Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

This is the first game of the legacy of kain saga, and soulreaver series. absolutly recommend play this game

This game used to sit comfortably in my favorite games of all time. I guess that is the price of nostalgia. Playing this game for the first time in nearly 30 years made me realize that my memories glossed over this game's flaws. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is a top down action/adventure game along the lines of a Zelda. You explore the world and collect new spells or abilities which allow you to access secret areas. However, none of these areas are worth exploring as the bonuses you get aren't always worth the effort. This makes the game a very linear experience. The combat isn't great because Kain lacks the ability to dodge incoming attacks. Kain is simply too slow to do any hit and run attacks. So most combat comes down to standing in front of an enemy and trading blows until the enemy is staggered enough to drain his blood. Most enemies could and should be avoided because they respawn when you reenter an area and are mostly there for a quick health refill. Once I realized this, I ended up basically speedrunning the areas. I did still enjoy the greater story and setting of the game along with the excellent voice acting however. This is a revenge story for a very bad man in a world that is dark and dying. Kain, as a vampire, only cares for himself and can enter houses at night to murder innocents for their blood. Kain is expertly voiced by Simon Templeman and his VO adds much to the overall setting/experience of the game. The VO explains every item and spell in the game with brutal details that only adds to the grim world. However, the excellent setting and VO do not make up for the mediocre gameplay. I played this game to see if one of my favorite games of all time still holds up in 2022. I am sad to say, it does not. I would only recommend this game if you are planning on playing the rest of the games in the series and want to see how the story begins

A wonderful game. Not much more to say. The ONLY thing I see as negative is, that I wish they would include other Audio languages. The German Voice-Acting was a blast and in some regards better then the english original. Thanks GOG Team, after YEARS, you delivered.

This is THE original Legacy of Kain game before its story was mashed together with the originally unrelated 'Soul Reaver' game. It does feel very different from the later LoK games and the confusion of the LoK universe is easily explained by that. LoK:BO was developed by Silicon Knights and published by Crystal Dynamics, who later went on to develop Soul Reaver, putting together completely different games, but managing - over time - to harmonize the original Kain storyline with that of Raziel. The game is a 2D top view action set on a very complicated (after)life of a nobleman called Kain, killed by bandits and turned into a vampire. In a search for vengeance and power, he sets to change the fate of the fictional world of Nosgoth. The story is as quite convoluted and complex, as the gameplay is long. If you are hardcore fan of the later LoK games, you may find this game a bitter candy - it provides a great first hand experience of events predating the sequels but it takes effort to play and finish this game. Fights can be a chore, and it's not difficult to lose your sense of orientation unless you find a good walkthrough. Fighting is enriched by a variety of weapons and abilities Kain can use to defeat his enemies, and the constant blood thirst requires the player to hurry to find new enemies to kill and feast upon. It took me around a week to finish this game. Please note that some users may experience technical issues starting LoK:BO, and will require extra effort to run it. Therefore, do not hesitate to visit GOG forums to seek unofficial support. Hence I give this game 4/5 - a story that pulls you back in, with unexpected twists in it; great atmosphere; character progression in place as well ... and all that only soured by gameplay that can get long and tedious for some.

I'll be perfectly honest. I played this game for the first time in 2009, I think, and even then it felt really old and I didn't like it. At first, it was a chore and I only played it for the story and to see firsthand the "birth" of Kain. After an hour or so you get used to it and it somehow grows on you. Now after a while I wanted to replay the whole series again, after that survey by Crystal Dynamics came up 2 months ago. This time I was prepared and the game felt really different. I didn't have that same feeling of dated graphics and gameplay mechanics. This game is a masterpiece in storytelling and the narrative and dialogues are one of the best I've ever seen (or read) in any medium with the excellent performance by Simon Templeman and Tony Jay (RIP). So mature and with lots of plot twists it can easily fit into a class-A novel. The character progression is excellently done and you can experience what motivated Kain to evolve into Kain we know from later games in the series. As for the gameplay mechanics, even though dated by today's standards, they were nearly groundbreaking in the early PS1 era. So many spells are at your disposal and different armor/weapon combos to face off against different types of enemies. I'm glad I've replayed this game and hope it will get a remaster (no need for a remake or reboot). Be sure to download Verok's patch as it fixes a lot of stuff like long loading screens, better cinematics, HQ sounds and music, added subtitles, to name a few. Off to continue my journey through Nosgoth in Soul Reaver. Cheers!