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.
By all means get it! It has amazingly well written and acted out dialogues, it gives you the freedom of playing it however you want, and it has unique atmosphere. Even though it starts getting linear after the first district, the game is one hell of a fantastic RPG ride!
I've played through game's easy mode and I'm not really encouraged to complete higher difficulties. This is because 'Mitsurugi' is extremely repetitive and doesn't offer much depth. On easy mode the game introduced new foes gradually, I didn't feel bored very much, but they weren't varied either. There are 3 types of enemies with few variations. There are also 3 bosses, 2 of which appear 2 times and the last one has a final form. There were also upgrades to protagonist's move set, which was fun. All the levels are about defeating waves of enemies in the arena. The only thing you have to do to defeat them is to mash buttons and use the hide-katana-in-its-sheath-move to finish them off faster, so you can focus all upgrades on the most basic attacks and health. You can't see enemies properly because the camera is always close to the heroine and it doesn't adjust its view automatically. It'll make dodging enemies' attack hard for you. And finally, the upgrades you've purchased don't transfer to the higher difficulty, so you have to unlock everything once again, which is ma main issue with this game. In similar games such as DMC you can feel growing stronger and beating every difficulty feels rewarding, but not in 'Mitsurugi'. The enemies don't change much, you don't have to use advanced moves and strategies, and you won't feel becoming more powerful and more experienced. Oh, and the graphics? They won't hurt your eyes, textures are sharp enough, but the animations are very lacking and lack any weight. And the story, well, it exists. Nothing special here. You can finish the game on an easy mode in about 1 hour. If you'd like to buy the game, do it on a sale.
