Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

It helps to be very, very into vampires, admittedly, but this is a rich world full of Sturm und Drang atmosphere and some flat-out amazing voice acting (especially for its day). Simon Templeman's Kain is one of my favorite voiced video game characters of all time. Is there jank? You know it. The 2D pixel resolution is pretty fuzzy at 640x320, and there are the same weird stutters and slowdowns that I remember from the PlayStation One original. Combat doesn't always feel fluid, and you need to master a few positioning tricks to succeed, but once you've got them down, it'll be a lot of lather, bleed, repeat. Lastly, the story. People always praise the storyline of this game, and I hate to tell you this, but it's utter rubbish. It's got a decidedly seventh-grade fanfic vibe, and you'll spot undisguised influences everywhere. But you know what? I don't much care. The story is silly and overripe, but florid narrative is a staple of Gothic literature going back to Walpole and Matthew Lewis. In an odd way, its absurdly baroque nature becomes part of the game's charm. Because, Metroidvania-style, there are many, many areas to discover and circle back to once your vampiric strength has increased, the world of Nosgoth (yeah, I know) acquires a sense of mystery and ancientness. Even now, it's one of my favorite games in which to just prat about like a vampire, to borrow James Wallis's memorable phrase. Ultimately, this game succeeds because it's so freaking much fun to be undead. Everything you want to do is here: hack people to death with a variety of medieval weapons, drink blood from halfway across a room, work dark magic, turn into a bat and a wolf...you get that sweet vampiric power fantasy tthroughout. The five stars above are probably more of a three to four stars if you're not excited about stalking the night as a damned bloodsucker, but if you're onboard for a bit of Grand Guignol extra-ness with a truly entertaining protagonist, it'll still hit.

Really enjoying re-playing this game.

Game is fun and definitely has that charming throwback feel. Has great story and voice acting, gameplay is very clunky and dated but kind of amazing for the time and still fun in a simple dungeon crawler way. Navigating controls with a PC on keyboard is painful, needs a guide for seamless gamepad setup to really shine.

Absolutely love this game. From the soundtrack, to the gameplay. I played it back in the 90s and its still as much fun. I think this game would appeal to modern audiences as well, especially for fans of retro/pixel art/metroidvania/rougelike games. While Blood Omen isnt one of those, I think the sensibilities and aesthetic would appeal to thus minded individuals. Highly reccommend!

Lot of fun playing Vampire Zelda, but the controls are a bit sluggish and the lack of subtitles makes it really hard to hear some of the accented or crunchy sound. It is a great game, but I would love to see a remake or something where the controls are cleane dup and the sond refreshed.