Legacy of Kain™ Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

Part 1 - remaster review, Part 2 - games review 1) As a remaster - it's great. Soul Reaver 1 was treated with a lot of love, the refreshed graphics make a huge difference. There are some small improvements to controls, there's a map with the number of collectibles in every area. There's a photo mode which you can also use to snoop around all areas. And there's a ton of bonus content, like cut areas made playable, concept arts, fan arts, recordings from voiceover sessions, etc. I have the impression that Soul Reaver 2 was treated with a little less love? The differences in graphics don't seem as dirastic in SR1. All characters and enemies got new models, but textures are usually just slightly touched up. Maybe the refresh doesn't seem as big is because SR2 is a newer game. But there's also less bonus content related to SR2. 2) SR1 - as a game, still great. It's a light metroidvania with a focus on puzzles. Great pacing, you're getting introduced to all mechanics step by step. Combat is easy, as long as you have a weapon o r a reaver. The atmospere is unmatched - gloomy graphics, moody soundtrack, and theatrical dialogues create a fantastic dark drama about revenge in a ravaged world. If you focus just on the main objectives you can finish it in 5-6 hours. There are collectibles like health and magic power-ups and glyphs (spells), but they're completely optional. From cons - camera can be wonky, swimming is a pain, trying to throw a vampire on a spike is horrible. Not much happens storywise, to my own surprise after the return. SR2 - replaying it after all those years I feel like it's a step-down from the sequel. The story is still great and we get a lot of development in this installment. Better graphics, music is still great. Better combat, though less substantial than in SR1. Metroidvania aspect is lost and there's a lot of backtracking, which gets boring quick. Kinda pointless reaver power-ups from the story perspective. Game still ok overall though.

Making the old games better, distributing them to the masses, and keeping them up and running for posterity! I'm only curious why they didn't start with Blood Omen. Blood Omen has orders of magnitude crappier graphics, and pretty stunning voice-overs, already. That's a head scratcher. No love for Blood Omen GoG?? What's up with that? To be bluntly honest, I'm not totally sure this rework is worth an extra $30..? The new graphics add SO so much to the game, the minute attention to detail helps flesh out the rather sparse world we recall from the old version. The dystopian setting has a bit more dystopian detail. :) I wouldn't call the new graphics stunning, but it's like a big greasy hamburger when you've been working hard all day. It is AWESOME, with a side of awesome sauce! It tickles my fancy in multiple ways, and I couldn't be happier with them. However, the controls, jumping and landing areas are still as quirky as they ever were. You're still gonna spend a minute trying to get on certain platforms and ledges, just like the old game. They could have looked at maybe hammering some of those out, to not be irritating. I would note, that I haven't finished running through the entire game yet, so there might be some surprises in the latter half. The rework still gets 5 out of 5 stars, though, just on principal. This is WHY I shovel cash in to the GoG system, so that games like these get upgraded, and get attention when they need a rework to keep up with modern standards. Bless you GoG, you're doing the work of kings! :)

Per the title, this is a pure graphical update. It does an impressive job updating the old PSX visuals with a nice clean no frills upgrade. Even including a button (similar to Halo Collection) that can toggle that visuals between modern and original without entering the menu. With that said, the quirks of game design from that era are still present so be aware. Twitchy control responses awkard geometry snags and the occasional dropped input. Even with that all, still the best way to experience this classic.

If you have nostalgia for SR1 you will love this game, the cutscenes have been prettied up along with the in game graphics, voice acting is as good as you'll remember it but the game itself..... well, you get tired of moving blocks after around the 3rd puzzle but i was still driven to finish it off because i've always adored the series.

Good gameplay, great athmosphere, Amazing story and voice acting.