Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2

If there ever was a game that would have been made four times better by being made four times SHORTER, it would be this one. Blood Omen 2 just DRAGGED ON a lot. There’s tons of combat and tons of just walking around. The puzzles most of the time were not even puzzles, they just required you to mindlessly flip switches. Go to a door. Flip a switch. Follow a cable. Flip a switch. Go through a door. Flip a switch. And so on. The biggest draw of the game remains probably Kain himself – his voiceacting is still top-notch and a pleasure to listen to. That being said, the WRITING itself seemed weaker than in the previous entries. Kain’s dialogue was less elaborate, less flowery and colorful. The problem I have with Blood Omen 2, apart from it DRAGGING ON soooo much, is that I don’t really know why it EVEN EXISTS in the first place and what it brings to the series. That’s mostly because it’s made very clear by some characters being alive and by certain other inconsistencies that Blood Omen 2 takes place in an alternate timeline to BO1, SR1 and SR2. So it almost feels like a spinoff and whatever happens in the game feels like it has little relation and little importance to whatever happens and was established in the previous games. Even if we took BO2 as setup for a certain race of antagonists, it ultimately reveals surprisingly little about them and what it does reveal is not particularly fascinating anyway, as far as otherwordly races of supposedly great power go. I guess even with all of the flaws I could have enjoyed Blood Omen 2 to a degree – if, as I said, it was four times shorter. But as is, it made me very very tired by the time I finished it. If you would be interested in seeing me go through the game for the first time (or maybe me playing the previous games), you can do so on my youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRlK78huftw&list=PLp4TpsJ7HUWWo4Nrl8vVpW7N1IbDIeiqo&index=1&ab_channel=LittleDwarf

Blood Omen 2 was the first game of the Legacy of Kain series I played, it was brutal, violent, and gore, and I loved it! I was disapointed when I tried Blood Omen 1 and Soul Reaver, because I expected something like Blood Omen 2, and so here is my opinion: No matter how good a game is, if you expected something else, it would be disapointing. I disagree with people about the plot, well, indeed the plot in Blood Omen 1 and soul reavers is better, but the story in Blood omen 2 is ... immersive. I mean, I tried Blood omen 2, then the 1, then Soul reaver 1 and then Defiance (never tried soul reaver 2) and my favourite is Blood omen 2 (and the 1) I think it's because Kain is better than raziel (^^) but mainly because Kain is far more evil than Raziel, making the plot more interesting. So, even if you don't like Legagy if Kain, even if you prefer the other game of the series, never forget that this game is worth a try.

I had high hopes for this game, but it does NOT work for me, gets stuck on red words on intro. Ive tried uninstalling it doesnt work

First, get the Peixoto's and Widescreen patches and you're golden. No bugs/crashes whatsoever. Blood Omen 2 is a hit-or-miss title, but regardless of its stature with fans I myself enjoyed it. It was developed by a B team at Crystal Dynamics and it was their first game ever. Let that sink in... With that in mind, I think they did a great job. They sought to create a game that was more action focused and they deducted exploration and puzzles from the previous entries. Gameplay and combat are enjoyable and I really liked the stealth mechanics together with Kain's powers at your disposal. It gets repetitive after a while, but I can't say I was bored. Graphics are aged sure, but they are still pretty fine, well except for some awkward animations and face models for civilians. The general atmosphere of the game is awesome and it really fits the game, as well as the soundtrack. Now for the story... I can see why fans don't like this game so much. It's because it feels like a spinoff of the series. And as it stands it kinda is. But! The story of the game was meant to introduce some very important plot points and to foreshadow the events that would happen in a sixth game that sadly never was released. There were some things that were left unexplained like how and why Vorador get resurrected and what were Seer's agenda and part in the series... I am sure that if the sixth game was released this game would be seen as a completely different picture. The dialogues and the story itself are not bad per sē, rather they are subpar in comparison to other titles, which is understandable in my opinion, especially because the A team was developing Soul Reaver 2 at the moment. Except for Kain of course. Kain as a character was done excellently and the voice acting of Simon Templeman is as good as always. In summary, I liked the game pretty much and I'm probably biased here because this is one of my favorite game series. Off to end my playthrough of the series in Defiance. Cheers!

Let me start this review by saying I have a lot of nostalgia tied to BO2, so that may be a factor. Apart from that, even when I was unfamiliar with this game I still grew to enjoy it. It doesn't exactly feel like the rest of the entries in the series, but that doesn't mean it isn't worthy. The controls are going to be hit or miss for many, but I found them fairly easy to learn. I've heard there are issues with rebinding, but there are programs that may help with that ( if you don't mind using them ). The graphics are what you may expect from an older game, but not terrible for its age. Boss fights feel pretty nice overall. Not too strong and not too weak. The performance, which many have had trouble with, may indeed require a bit of tinkering. I had the same issue as others with the menu freeze and I found that limiting my frame rate to 60 I believe was what ultimately fixed it. To be safe though I'd recommend running in compatibility mode for an older Windows.