and artistic cinema to consoles, it was built as "a game which adults would want to play", featuring an unconventional hero and gameplay that demanded thought as well as reflexes. Developed as a 2D action-adventure game with role-playing game elements, it debuted to positive critical and commercial reception. Selling points included its 50+ hour length and the wide array of items and abilities

4293-432: A track from Information Society's 1997 album Don't Be Afraid . This track went on to feature in Soul Reaver as the opening theme. Harland worked with audio engineer Jim Hedges in the creation of an adaptive audio system for Soul Reaver which allowed the music to change based on in-game context. This approach became a mainstay of subsequent games in the series. Following the release of Soul Reaver , action figures of

4452-451: A universe apparently ruled by fate" as the core of the story. Gnosticism , in which "the material world is an illusion, a lie perpetrated by a false and malignant god whose aim is to keep the human soul in darkness and ignorance" and the hero's goal is "knowledge, enlightenment, and the exposure of the truth", helped to formulate Raziel's arc. Themes of despair, hope and illumination in the works of T. S. Eliot and James Joyce influenced

4611-496: A vampire action RPG", and assisted Dyack in convincing Crystal Dynamics to choose the newly announced PlayStation over the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Sega Saturn . Dyack and Hall believed that Blood Omen could help to evolve the action role-playing genre through strong writing and artistic, cinematic flair—Dyack summarized it as a game which adults would want to play. Central influences included vampire mythology , William Shakespeare's plays , themes of ethical dilemma in

4770-584: A video game review aggregator website, determined that the PlayStation version of Soul Reaver received a "critical acclaim" score of 91/100, Soul Reaver 2 received "generally favorable" scores of 80/100 and 77/100 for PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows, the Xbox version of Blood Omen 2 received a "generally favorable" score of 76/100 while the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows versions received "mixed or average" scores of 71/100, 67/100 and 66/100,

4929-481: A wider breadth of acquirable abilities, though the team was handicapped by the release of the PlayStation 2. The Soul Reaver 2 project was produced for the PlayStation for a short time, but, after creating a proof-of-concept demo , the developers were given approval to scrap their work and switch to the newer console. With "remarkable dedication, and sickening hours", the game was developed in 17 months; as with Soul Reaver , several features were cut in order to meet

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - Misplaced Pages Continue

5088-531: A younger Kain in the altered timeline created at the end of Soul Reaver 2 , depicting his war against the leader of the Hylden. Eventually, Kain kills The Hylden Lord , and departs, to eventually establish his empire from Soul Reaver . Defiance covers earlier points in the same timeline, directly after Soul Reaver 2 . Kain and Raziel each discover evidence that the ancient vampires and Hylden had prophesied two champions—one representing each race—who would decide

5247-413: Is a two-dimensional action-adventure game . The player controls the protagonist , Kain , from a top-down perspective . Gameplay is divided between outdoor traversal and dungeon crawls , entailing hack and slash combat, puzzle-solving, and navigating hazards. To advance the story, Kain must locate and defeat the members of the Circle of Nine - who act as boss enemies - and return their tokens to

5406-562: Is able to perceive The Elder God for the first time. They skirmish briefly, and Kain wounds the Elder with the Reaver, but is unable to destroy him. As he looks out over Nosgoth, Kain contemplates Raziel's sacrifice, and the first bitter taste of hope it has given him. Each of the Legacy of Kain games concerns distinct themes and dilemmas, but their overarching philosophical topic involves fatalism and man's struggle for free will. Blood Omen

5565-653: Is crowdfunded through Kickstarter. The graphic novel serves as a prequel to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and flashes back to Raziel's human past as a Sarafan warrior and reveals how he came to be a vampire serving under Kain. Later Bit Bot Media announced that Klayton of Celldweller is involved in the production. By 2007, the Legacy of Kain series had collectively sold over 3.5 million copies, but its commercial success has varied with each game. Blood Omen surpassed Crystal Dynamics' expectations, with reported sales figures ranging from 320,082 units to 2 million copies, whereas Soul Reaver sold over 1.5 million copies, and

5724-455: Is inextricably tied to nine edifices known as the Pillars of Nosgoth. The Pillars are preserved by an oligarchy of sorcerers known as the Circle of Nine , each of whom serves as the guardian of an individual Pillar. When a guardian dies, a new one is born to take their place. In the prologue of Blood Omen , Ariel, the guardian of balance, is killed, and the resulting chain of events leads to

5883-420: Is murdered by assassins, and resurrected as a vampire by Mortanius , a necromancer . He is promised both vengeance and a cure to his vampirism if he can restore the nine Pillars of Nosgoth, edifices whose state dictates the vitality of the world; the nine guardians who symbiotically represent the Pillars were corrupted prior to his birth, and must be killed before the land can recover. During his quest, he meets

6042-472: Is so alien to what we created it is pointless to answer now. We understand that some people love the Soul Reaver series and we think that is great. However, it is not what we would ever have done". In a 2008 interview, he elaborated his sentiment that "if you look at Legacy of Kain where it is right now -- so diluted, so dysfunctional -- as a property itself, it's pretty much gone in a completely different direction than we would have ever taken it. [...] Even if

6201-416: Is the final insane Circle member, Ariel's unwitting successor as guardian of balance, culled in the brief interval between her death and the Pillars' corruption. The "cure" to vampirism which he sought is his own death . Players can choose whether to heal the world (an ending in which Kain sacrifices his life, ensuring the extinction of the vampires and restoration of Nosgoth) or damn the world, in which case

6360-405: Is the one who orchestrated the murder of Ariel (by possessing Mortanius) and the entire affair in Nosgoth, while Mortanius attempted to save Nosgoth and fight mentally against him before succumbing. Kain confronts The Dark Entity in final battle by slaying him. After the battle, Kain realizes that he himself is the final guardian, and that the cure to his curse entails his own destruction. Faced with

6519-462: Is the protagonist of Blood Omen . Conceived as an antihero whose nature reflects the story's moral ambiguity, Kain was partially modeled on the character of William Munny from the 1992 Clint Eastwood film, Unforgiven . Mortanius the Necromancer ( Tony Jay ), an ancient wizard, resurrects Kain in a Faustian bargain , and serves as his enigmatic benefactor and semi-father figure throughout

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - Misplaced Pages Continue

6678-585: The Legacy of Kain video game series. First introduced in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in 1996, he was created by Denis Dyack and Silicon Knights , and has appeared in all subsequent Legacy of Kain games under the direction of developer Crystal Dynamics . Between games, he serves as either the central playable character , or as an antagonist , but in all his depictions he has consistently been described as an antihero . Drawing inspiration from

6837-464: The Blood Omen ending in which he damns the world, Kain adopted the role of antagonist , with new character Raziel serving as the lead. Hennig justified this choice, believing that it would prove interesting to see what his decision had engendered after a few millennia. She emphasized, though, that she did not consider him a monster or mustache-twirling villain, remarking that "in many ways, he's

6996-739: The Legacy of Kain IP , requesting an injunction to prevent Crystal Dynamics from marketing the sequel. The two studios settled their legal dispute privately, and Crystal Dynamics and Eidos retained rights to the Legacy of Kain franchise, provided that Soul Reaver acknowledge Silicon Knights as the series' original creator. Paradise Lost was the original inspiration behind the concept, and sources such as Rabbinic lore, vampire mythology , Eastern myth and mysticism were also key influences. Visual cues were borrowed from films such as The City of Lost Children and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , and H. P. Lovecraft 's Cthulhu Mythos . Soul Reaver

7155-583: The Legacy of Kain franchise among others. That November, Embracer, after sending a survey in October to gauge fan interest in the IP, said during an earnings call that they received more than 100,000 responses and hear the fans "loud and clear". References to a Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver I & II Remastered were spotted at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024. Another title, Legacy of Kain Collection ,

7314-597: The National Entertainment Collectibles Association in partnership with Eidos. He was featured extensively in marketing for the Legacy of Kain series, including a $ 1 million advertising campaign for Soul Reaver . Beyond the games, he also appeared in Top Cow 's promotional comics for Soul Reaver and Defiance , and was included alongside Raziel as a playable character in downloadable content for 2010's Lara Croft and

7473-477: The PlayStation 4 — Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun —until this project's cancellation in 2012. Music from both Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 was released on a promotional soundtrack in 2001. For Soul Reaver , Amy Hennig selected Kurt Harland of synthpop band Information Society to compose the score. According to Harland, a colleague introduced the Soul Reaver team to his work through "Ozar Midrashim",

7632-417: The Soul Reaver 2 incarnation of Kain in each of the game's chapters, under the premise that only one of the two will survive—emphasis was placed on cinematic presentation. The story concludes on a hopeful note, but without full resolution; during production, Hennig departed Crystal Dynamics to work for Naughty Dog , and Defiance did not meet Eidos' sales expectations. Following its release, Eidos placed

7791-524: The Soul Reaver 2 team to reconcile the storyline in the next game. Defiance represented "a whole new approach" to the franchise, with more focus on drama, an overhauled combat system, and scripted, cinematic camera angles. In 2008, it emerged that a sixth game, Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy , had briefly been in development at Ritual Entertainment in 2004 before being canceled. Later, in 2013, Square Enix confirmed allegations that Climax Studios had worked on another new Legacy of Kain title, for

7950-399: The fictional land of Nosgoth—a gothic fantasy setting —and revolves around Kain's quest to defy his fate and restore balance to the world. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver introduced another antihero protagonist , Raziel ; the adventures of both characters culminate in Legacy of Kain: Defiance . Themes of destiny , free will , morality, redemption and the hero's journey recur in

8109-443: The " Blood Omen series" - but mentioned that it was "extremely unlikely" that Silicon Knights would work with Crystal Dynamics again. Subsequently, the relationship between both parties dissolved, and Crystal Dynamics - who had withdrawn from software publishing to focus exclusively on game development - announced their own follow-up in the form of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver . In 1997, GameSpot divulged that Silicon Knights had filed

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8268-427: The 25th anniversary of 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver . The game follows a development philosophy similar to that of Aspyr's Tomb Raider I-III Remastered , and builds upon the games' original source code and engine, provided to the team by Crystal Dynamics. The Legacy of Kain games fall into the action-adventure genre, utilizing a balance of action, puzzle-solving and exploration. Starting from Soul Reaver ,

8427-465: The Circle and the Pillars and establish its reign in Nosgoth. During a journey, the human nobleman Kain is ambushed and killed by a band of assassins. Mortanius offers him the chance to exact revenge; Kain assents, heedless of the cost, and awakes as a vampire. Once he kills his attackers, Mortanius tells him that, while they were the instruments of his death, they were not the ultimate cause. In search of

8586-510: The Circle following his defeat against Vorador—feature as the villains in the game. Other major characters include King Ottmar (Ross), the ruler of Willendorf; The Nemesis (Jay), a once-benign monarch known as William the Just, turned despot and tyrant; and The Dark Entity (Jay), an otherworldly being capable of demonic possession who is the overall mastermind behind events, and a primary antagonist and final boss of Blood Omen , seeking to topple

8745-721: The Druid and DeJoule the Energist . Later, after he slays Azimuth the Planer and recovers a time-streaming device , Ariel informs Kain that he must instead prioritize the war against The Nemesis, whose armies threaten to conquer Willendorf. Kain convinces King Ottmar to rally his troops against the Legions in a final stand, but the battle proves disastrous. Ottmar perishes, the Willendorf forces are overwhelmed, and Kain, cornered, uses

8904-493: The Earth served as the inspiration behind the Pillars of Nosgoth. The Soul Reaver sword, which was originally conceived as a weapon for Too Human , was transferred to Blood Omen' s fictional universe , and would become a mainstay weapon in subsequent games in the Legacy of Kain series. The developers undertook a talent search for the game's voice cast, listening to dozens of tapes submitted by Hollywood voice actors. Before

9063-627: The Earth . Crystal Dynamics agreed to publish the game in 1993, and although there was indecision as to whether it should be produced for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer or the Sega Saturn , both parties settled on the PlayStation once Sony announced its impending launch. The game took over three years to develop, undergoing a substantial expansion mid-process which required Silicon Knights to increase its workforce—Crystal Dynamics sent several staff to assist them, including Amy Hennig and Seth Carus. Following " Herculean efforts", Blood Omen

9222-466: The Guardian of Light . He is set to appear in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise , a graphic novel prequel to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver . Opinion on Kain's character has been largely positive in critical reviews of the Legacy of Kain games. Praise has frequently been directed towards Simon Templeman's voice acting, with IGN and Game Revolution citing Kain's soliloquies as "both gruesome and entertaining", "the best part [of

9381-499: The Nemesis, and instructs him to seek out Vorador, Malek's old adversary. When the two meet, Vorador welcomes Kain, and offers his assistance, but urges the fledgling to embrace vampirism and refrain from interfering in the affairs of mankind. Haunted by the elder vampire, who serves as an example of what he will become if he fails to find a cure, Kain persists, and, in a decisive showdown, Vorador vanquishes Malek while Kain kills Bane

9540-530: The Pillars collapse, leaving Nosgoth an irredeemable wasteland, with Kain fully embracing his curse and living on as the most powerful entity in the land. The latter choice is treated as the canon ending by the sequel, Soul Reaver . Blood Omen originated as The Pillars of Nosgoth , a game proposal drafted circa 1993 by Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack and art director and writer Ken McCulloch. In 1993, while Silicon Knights completed work on Dark Legions , Dyack met Crystal Dynamics producer Lyle Hall at

9699-400: The Pillars corrupt. To restore balance to Nosgoth, Kain must overcome the Legions and kill the insane sorcerers; as each Circle member is purged and their token returned, their respective Pillar is cleansed, and when he heals all nine Pillars, replacement guardians can be born. Kain (voiced by Simon Templeman ), an ambitious, cynical young nobleman murdered and reluctantly raised as a vampire,

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9858-530: The Pillars of Nosgoth. Humans, animals, and a variety of fantasy creatures inhabit the game world, whom the player can typically elect to kill outright, or alternatively wound in order to feed on their blood. As a vampire , Kain is required to consume the red blood of living creatures to replenish his health meter, which gradually drains over time, and diminishes more quickly if he sustains damage. When he casts spells or shapeshifts , he expends magic energy —this recovers in time, and can be replenished by drinking

10017-515: The Pillars. Over the centuries, the Hylden strained against the barriers of their prison, seeking to topple the Pillars. Kain's spiritual corruption hinders him from realizing his role as the balance guardian—he seeks to somehow resolve the dilemma he faced at the end of Blood Omen by both restoring the Pillars and returning them to vampire rule. Raziel's execution was necessitated—his unique, cyclic destiny affords him free will, enabling Kain to create paradoxes and defy history. Blood Omen 2 pursues

10176-505: The PlayStation 2 version of Defiance received a "generally favorable" score of 75/100 while the Xbox and Microsoft Windows versions received "mixed or average" scores of 74/100 and 70/100. Soul Reaver was also Amy Hennig's self-proclaimed greatest achievement. Later games in the series were criticized for repetitive gameplay elements and review scores of subsequent titles trended downward. In an October 2015 interview, Crystal Dynamics' senior designer, Michael Brinker, replied that there

10335-459: The Reaver, but it shatters against him, and the captive spirit formerly within the blade binds itself to Raziel's arm. Raziel murders his lieutenant brethren, and discovers that Kain resurrected them all from the corpses of the Sarafan , an ancient vampire-hunting spiritual brotherhood. Infuriated at this revelation, he pursues Kain to Moebius's long-abandoned time machine, and Kain lures him into

10494-656: The Saturn version was completed but that they could not find a publisher willing to release it. The Silicon Knights website insisted that this "was simply not true" and that the Saturn version was never finished. Blood Omen was named the best game showcased at the inaugural E3 fair by DieHard GameFan in 1995. A 2011 court filing revealed that it sold at least 320,082 units historically; Silicon Knights claimed it had sold 2 million copies in its lifetime, but did not substantiate this figure. Crystal Dynamics viewed its commercial performance as "immensely successful", and remarkable for

10653-606: The Time Streamer, a member of the Circle—leads the genocidal crusade, and, having masterminded Kain's actions from the outset, consummates his trap by executing Vorador. Kain kills Moebius, but is left the last of his kind. At the Pillars, he witnesses Mortanius arguing with Anarcrothe the Alchemist , who reveals that Mortanius is a guardian, and culpable for both Ariel and Kain's deaths. Seduced by The Dark Entity, Mortanius

10812-400: The action role-playing genre and bring artistic cinema to video game consoles . Reviewers praised its scope and storytelling, but criticized its lengthy loading times. After its release, a dispute arose concerning ownership of its intellectual property rights, after which Crystal Dynamics retained the rights of the series and developed a sequel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver . Blood Omen

10971-523: The aged, elder Kain from Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 , now controllable alongside Raziel. The prospect of making this incarnation of Kain playable left the development team "very excited", and was agreed upon very early in pre-production. Recognizing that he is "the most important character in the series", designer Kyle Mannerberg named several parallels and influences concerning his development up to that point, citing Neo and John Murdoch (the protagonists of The Matrix and Dark City respectively),

11130-456: The altered timeline triggered by the changes to Raziel's destiny at the end of Soul Reaver 2 . Legacy of Kain: Defiance takes place in the same altered timeline, periodically switching between the characters of the elder Kain and Raziel from Soul Reaver 2 , with both acting as playable protagonists. Over the course of the game, Moebius manipulates Kain into believing he is a champion prophesied to fight against and destroy Raziel, culminating in

11289-500: The ancient vampire Vorador , who influences him to forsake his former humanity and accept his vampirism, and discovers the Soul Reaver, a legendary soul -devouring sword. Using the Reaver, he tries to alter the course of Nosgoth's history to prevent the Nemesis — a tyrant king — from coming to power. Tricked by Moebius , the guardian of time, Kain succeeds in destroying the Nemesis, but the temporal paradox this triggers results in

11448-573: The archetypal Fisher King of Arthurian legend , the story of Oedipus , and Gnostic myth as inspirations (with both latter sources being reaffirmed as strong influences by Hennig in a later interview ). The spells he obtains over the course of his levels were intended to pay homage to the original Blood Omen . Kain's appearance undergoes "pretty dramatic changes" throughout the games as he ages, but core personality attributes cited by Defiance' s developers include his intelligence and cynicism, arrogance and regality, and his defiant nature. In

11607-492: The backstory of the series. Initially, alongside the humans, two other major races existed in Nosgoth's distant past: the ancient vampires and the Hylden . The Vampires exalted the spiritual and the wheel of fate , whereas the Hylden were technologically inclined beings. Though the vampires worshiped The Elder God, the Hylden rejected his doctrine, and the vampires declared war in response to this blasphemy. Using incredible magic,

11766-608: The blue blood of ghostly enemies. Conversely, undead opponents relinquish harmful black blood, and demons and mutants yield green blood which poisons Kain, causing his health to deplete at a swifter rate. Over the course of the main quest, Kain acquires many items and abilities, which facilitate increasingly nonlinear exploration . As he collects blood vials and rune pyramids, Kain's maximum blood and energy capacity rises. By drinking from blood fountains, he receives strength upgrades, faster magic regeneration, and immunity to weather effects. Weapons include iron and fire-elemental swords,

11925-473: The case was resolved, control of the Legacy of Kain trademark belonged to Crystal Dynamics, and Kain II was either canceled or superseded when Shifter became Soul Reaver . Though Crystal Dynamics staff who worked on Soul Reaver declined to comment on the discovery, Dyack had previously affirmed that "[they] tried to take it over". He said that "many people ask us if we like the direction they have gone in but it

12084-470: The catalyst of Kain's future empire and his own history. In a final epiphany, he discovers that he is the ravenous spirit destined to become imprisoned in the Reaver—that the cycle of his destiny will never end. At the last minute, Kain saves Raziel from this fate and takes the empty Reaver, but the paradox that this causes changes history for the worse. Soul Reaver 2 , Blood Omen 2 and Defiance expand

12243-450: The character superlative, despite initial apprehensions that the actors they had hired might not be able to convey the game's complicated dialogue. After a legal dispute with Silicon Knights, Blood Omen publisher Crystal Dynamics obtained the rights to the Legacy of Kain intellectual property , with Amy Hennig directing Kain's characterization for the sequel, 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver . In this game, which built upon

12402-481: The character, with IGN ' s Perry commenting that his Soul Reaver 2 dialogue was haughty and "overwritten", and Ivan Sulic considering his Blood Omen 2 incarnation "nothing more than an arrogant jerk with little to latch on to and care about" while expressing preference for Raziel. Also relating to Blood Omen 2 , IGN ' s Aaron Boulding regarded his pompous nature as his "one personality trait", and considered it comedic, while Matt Casamassina felt Kain

12561-412: The characters Kain and Raziel were created by Blue Box Interactive and the National Entertainment Collectibles Association in partnership with Eidos. A single-issue promotional comic by Top Cow Productions was released in October 1999 to promote the release of Soul Reaver , starring the vampire Raziel and serving as a prequel to the game's events. Top Cow collaborated with Crystal Dynamics to produce

12720-484: The collapse of the Pillars. The resulting breach enables The Hylden Lord to possess Janos (facilitating his invasion in Blood Omen 2 ), and Raziel is defeated in the ensuing battle, trapped by The Elder God. He concludes that the Elder, sustained by the souls of Nosgoth, is the ultimate cause of all the conflict and strife throughout history, and realizes that he, himself, was both the Vampiric and Hylden champions; Kain

12879-407: The controls, but referenced the "intense story", atmosphere, and longevity of playtime as positives. Next Generation made a favorable comparison to the 1985 hack and slash game Gauntlet , remarking on Blood Omen' s unique design elements, and the high production values behind its "huge and extremely gory" game world. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly were all enthusiastic about

13038-491: The corruption he inherited at birth as a Pillar guardian. Armed with the ancient sword once again, Kain is able to see and battle The Elder God for the first time, but is unable to destroy him. The story ends as he looks out at the Nosgoth landscape; though uncertain that he can ever restore the world, he contemplates Raziel's sacrifice and the "first bitter taste" of hope it has given him. Several action figures and figurines of Kain have been created by Blue Box Interactive and

13197-518: The developer of Blood Omen in their sequel. Crystal Dynamics was acquired by Eidos Interactive , who published Soul Reaver in 1999 to critical acclaim and commercial success. Later, it publicly emerged that Soul Reaver had never been a Silicon Knights concept. It originated as Shifter - an unrelated project inspired by Biblical mythology , devised by Crystal Dynamics' Amy Hennig and Seth Carus (both of whom had worked as designers on Blood Omen ) - whose team, initially reluctantly, reworked it into

13356-440: The developer's good, and I think Crystal Dynamics is not a bad developer, you get this dilution of the content, because the original author is gone". In January 2020, Denis Dyack announced a spiritual successor to Legacy of Kain called Deadhaus Sonata , which is a free-to-play cooperative action role-playing video game. Kain (Legacy of Kain) Kain is a character and the main protagonist and title character of

13515-482: The dialogue of the series to plays by William Shakespeare . Mikel Reparaz of GamesRadar said that "known for nuanced storytelling, unconventional protagonists, amazing boss fights and rich Shakespearean baritones, the series raised the bar for writing and acting in games". GameSpy 's Chuck Osborn complimented the games' storyline as "deep", but described their mythology as convoluted. Individually, each title has generally been received well by critics. Metacritic ,

13674-424: The direction of Denis Dyack , with assistance from publisher Crystal Dynamics , and was released in 1996 on the PlayStation . In 1997, it was ported to Microsoft Windows . Dyack conceived the " vampire project" under the title The Pillars of Nosgoth in 1993, and Crystal Dynamics producer Lyle Hall chose this fantasy concept over two other proposals (one of which was Too Human ). Pursued in hopes of bringing

13833-400: The drunken commoners in the front rows he would insert dirty jokes to keep them entertained but for the aristocracy in the balconies he would write very cerebral metaphors". According to Silicon Knights, the graphic violence and vampirism in Blood Omen served as their "dirty jokes", supplemented by a complex story. As the story progresses, Kain evolves from a directionless young nobleman, to

13992-435: The end of Blood Omen , hoping to both restore Nosgoth and return the Pillars to vampire control. Having viewed the timestream , he learned that history is predestined , and seeks to change his fate by triggering more temporal paradoxes, an objective which demanded Raziel's temporary destruction. It is revealed that Raziel is destined to be consumed by the Soul Reaver, thus becoming the soul-devouring entity trapped within

14151-578: The events of the story, the Circle formed and sponsored the Sarafan , an order of monastic warriors devoted to eradicating the vampire race, and in the game's prologue, the vampire Vorador reacts vengefully by killing six of the guardians and defeating Malek , the Sarafan leader. Though the Sarafan disband, vampires continue to be persecuted. In the intervening years, new guardians have been summoned, Nosgoth's surviving vampires have retreated into hiding, and humanity has separated into two opposing factions:

14310-517: The fate determined for him before his birth. Beyond his role in the series, Kain has also featured in tie-in comics, and in Crystal Dynamics' Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light . In all of his voiced appearances, he has been played by actor Simon Templeman . He has been favorably received by critics and fans, with praise centering around his memorable personality, nuanced characterization and moral greyness; his transition from protagonist in Blood Omen to antagonist in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

14469-460: The fate of Nosgoth. Whereas Raziel is bent on resurrecting Janos to escape his destiny, Kain strives to stop him, and the two are drawn into battle. Raziel learns from Mortanius that Kain was raised using Janos' heart, and rips this from Kain's chest in their last battle, ostensibly killing his former master. Though disillusioned, Raziel resurrects Janos, who guides him to a final trial. Though he succeeds, receiving spiritual powers, Raziel witnesses

14628-463: The film Unforgiven , the visceral qualities of the Necroscope novels, and the intricate plot of The Wheel of Time book series. Although antiheroes were previously uncommon in action-adventure games , Silicon Knights rejected concerns that the character of Kain was too unconventional and the story too ambitious. The developers endorsed the narrative motif , "what is evil? Perhaps it is merely

14787-431: The finished product was released in 2002, six months after Soul Reaver 2 , for the PlayStation 2, Xbox , Microsoft Windows and GameCube . It was not produced with the involvement of the Soul Reaver crew, instead being created by a new team at Crystal Dynamics under the direction of Glen Schofield . A key point of focus for the developers was the main character, Kain; Crystal Dynamics had "a huge investment in Kain as

14946-460: The forms of a bat, allowing for immediate travel to checkpoints ; a wolf, with enhanced speed and the capacity to jump; a cloud of mist, which enables him to pass through gates and cross water; or a human, with which he can covertly interact with, or bypass, certain non-player characters . There are 100 secrets present in the game, logged if the player uncovers hidden areas, switches, and dungeons; these encompass spirit forges, at which Kain may donate

15105-495: The game in their synopsis, saying it offered "the best plot of any PlayStation game to date". They acknowledged its "moody" graphics and sound design, describing its art as "beautifully rendered", and its music as "genius". GameSpot's Greg Kasavin praised Kain as "the perfect antihero", and his story as "unique, involving, and epic in proportion", but said "the game itself doesn't quite keep up", hindered by sluggish controls and technological limitations. Despite deeming its linearity

15264-522: The game is better played with a joypad than with a keyboard or joystick. Electronic Gaming Monthly named Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain Role-Playing Game of the Year, explaining that, "This was a close race with Suikoden , but the dark and violent nature of Kain won. ... The excellent voice work, as well as the foreboding and violent cinemas, produced the perfect mood." By the time Blood Omen

15423-463: The game itself, they praised Kain's character nevertheless; GameSpot ' s Greg Kasavin branded him "a very intriguing protagonist" and "as memorable of a main character as they come", while IGN ' s Douglass C. Perry felt he was "incredibly likeable", and "in a very true sense [...] a great videogame character". GameZone ' s Michael Knutson opined that he was a "wicked cool character", and Game Revolution ' s Johnny Liu named him

15582-519: The game's voice-over was recorded, Dyack expressed concern that the actors cast would be unable to convey McCulloch's complex dialogue. He later said, however, that their performances "blew him away", commenting that "after five minutes with Simon Templeman [...] we knew that there was no problem". Blood Omen' s extended 3.5-year development period obliged Silicon Knights to double staff levels, and Crystal Dynamics flew employees to Canada to assist in their design work for over six months—this delegation

15741-430: The game's audio]" and "one of the best stints of voice acting ever recorded" respectively in their assessments of his debut in the original Blood Omen . Magazines have also described him as one of the best video game villains. GamesRadar+ praised Kain's role as an antagonist, but noted that he "lives in more of a grey area than most of the villains". For Blood Omen 2 , although critics expressed disappointment with

15900-534: The game's concept, story, and content. "After Herculean efforts", having received promotion at the 1995 and 1996 E3 trade fairs , Blood Omen was released for the PlayStation in November 1996. Activision and Crystal Dynamics published a Microsoft Windows port , developed by Semi Logic Entertainments, in 1997. Work on a Saturn version was also commenced by Silicon Knights after the initial release. Employees at Crystal Dynamics, including Steve Groll, stated that

16059-437: The game, citing its morbid tone, epic length, and strong plot. GamePro remarked that "The hauntingly compelling storyline triumphs over somewhat plodding action." The reviewer elaborated that the scrolling is jerky and unpredictable, at times forcing the player to engage in blind dueling along the edge of the screen. However, he highly praised the visual impact of both the cinematics and the backgrounds. 1UP.com 's staff lauded

16218-539: The game. The reclusive and decadent vampire Vorador ( Paul Lukather ) acts as a mentor and father figure to Kain, encouraging him to accept vampirism, whereas the specter of the deceased balance guardian, Ariel ( Anna Gunn ), directs Kain in his quest to restore the land. The corrupt guardians—such as Moebius the Time Streamer ( Richard Doyle ), a devious manipulator of history, and Malek the Paladin ( Neil Ross ), now an animated suit of armor eternally condemned to protect

16377-432: The guardian of time, he defies the advice of Vorador (a senior vampire), and travels back in time. Using the Soul Reaver, he prevents a tyrant king from coming to power, but the temporal paradox which this causes results in a new timeline where Nosgoth's humans have hunted the vampires to extinction. Kain discovers that Mortanius — the guardian of death —orchestrated his murder to purge the Circle and kills all but one of

16536-408: The key to his destiny. Raziel assists Kain in triggering another paradox which changes Kain's fate, prolonging his life, and travels Nosgoth's history. Beginning to unearth the secrets of his past, he briefly meets with Janos in the era of the Sarafan, but realizes that his own, human former self murdered the ancient vampire. He slaughters the Sarafan lieutenants, and murders his former self, becoming

16695-467: The kingdom of Willendorf, inspired by Arthurian legend , and the Legions of the Nemesis, an all-conquering army determined to bring an end to civilization. When the guardian of balance, Ariel , dies at the hands of a mysterious, malevolent entity , her lover Nupraptor the Mentalist turns his powers against his fellow Circle members, tainting the incumbent guardians with irrevocable madness and leaving

16854-404: The land of Nosgoth, a fantasy setting dominated by humans and vampires . The health of the world is inextricably connected to the Pillars of Nosgoth—nine supernatural edifices, each one protected and represented by a human guardian. These sorcerers collectively comprise the Circle of Nine, and if a member dies, a new guardian is called to take their place by the Pillars. Hundreds of years prior to

17013-508: The loading pauses that were prevalent in PlayStation-era games. It was a commercial and critical success, selling 1.5 million units worldwide, but the strong reactions of players to its cliffhanger ending impelled the developers to allay concerns that it was released unfinished. The game elaborates on one of the two endings to Blood Omen , taking place in Nosgoth's dark future where Kain rules an empire of vampires, and introduces

17172-447: The main antagonist and a recurring boss character , narratively following him centuries after his decision. Since the first game, Kain has revived the vampire race, and has become the despotic ruler of the land. When the game's protagonist, his lieutenant Raziel, surpasses Kain, Raziel is executed for his transgression. Resurrected by The Elder God , Raziel returns to destroy his former brethren and Kain, and eventually confronts Kain at

17331-440: The morally ambiguous character of William Munny from Clint Eastwood 's 1992 film Unforgiven , Silicon Knights conceived Kain as a nobleman murdered and revived as a vampire to take revenge on his assassins. He gradually embraces his new existence, and learns of his birthright to maintain balance in Nosgoth (the fictional setting of the series). Crystal Dynamics later portrayed Kain as an Oedipus -like figure, seeking to thwart

17490-488: The mysteries surrounding Nosgoth's distant past and his own destiny. Meanwhile, Kain attempts to subvert fate and restore the world by manipulating history. While Soul Reaver was still in development, Crystal Dynamics initiated another project - a successor to Blood Omen - and when the Soul Reaver team had started work on their follow-up in late 1999, two Legacy of Kain games were in simultaneous development. Blood Omen 2 ' s "creative seeds were sown" in 1999, and

17649-473: The nature of free will and rationalizes his actions. Narrowly escaping, Kain activates the Chronoplast and travels into the past, with Raziel pursuing him as the game ends. In Soul Reaver 2 , Kain acts as a non-player character encountered by Raziel in several cutscenes. As the game's plot progresses, his agenda and motives become clearer. He seeks a third option to the dilemma prescribed for him at

17808-449: The obligation of self-sacrifice — thereby restoring the world, but ensuring the annihilation of the vampire race or the alternative of destroying the Pillars to rule over the world in its miasmatic state. Although both options are available to the player, the canon established in the sequels proves that Kain opts for the latter choice, embracing vampirism as a blessing as the Pillars collapse. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver features Kain as

17967-415: The odds are stacked against them". During and after the completion of Dark Legions , Silicon Knights spent several months working on the design of Blood Omen without a particular platform in mind. Major inspirations behind the project included The Wheel of Time , Necroscope and Shakespeare's plays , while the concept of the Pillars of Nosgoth was derived from cover art for The Pillars of

18126-407: The past. In Soul Reaver 2 , Raziel conspires with Moebius to destroy Kain, but—after realizing that Kain wishes to restore the Pillars, and learning that Moebius secretly serves The Elder God —his lust for vengeance is tempered by a higher quest for enlightenment and freedom from the ensnarement of predestination. On advice from Vorador, he seeks Janos Audron, an infamous, long-dead vampire who holds

18285-500: The playable protagonist. The development staff chose to focus on his rise to power as a younger vampire , combining aspects of his Blood Omen and Soul Reaver incarnations. He was marketed as a more powerful and ruthless character than traditional video game heroes, with lead designer Mike Ellis inviting comparison to Final Fantasy VI ' s Kefka Palazzo and Revolver Ocelot of the Metal Gear series . Design issues, raised by

18444-618: The player character commands. Blood Omen introduces Nosgoth, a fictional land designed with novel-like complexity, and gives the player control of Kain , a newly resurrected vampire seeking revenge against his murderers and a cure for his vampiric curse. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was released in 1999 for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, and was ported to the Dreamcast in 2000. It originated as an independent concept inspired by Biblical themes called Shifter , devised by Crystal Dynamics' Amy Hennig and Seth Carus, but, at

18603-457: The player to kill and feed from enemies. Blood Omen 2 and Defiance include experience point systems, and in the Soul Reaver games and Defiance , the player must shift between the material and spectral planes of existence to progress – both realms have unique physical laws , geometry and enemies. The Soul Reaver sword, a recurring ultimate weapon and soul-devouring blade inhabited by a ravenous entity, appears in all five titles. Dialogue in

18762-449: The proceedings, Silicon Knights stated that they had ceded the Blood Omen intellectual property to Crystal Dynamics under "financial duress". Among other assertions, they claimed that Crystal Dynamics had breached an agreement in late 1996 by selling certain publishing rights to the game—and any potential sequels—to Activision for $ 2,000,000. Silicon Knights alleged that Crystal Dynamics had failed to inform them of their intention to leave

18921-496: The publishing business, and had misrepresented themselves to Activision as Blood Omen' s developer. The documents revealed that Activision commissioned Crystal Dynamics to develop a project codenamed " Kain II ", but—dissatisfied with its quality—contracted Silicon Knights to create a competing proposal. Supposedly, Crystal Dynamics then disparaged Silicon Knights to Activision, while directly, and indirectly, approaching some of its staff to join them in working on their prototype. When

19080-451: The release deadline. Blood Omen 2 was concurrently developed by an independent Crystal Dynamics team with creative autonomy, extrapolating from the 19th century steampunk aesthetic of Soul Reaver to settle on a Victorian feel. Its crew was wary of relying too strongly on the original Blood Omen as an influence, and expanded on the franchise's backstory in hopes of starting a new series, but inconsistencies raised by its plot left

19239-405: The remaining guardians. Kain realizes that he himself is the final corrupt guardian, born as Ariel's successor, and is left to decide between sacrificing himself to restore the world (but destroying the vampire race), or ruling Nosgoth in its damnation. Soul Reaver establishes that Kain, disgusted by the humans' machinations, chose the latter option and embraced vampirism as a blessing. He raised

19398-637: The request of company executives, was integrated into the Legacy of Kain universe in pre-production. Hennig, the game's director, likened the technological advance from Blood Omen to Soul Reaver to the evolution of The Legend of Zelda series from the Super Nintendo to the Nintendo 64 —bringing the franchise into 3D while maintaining a similar style. Soul Reaver was hailed as a technical achievement for its plane -shifting gameplay mechanics and its data-streaming game engine, which eliminated

19557-480: The right thing within their belief system. Kain is basically screwed by his own character flaws - which is more interesting than the idealized hero figure. — Amy Hennig , Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine , September 2002 Kain's character was originally conceived circa 1993 by Silicon Knights ' president, Denis Dyack , as the protagonist of The Pillars of Nosgoth , an initial video game concept for what would become 1996's Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain . He

19716-466: The ruins of the Pillars. Kain attacks Raziel with the Soul Reaver, but the blade shatters when it strikes him, and Kain escapes, strangely satisfied. Raziel discovers, to his horror, that Kain created him and his other lieutenants from the corpses of the Sarafan , an ancient order of vampire hunters . He fights Kain a second time in Moebius's abandoned time machine, the Chronoplast, where Kain explains

19875-689: The series also features platforming elements from a 3D, third-person perspective . Whereas Blood Omen and Soul Reaver employ an open world system in the style of The Legend of Zelda or Super Mario 64 , the latter three games are divided into chapters, and are more linear in progression. As the player solves pivotal puzzles or defeats bosses, they receive new weapons and abilities, such as telekinesis , shapeshifting , mind control and magical spells . The main character's health constantly declines in each game—Kain must consume blood to sustain his strength, whereas Raziel requires souls —prompting combat, which focuses on hack and slash techniques, and allows

20034-625: The series as "a strangely attractive, yet equally obscure one that [had him] torn between loving and hating it". GameSpot 's Greg Kasavin was critical of Blood Omen 2 , but praised the Soul Reaver games as "great" for their "innovation and surprising drama", voice acting and technical feats. Matt Clemens of Computer and Video Games said that the series had engaging narrative, impressive cinematic sequences and fluid combat, calling Soul Reaver an "absolute classic". The Houston Press described Legacy of Kain' s voice cast as "the greatest unrecognized brilliance in video game acting", and compared

20193-943: The series is florid and Elizabethan in style, inspired by period pieces such as Becket , The Lion in Winter and A Man for All Seasons , and each game was scripted in the manner of a stage play , with monologues , asides and cutscenes interspersing gameplay. During Blood Omen ' s production, Silicon Knights hired classically trained actors to deliver voice talent, a precedent which Crystal Dynamics continued in successive games. Simon Templeman and Michael Bell voice protagonists Kain and Raziel respectively. Supporting cast members include Paul Lukather as Vorador , Anna Gunn as Ariel , Richard Doyle as Moebius , and René Auberjonois as Janos Audron . Tony Jay played Mortanius in Blood Omen , and returned as The Elder God in subsequent games; in Defiance , Mortanius

20352-455: The series on hold. Former Eidos North America CEO Bill Gardner and Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone expressed interest in reviving the franchise, but Crystal Dynamics stated that they were not working on a continuation. Nosgoth , a multiplayer game, was formally announced by Square Enix London Studios community manager George Kelion to be in development in June 2013, in response to

20511-554: The series to the Embracer Group , who have expressed interest in developing sequels, remakes and remasters of Legacy of Kain . Remastered versions of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 will be released for the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 10, 2024. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was created by Silicon Knights under

20670-435: The series' fictional universe, he is described as the guardian of balance, a being responsible for preserving the health and integrity of Nosgoth (the games' setting), but left incapable of realizing this duty due to spiritual corruption that he inherited at birth. The character's transformation into a vampire , and the visceral nature this trait lends the series, was derived from William Shakespeare 's classical models: "for

20829-504: The series, was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. First conceptualized as Soul Reaver 3 , it represented a combined effort from the Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 teams to consolidate and re-balance the storytelling, puzzle-solving and combat aspects of its predecessors, fusing elements from the two sub-series into one game. They chose a new title under the Legacy of Kain banner to reflect this new focus. The player alternates between control of Raziel and

20988-411: The shift in character role was rare in the medium and made him "deep." Sarafan (Legacy of Kain) Legacy of Kain is a series of dark fantasy action-adventure video games primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics and formerly published by Eidos Interactive . The first title, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain , was created by Silicon Knights in association with Crystal Dynamics, but, after

21147-527: The slowdown as a consequence of the PlayStation's random-access memory constraints on video data. Baldric noted in his review that the Windows port alleviated, but did not fully amend, the issue. Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, and held it to be inferior to the PlayStation version, noting that the hi-res mode runs at a choppy frame rate on all but the most high-end PC hardware and arguing that

21306-407: The spiritual corruption of the Pillars and their guardians. Thirty years later, Kain, a young nobleman, is murdered by brigands, and resurrected as a vampire by a necromancer , Mortanius. Directed by Mortanius and the specter of Ariel, he tracks down and kills the guardians in hopes of attaining revenge and a cure to his vampirism, but slowly begins to embrace his new powers. While hunting Moebius,

21465-401: The story. The developers also attempted to subvert the monomyth and other tropes within literature and gaming. Silicon Knights conceptualized Kain, a vampire antihero inspired by Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , as an atypical "gray" protagonist, neither good nor evil, despite being advised in 1993 that such a character would not appeal to gamers. Similarly, Hennig developed Raziel as

21624-405: The storyline, which was inspired by ancient literature , horror fiction , Islamic art and culture, Shakespeare's plays , Jewish mysticism and gnosticism . The Legacy of Kain games have enjoyed critical success, particularly receiving praise for high-quality voice acting, narrative, and visuals, and, as a whole, had sold over 3.5 million copies by 2007. In 2022, Square Enix sold the rights of

21783-460: The time-streaming device to escape. He emerges 50 years in the past, and kills the younger version of The Nemesis from this era—the beloved King William the Just—to trigger a temporal paradox which expunges the Legions from the timestream . However, when Kain returns to the present day, he discovers that William's murder has sparked a renewed vampire purge. The Oracle of Nosgoth—revealed to be Moebius

21942-439: The time. Review aggregator site GameRankings assigned the PlayStation version of the game an average rating of 83%. While critics awarded it high praise for its premise, audio, and scope, they commonly cited shortcomings in its graphics and technical aspects. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot appreciated its sound design and challenging gameplay, though he disapproved of its overhead perspective. IGN 's staff discussed problems with

22101-456: The truth, and a cure to his vampiric curse, Kain travels to the Pillars of Nosgoth. There, Ariel explains that he has to destroy the Circle of Nine before he can realize peace. Kain begins by tracking down and killing Nupraptor, and then confronts Malek, but their duel ends in a stalemate. To defeat Malek, Kain solicits the advice of the Oracle of Nosgoth. The Oracle forewarns him of the Legions of

22260-404: The vampires erected the Pillars, banishing the Hylden into another dimension, and forged the Reaver as a safeguard. The Hylden retaliated by afflicting the vampires with a blood curse, which transformed them into immortal, sterile predators of humankind. Divorced from the wheel of fate and their god, many vampires turned to suicide, and as their race died out, the humans of Nosgoth seized control of

22419-452: The wealth of abilities and equipment he accumulated in Blood Omen , prompted the team to add to his backstory and convincingly deprive him of these powers. Producer Sam Newman described him as "a very unique character" who "doesn't fit to the generic character molds you find in many other games, books and movies [...] not good, he's not necessarily evil - Kain does as Kain believes". Legacy of Kain: Defiance , released in 2003, returned to

22578-420: The weapon. With Raziel's help, Kain is able to defy history and prevent his own pre-ordained death, and, in return, he saves Raziel from being consumed by the Reaver at the story's climax. However, this alteration putatively changes history for the worse, leading into the events of Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance . Blood Omen 2 pursues a younger Kain during his early conquests of Nosgoth, in

22737-465: Was "a 50/50 chance" of a sixth Legacy of Kain single player game releasing during the eighth generation of video game consoles . The IP was also mentioned under Square Enix Collective . In May 2022, Embracer Group acquired the Legacy of Kain intellectual property alongside other assets of Square Enix Europe , including the development studio Crystal Dynamics for $ 300 million. Embracer Group expressed interest in sequels, remakes and remasters of

22896-522: Was "cool", but decried his visual design as "flamboyant to the point of being comical". Alex Lucard of DieHard GameFan described Kain as an interesting character and one of gaming's most memorable vampires, discussing how his personality shifted between a portrayal as a "petty jealous monster" and a "wise but arrogant ruler." Alex felt this was not contradictory, as it felt like what a creature as old as Kain would experience, calling this aspect of his character ""well developed and tragic." He also found that

23055-663: Was an excellent entry in the role-playing genre. The game's cinematics and voice direction were considered exceptional by many publications, particularly relative to other titles of the day. 1UP.com's writers referred to the cast as "actual talent" comparative to other actors in the medium. Some reviewers, though, described the PlayStation iteration's loading times as particularly exorbitant and unsatisfactory. Next Generation and GamePro both decried these as "noticeable and at times intrusive", while IGN rebuked them as "agonizing", but said that they are common to disc-based games, and reasonably unobtrusive in Blood Omen . Dyack rationalized

23214-458: Was highly anticipated despite several delays, and was promoted on the covers of over ten game industry magazines, but schedule pressures forced Crystal Dynamics to cut content from the ending sequence. They intended to integrate the removed material into the sequel. Soul Reaver 2 was inspired by time travel fiction and Kurt Rudolph 's research into Gnosticism. It was slated to include more of Blood Omen ' s role-playing game aspects and

23373-444: Was included on Sony's "Greatest Hits" list . Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 also performed well, selling in excess of 500,000 copies each and becoming Greatest Hits titles. Defiance sold between 500,000 and 1 million units, but failed to live up to Eidos's sales targets. Legacy of Kain has been cited as one of the most popular video game intellectual properties associated with vampires. IGN 's Douglass C. Perry regarded

23532-483: Was influenced by Joseph Campbell 's ideals. No longer acting as a pure villain, Kain was intended to function as a "steadfast character", coming to the story from a position of knowledge in contrast to Raziel's relative ignorance. Hennig expressed that, by Soul Reaver 2 , her personal perception of Kain's character had changed over the years, and that she now considered him a somewhat more attractive and interesting individual than Raziel due to his complexity. She dubbed him

23691-402: Was intended to ask "what is evil? Perhaps it is merely a perspective", and to "address morals, evil and good, propaganda and fate in ways that have never been explored in a computer game before". Other latent issues included trust, manipulation and betrayal, which carried over into Crystal Dynamics' sequels. In Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 , Amy Hennig identified "the question of free will in

23850-411: Was left to procure their own off-site accommodation, resulting in "great personal sacrifice". Prior to shipping, Activision and BMG Interactive reached arrangements with Crystal Dynamics to manufacture and distribute the product in various territories. In what they described as "a first in the industry", Silicon Knights added an opening credit to fully clarify that they were responsible for developing

24009-404: Was modeled in part on William Munny, the protagonist of Clint Eastwood 's 1992 Western film , Unforgiven . The developers set out to craft an antihero to suit "a game where the player is put in the position where everyone believes you are evil", feeling that the industry required a story addressing issues of moral ambiguity and wondering how players would react when "everyone in the world

24168-417: Was neither. His free will, and his destiny to enter the Reaver (consuming himself), ensures that neither champion can win. Later, Kain miraculously awakes, despite the loss of his heart. He encounters Raziel, and they reconcile; Raziel enters the Reaver willingly, but first uses his spiritual powers to cleanse Kain of the corruption he had inherited at birth as a member of the Circle of Nine. Thus healed, Kain

24327-517: Was positively singled out. Kain is very much the focus of the series, though. If you remove the melodrama and just look at the human elements of his character, you can see that he's flawed. Depending on how you look at things you could call him a tragic hero or an anti-hero. In my opinion, characters painted as 'true villains' just aren't interesting. They're too two-dimensional; no one is ever really so uncomplicated. Everyone always has their motives for what they're doing - everybody believes they're doing

24486-408: Was recast as Alastair Duncan . Gordon Hunt and Kris Zimmerman provided voice direction from Soul Reaver and onward. The developers coordinated the actors by ensuring they were involved as collaborators, recording their dialogue together rather than in isolation, and thus established techniques which would later carry over to Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. The health of the land of Nosgoth

24645-415: Was released after Soul Reaver 2 , the events of the game actually happen after Blood Omen but before the events of Soul Reaver , in an alternate timeline created from the Soul Reaver 2 events. In Blood Omen 2 players control a younger Kain after an unsuccessful campaign to conquer Nosgoth, as he is opposed by traitorous vampires and a new enemy. Legacy of Kain: Defiance , the most recent entry in

24804-414: Was released in late 1996. After its success, Silicon Knights contemplated creating a sequel in what they described as the Blood Omen series, but their relationship with Crystal Dynamics dissolved in 1997. Crystal Dynamics began developing Soul Reaver internally, and were acquired by Eidos Interactive during its production. In 1998, Silicon Knights filed a suit against Crystal Dynamics for rights to

24963-421: Was released, Crystal Dynamics had already secured a deal with Activision to publish a sequel. Blood Omen did receive a sequel, but its production was impeded by a litigious battle between the game's stakeholders and developer. In an interview conducted shortly after the PlayStation release, Dyack contemplated the possibility of creating a prequel centered around the character of Vorador - referring to it as part of

25122-462: Was unwillingly controlled and forced to kill Ariel. To correct the imbalance, he created Kain, a creature potent enough to destroy the Circle. Mortanius slays Anarcrothe, and then succumbs to possession from The Dark Entity (the latter one's actions being the reason behind everything that happened in Nosgoth) whom Kain defeats. With only one Pillar left unrestored, Kain reaches an epiphany : he himself

25281-473: Was your enemy (including yourself) [...] where you had to kill innocents to survive [and] you are the ultimate pawn". Other influences which helped to define Kain's character arc included The Wheel of Time , Necroscope , and cover art from The Pillars of the Earth . In comparison to Count Dracula , Dyack commented in an interview that he believed Kain would "kick his ass" in a fight. He and writer Ken McCulloch considered Simon Templeman 's voiceover for

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