Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

This is the very first game I bought when I got my PC in 1997. I was so charmed by its medieval setting and atmosphere, storyline, plot, expansive world and variety of places to visit, things that make it a worthy game even today, 26 years after its release. Obviously, graphics and sound do not impress nowadays, but that's not why you would buy this game.

After all these years Blood Omen is still gorgeous. When I first played it I was like 7 or 9 and I didn't understand a thing about the game mechanics and the plot. Now I appreciate the story (here it's still kinda unpolished... raw... we have to play the other games of the saga to understand how beautiful it is), and all the possibility we have to kill (or evade) in gruesome ways all the types of enemies. The only complaint: Repel is really really really OP (especially with chaos armor). So, if you want to enjoy the variety of items and spells, I would suggest to limit the use of Repel and try some other tactics instead. A bad feeling: the 2D graphics allows to enjoy the game a lot, even after all these years have passed; now that I'm going to engage with the other titles, I fear that the 3D graphics aged worse. But plot and narration themselves deserve all the hours that I will spend on them.

As a lover of great stories, characters and voice acting, I can say with certainty that there is nothing better than the Legacy of Kain series when combining these aspects, and this is the very first in the series. A world of magic and dark forces, where vampires pray on the defenseless villagers of Nosgoth while ancient beings twist the balance of the world in an endless cycle of death and revenge. This is the kind of work of art that makes me love what the gaming world can do. The game is very hard indeed. In fact, the controls were never the selling point of this entire series. What is though is the excellent plot and dialogues with all their conflicts and machinations, very deep, interesting and memorable characters, and second to none voice acting. Names like Simon Templeman, Richard Doyle, Tony Jay and much more bring life to the players in a game of power, fate and free will. I cannot recommend this game enough, or the entire series for that matter! It really is that great! And now, thanks to GOG resurrecting this first installment that has long been waiting in the desert of lost licenses, you too can experience this amazing story as a whole! To add to your enjoyment, there is an OpenGL patch that makes the game even better, with additional graphical features and languages, just to name a few. It's not necessary for the game to run as it plays great right out of the box, but if you find it too dated for your taste, give this patch a try and I'm sure you'll change your mind. As of now, GOG is the only place you can get this masterpiece outside of the original PlayStation 1, but I hope that as more people and a new generation gets to know this series, that it can finally be more regarded, as it certainly deserve. To quote Kain himself: "I marveled that such beauty should grace our dying world!"

Been waiting to play this for lognest time and finally got around to it. This was my first time ever playing it and I really dug it! I struggled in a few spots because I wasn't quite sure what to do or where to go next, but overall, the gameplay held up incredibly well! Looking forward to playing the rest of the series eventually.

Love the story, love the gameplay. The gfx might discourage some but it is a decent ARPG. And you must play this to learn the most important parts of the story.