Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

This game has some of the best atmosphere you'll find in not only a PS1 game, but any game. It's so bleak yet but also beautiful. Gaming mechanics are pretty good, although the boss fights get somewhat repetitive (and the Azimuth fight is horribly designed). Great voice acting, graphics, and viseceral violence. 10/10.

Just an awesome game to play through

Still worth playing after all these years.

nice story

Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen is simply put, one of the best games from 1996. Unfortunately, it took a long time for it to get a digital rerelease as it was developed by Crystal Dynamics and Silicon Knights and Published by Activision, as such being stuck in copyright limbo for years before Crystal Dynamics got the rights again and rereleased it on GOG. And I'm happy they sorted it out, because my opening statement was no exaggeration. Blood Omen is a strong Zelda-influenced 2D action adventure game, with a beautifully desolate world to explore, tons of enemies to fend off, spells and weapons to master and some well-designed dungeons. Where it differs from its inspiration is that the titular protagonist Kain (voiced brilliantly by Simon Templeman) is a vampire, and so the player is encouraged to satiate their inner bloodlust by sucking the blood out of certain enemies and NPCs to heal themselves and to suck the souls of ghosts of said enemies and NPCs to recharge their magic. This twist on the formula, coupled with a focus on combat (though you do push bricks and solve puzzles), makes it stand out from its contemporaries, and the actual gameplay itself still holds up and is easy to pick up and play despite somewhat clunky controls (controller is VERY recommended). However, the star of the show here is the storyline: Blood Omen's story is one of the best gaming narratives, introducing us to Kain, the World of Nosgoth, Vorador, the Sarafan and the Circle of the Nine, all of whom are explored in great detail here and fleshed out in the sequel, Soul Reaver. Kain himself is a fascinating character to play as, and the people he meets are just as brilliantly realised and well-acted with a cast of screen and stage actors giving the game another edge over its contemporaries. So yeah. Don't let the fact that the sequels switched to 3D scare you away from Blood Omen: It's a killer action title with a strong plot, and is more than a recommendation from me: It's a must-play.