Swords, sorcery, souls, and buckets of blood await you in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Return to the corrupt world of Nosgoth, where the disfigured wraith Raziel pursues his creator, the vampire overlord Kain. Separated by their common enemies and time itself, the two anti-heroes must wage their own personal battles to discover what lies behind their destinies and defeat the vicious forces that seek to condemn their world to eternal damnation. While their foes plot and scheme, Kain and Raziel embark on a dark and twisted odyssey. In the end, only one of them may be left standing. The final chapter in the epic Legacy of Kain series is a time-bending, dimension-crossing, action-adventure game featuring more fast-paced combat than ever before. Take control of two mighty and highly-evolved vampires, each with a vast arsenal of combat moves and elaborate combos to unlock during their journey. A world filled to the brim with gruesome monsters, conflict and intrigue lies before them.
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Sem spoiler, mas achei o final triste...
What the hell went wrong here? For me, this is by far the weakest part of the series.
Why? Well, let's start with the camera. For some unknown reason, they decided to switch from a free 3rd person camera to a fixed camera where you can only adjust the angle, i.e. up, down, left and right...what an absolutely horrible idea. Camera angles are constantly changing back and forth and I never have the slightest idea where I am.
This brings us to the next point, namely the puzzles. Instead of pondering how to solve the puzzle and move on like in the previous games, you're constantly asking yourself "Where the fuck am I supposed to go now, how do I get there and where even am I right now?" :D The samey areas (I don't know how many times I've visited these fucked-up temples) don't make it any easier.
And then the battles....What a boring, monotonous and undemanding piece of crap the combat system is. In the previous game I could at least skip most of the battles (they weren't good there either) but here the game forces me to take almost every fight because otherwise "magic barriers" block my path...and you just hack and slay away, no tactics, nothing.
But the story is what it's all about and it's really cool, right? Well, at first nothing happens for hours except that Raziel and Kain find some paintings and ponder what they could mean...great...when something does happen, the story mostly gets lost in eternal tirades about fate and free will...and I have the feeling that they absolutely had to add a twist and another twist to make it somehow interesting, but it doesn't really fit together anymore.
The story itself is interesting and some areas are really nice (Vorador's mansion for example), some puzzles are ok and hey, boss fights are back (but they're mostly just stupid fighting :/) ....well so I don't know, it was pretty shit unfortunately. AND WHY DO I HAVE TO CHARGE UP THE FUCKING REAVER WITH POWERS AGAIN???? WHAT DID I DO THE WHOLE GAME IN SOUL REAVER 2? GET FUCKED^^ Ok, the ending wasn't bad but did the story make sense now? I have my doubts :D
Why? Well, let's start with the camera. For some unknown reason, they decided to switch from a free 3rd person camera to a fixed camera where you can only adjust the angle, i.e. up, down, left and right...what an absolutely horrible idea. Camera angles are constantly changing back and forth and I never have the slightest idea where I am.
This brings us to the next point, namely the puzzles. Instead of pondering how to solve the puzzle and move on like in the previous games, you're constantly asking yourself "Where the fuck am I supposed to go now, how do I get there and where even am I right now?" :D The samey areas (I don't know how many times I've visited these fucked-up temples) don't make it any easier.
And then the battles....What a boring, monotonous and undemanding piece of crap the combat system is. In the previous game I could at least skip most of the battles (they weren't good there either) but here the game forces me to take almost every fight because otherwise "magic barriers" block my path...and you just hack and slay away, no tactics, nothing.
But the story is what it's all about and it's really cool, right? Well, at first nothing happens for hours except that Raziel and Kain find some paintings and ponder what they could mean...great...when something does happen, the story mostly gets lost in eternal tirades about fate and free will...and I have the feeling that they absolutely had to add a twist and another twist to make it somehow interesting, but it doesn't really fit together anymore.
The story itself is interesting and some areas are really nice (Vorador's mansion for example), some puzzles are ok and hey, boss fights are back (but they're mostly just stupid fighting :/) ....well so I don't know, it was pretty shit unfortunately. AND WHY DO I HAVE TO CHARGE UP THE FUCKING REAVER WITH POWERS AGAIN???? WHAT DID I DO THE WHOLE GAME IN SOUL REAVER 2? GET FUCKED^^ Ok, the ending wasn't bad but did the story make sense now? I have my doubts :D
This review contains spoilers
Blood Omen 2 may have tested my mental fortitude and made me consider quitting the series entirely, but there was no way I was going to do that, I had to play Defiance to see how the story concluded, and I am glad I did because Defiance delivers in that aspect, though, in true LoK fashion, it still comes with its own unique myriad of problems that can't be understated.
From SR1 and onwards, every subsequent game placed a greater emphasis on combat and this shift in focus away from puzzles reaches its zenith here where Defiance is basically a rather simple hack n'slasher. You can launch enemies into the air, juggle them, have them rebound off the ground to continue your string and you get a few new moves as you progress through the game all of which compliment eachother very well. The pool of moves that Kain and Raziel have is very small but you get just enough to where experimenting with just how long you can keep a combo going is still extremely fun. I had a blast with it and it is easily the most fun I've had when playing a LoK game, with that said though, it comes with a fair share of caveats. For starters, you get new moves, but you unlock all of them around the midway point, with the latter half not adding anything new to spice things up. To add to this issue, as you progress through the game , you fight more and more of these Goliath type enemies that can't be stunned or launched so the part that I had so much fun with early on gets diminished as the game goes on and completely fizzles out by the end. Also, this game doesn't do anything to actually encourage engaging with its combat. I tried squeezing as much juice out of the moves at my disposal as possible because I am already a big fan of games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden etc, but for someone who doesn't get their kicks out of keeping enemies suspended in the air for as long as possible, there's no incentive that pushes the player to experiment. There is no counter to tell you how long your combo is and there is no rating on how well you are doing, so for people not already accustomed to this genre, at worst, this games combat can end up feeling just as monotonous as in past games. You also can't talk about Defiance for too long without bringing up the fixed-camera and it is dreadful. It rarely gives a good view of things and often hides things that are needed for progression. I think this was done because DMC had a similar camera style, but atleast that game didn't have platforming, this one does. Vorador's Mansion is agonizing at times, trying to angle your jumps properly while the camera shifts leads to so many failed attempts and it's just not something that should be in the game.
Aside from combat, this game still tries to have some puzzles but it feels really tacked on. One thing I liked about this series up until now is how cut content from one game is usually added into a later entry, like how SR1 was originally going to have elemental reavers only for that idea to be scrapped and implemented in SR2 instead. However, in Defiance's case, this stubbornness ends up hurting the game for me. SR2 was going to have 7 forges rather than 4 so to make up for this, you go through 7 forges in Defiance which is the main source of puzzles in this game, problem here is that the forges here are so uninteresting compared to SR2. They're quite short, visually they all look identical and worst of all, you go through some of them just to acquire abilities that Raziel already had by the end of SR2 and the reason for their absence isn't explained. Kain also goes through these areas and it just feels so repetitive, constantly going back to the same area just to do the same thing over and over. I wish they directed all their attention into fleshing out the combat rather than being preoccupied with the fact that SR2 only had 4 forges and feeling the need to shoe-horn an inferior version of them all into this game. So yeah, though it doesn't start out that way, the gameplay here is still pretty mid even if I'd consider it to still be my favourite out of the entire series.
As for the story, it had big shoes to fill. Prior to this game, we had 2 Soul Reaver games that had endings that could barely be described as such and Blood Omen 2's entire plot felt like it had no bearing on any of the events of the past games. So, perhaps the best thing I can say about Defiance's plot is that it succeeds in tying up majority of the loose threads from past games, making BO2s story feel purposeful in retrospect and it even works as a conclusion to the series. It's not perfect, and the way it is set out with Kain and Raziel being years apart and thus barely having them interact with eachother is disappointing. Instead, we get Raziel and Kain commenting on murals depicting their destined fight with dialogue that pales in comparison to them waxing philosophical in past games. But any issue I can have is negated by just how satisfying it is to finally get a conclusion to these events. We get an explanation of the Elder God's existence, we see what happened to Turel, we see the end of Moebius and we get a strong conclusion to Raziel's arc. It's so cathartic to have a game that resolves more events than it sets up and it can't be emphasized enough just how much of a small miracle this is considering that it wasn't even intended to be the last game in the series.
Ultimately, this is my favourite LoK game and when looking at the series as a whole, my reviews were quite negative since these games aren't very conventionally enjoyable like a lot of other stuff I play, but they are undeniably special in many ways. From Blood Omen's script to Soul Reaver's incredible atmosphere and ambition to SR2 and Defiance's incredible storytelling, every game has something they feel unrivaled in (except BO2, that game is ass) and I'd recommend it to anyone who is even remotely curious.
From SR1 and onwards, every subsequent game placed a greater emphasis on combat and this shift in focus away from puzzles reaches its zenith here where Defiance is basically a rather simple hack n'slasher. You can launch enemies into the air, juggle them, have them rebound off the ground to continue your string and you get a few new moves as you progress through the game all of which compliment eachother very well. The pool of moves that Kain and Raziel have is very small but you get just enough to where experimenting with just how long you can keep a combo going is still extremely fun. I had a blast with it and it is easily the most fun I've had when playing a LoK game, with that said though, it comes with a fair share of caveats. For starters, you get new moves, but you unlock all of them around the midway point, with the latter half not adding anything new to spice things up. To add to this issue, as you progress through the game , you fight more and more of these Goliath type enemies that can't be stunned or launched so the part that I had so much fun with early on gets diminished as the game goes on and completely fizzles out by the end. Also, this game doesn't do anything to actually encourage engaging with its combat. I tried squeezing as much juice out of the moves at my disposal as possible because I am already a big fan of games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden etc, but for someone who doesn't get their kicks out of keeping enemies suspended in the air for as long as possible, there's no incentive that pushes the player to experiment. There is no counter to tell you how long your combo is and there is no rating on how well you are doing, so for people not already accustomed to this genre, at worst, this games combat can end up feeling just as monotonous as in past games. You also can't talk about Defiance for too long without bringing up the fixed-camera and it is dreadful. It rarely gives a good view of things and often hides things that are needed for progression. I think this was done because DMC had a similar camera style, but atleast that game didn't have platforming, this one does. Vorador's Mansion is agonizing at times, trying to angle your jumps properly while the camera shifts leads to so many failed attempts and it's just not something that should be in the game.
Aside from combat, this game still tries to have some puzzles but it feels really tacked on. One thing I liked about this series up until now is how cut content from one game is usually added into a later entry, like how SR1 was originally going to have elemental reavers only for that idea to be scrapped and implemented in SR2 instead. However, in Defiance's case, this stubbornness ends up hurting the game for me. SR2 was going to have 7 forges rather than 4 so to make up for this, you go through 7 forges in Defiance which is the main source of puzzles in this game, problem here is that the forges here are so uninteresting compared to SR2. They're quite short, visually they all look identical and worst of all, you go through some of them just to acquire abilities that Raziel already had by the end of SR2 and the reason for their absence isn't explained. Kain also goes through these areas and it just feels so repetitive, constantly going back to the same area just to do the same thing over and over. I wish they directed all their attention into fleshing out the combat rather than being preoccupied with the fact that SR2 only had 4 forges and feeling the need to shoe-horn an inferior version of them all into this game. So yeah, though it doesn't start out that way, the gameplay here is still pretty mid even if I'd consider it to still be my favourite out of the entire series.
As for the story, it had big shoes to fill. Prior to this game, we had 2 Soul Reaver games that had endings that could barely be described as such and Blood Omen 2's entire plot felt like it had no bearing on any of the events of the past games. So, perhaps the best thing I can say about Defiance's plot is that it succeeds in tying up majority of the loose threads from past games, making BO2s story feel purposeful in retrospect and it even works as a conclusion to the series. It's not perfect, and the way it is set out with Kain and Raziel being years apart and thus barely having them interact with eachother is disappointing. Instead, we get Raziel and Kain commenting on murals depicting their destined fight with dialogue that pales in comparison to them waxing philosophical in past games. But any issue I can have is negated by just how satisfying it is to finally get a conclusion to these events. We get an explanation of the Elder God's existence, we see what happened to Turel, we see the end of Moebius and we get a strong conclusion to Raziel's arc. It's so cathartic to have a game that resolves more events than it sets up and it can't be emphasized enough just how much of a small miracle this is considering that it wasn't even intended to be the last game in the series.
Ultimately, this is my favourite LoK game and when looking at the series as a whole, my reviews were quite negative since these games aren't very conventionally enjoyable like a lot of other stuff I play, but they are undeniably special in many ways. From Blood Omen's script to Soul Reaver's incredible atmosphere and ambition to SR2 and Defiance's incredible storytelling, every game has something they feel unrivaled in (except BO2, that game is ass) and I'd recommend it to anyone who is even remotely curious.
The game has an interesting story that is hidden behind the rubble of atrocious gameplay that is absolutely butchered by the camera. Everything, from exploring to platforming and combat, is several times worse than it could have been because of the camera. The locations, even without this problem, are monotonous and not very interesting, but with it, are a chore to explore. The combat is already too repetitive and clunky because of the camera work, but it is even worse since when you explore the locations, the enemies respawn and appear out of thin air, which made me want to just run through them without doing anything. Maybe it was much less clunky on ps2, but on pc it just didn't work.
Upd: I dropped it. I really didn't want to struggle through the camera problems. I had several instances where I wasn't physically able to see the solving to the puzzle because of the camera restrictions, or that I fought invisible enemies because my view was cluttered by a tree in the middle of the screen. I am, however, interested in the story, but it is hidden behind this chore of the gameplay sections, so I’d rather watch all the cutscenes on yt
Upd: I dropped it. I really didn't want to struggle through the camera problems. I had several instances where I wasn't physically able to see the solving to the puzzle because of the camera restrictions, or that I fought invisible enemies because my view was cluttered by a tree in the middle of the screen. I am, however, interested in the story, but it is hidden behind this chore of the gameplay sections, so I’d rather watch all the cutscenes on yt
anyone else agree with me that this series should move foward with novels instead of the expensive medium that is video games? unlikely that well ever get more legacy of kain
After the disappointment of Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2, I am very happy that Defiance managed to live up to my expectations, despite some flaws. Unlike previous Kain games, Defiance chooses to focus on both of the series' protagonists at once, alternating between their stories. I think this is to its benefit, switching around makes for a more engaging storyline.
Let's start with the gameplay, which I would say is a mixed bag. Defiance's combat is much more free-flowing than previous games, and resembles something like Devil May Cry (quite presciently, given DMC3 would not come out for two more years). Kain is actually very fun to play, thanks to his Telekinesis' mechanics: At any time you can pick up the enemy you're targeting and toss them in a direction of your choice- into pits, spikes, fires. What's particularly fun is that if the enemy hits you they'll be vulnerable to your attacks, acting as a combo starter/extender. You can hit an enemy into the air, hit them with your air combo, interrupt it and pick them up with TK, throw them against yourself and combo them again all before your feet touch the ground. It's a really clever mechanic that allows for a lot of experimentation and I'm shocked that more games of this genre haven't tried something like it.
The rest of the combat is more by the numbers, but this would be fine if it weren't for two issues. The first one is that Raziel does not have Kain's TK, being instead limited to simple energy blasts, which makes his combat a lot less interesting - The game seems to realize this as his chapters rely more on exploration and puzzle-solving, but they're still mostly combat.
The other is the game fails to live up to its potential in terms of combat encounters. There's few kinds of enemies in the game, and none of them are interesting, running the gamut from common fodder to annoyingly spongey big guy. A lot of people end up feeling burned out by the end and while I wasn't too frustrated, I did feel myself having less fun by the end of the game. Doesn't help that enemies respawn when you leave areas, and one of the late game dungeons will be seeing you do a lot of that.
On that topic, Defiance intersperses mostly simple puzzles in-between the story and combat. The Forges, which were the highlight of Soul Reaver 2, are unfortunately now all extremely simple and formulaic dungeons with roughly identical architecture, appearance and progression. However I did enjoy going through Vorador's mansion, a positively massive dungeon which while a bit frustrating, I thought was quite fun. There's also some platforming to do and unfortunately it all sucks because of the fixed camera. For the rest, not much to say, but nothing awful either. I'd say that's a good breakdown of Defiance's gameplay quality overall, some points of brilliance and some bits of mediocrity. Honestly, I'll take it, all things considered, I had fun!
Presentation is better than it's ever been. Music is good, the game looks great (although unfortunately the all too common Forges are the exception), and the characters' models finally escape the uncanny valley, for the most part. Cutscene and gameplay animation are both great, and I find the game to be quite atmospheric at times.
Now obviously, the real reason anyone would play this game is the story. And I am pleased to finally say that Defiance is my favorite Kain story and easily a worthwhile end to the series. Alternating between Kain and Raziel you get to see both of their journeys slowly escalate to heights never before reached- all of Soul Reaver 1 to 2, and Blood Omen 2 to a degree, were building up to this, and the conclusion is worth it, although maybe a touch sudden. Defiance was not meant to be the last chapter of Kain's story, and that is clear, but at the very least it works as a satisfying ending, and that is enough.
In my Blood Omen 2 log I voiced worry on whether playing through all of these often janky games was worth it, and I'm glad that the answer is yes, yes it was.
Let's start with the gameplay, which I would say is a mixed bag. Defiance's combat is much more free-flowing than previous games, and resembles something like Devil May Cry (quite presciently, given DMC3 would not come out for two more years). Kain is actually very fun to play, thanks to his Telekinesis' mechanics: At any time you can pick up the enemy you're targeting and toss them in a direction of your choice- into pits, spikes, fires. What's particularly fun is that if the enemy hits you they'll be vulnerable to your attacks, acting as a combo starter/extender. You can hit an enemy into the air, hit them with your air combo, interrupt it and pick them up with TK, throw them against yourself and combo them again all before your feet touch the ground. It's a really clever mechanic that allows for a lot of experimentation and I'm shocked that more games of this genre haven't tried something like it.
The rest of the combat is more by the numbers, but this would be fine if it weren't for two issues. The first one is that Raziel does not have Kain's TK, being instead limited to simple energy blasts, which makes his combat a lot less interesting - The game seems to realize this as his chapters rely more on exploration and puzzle-solving, but they're still mostly combat.
The other is the game fails to live up to its potential in terms of combat encounters. There's few kinds of enemies in the game, and none of them are interesting, running the gamut from common fodder to annoyingly spongey big guy. A lot of people end up feeling burned out by the end and while I wasn't too frustrated, I did feel myself having less fun by the end of the game. Doesn't help that enemies respawn when you leave areas, and one of the late game dungeons will be seeing you do a lot of that.
On that topic, Defiance intersperses mostly simple puzzles in-between the story and combat. The Forges, which were the highlight of Soul Reaver 2, are unfortunately now all extremely simple and formulaic dungeons with roughly identical architecture, appearance and progression. However I did enjoy going through Vorador's mansion, a positively massive dungeon which while a bit frustrating, I thought was quite fun. There's also some platforming to do and unfortunately it all sucks because of the fixed camera. For the rest, not much to say, but nothing awful either. I'd say that's a good breakdown of Defiance's gameplay quality overall, some points of brilliance and some bits of mediocrity. Honestly, I'll take it, all things considered, I had fun!
Presentation is better than it's ever been. Music is good, the game looks great (although unfortunately the all too common Forges are the exception), and the characters' models finally escape the uncanny valley, for the most part. Cutscene and gameplay animation are both great, and I find the game to be quite atmospheric at times.
Now obviously, the real reason anyone would play this game is the story. And I am pleased to finally say that Defiance is my favorite Kain story and easily a worthwhile end to the series. Alternating between Kain and Raziel you get to see both of their journeys slowly escalate to heights never before reached- all of Soul Reaver 1 to 2, and Blood Omen 2 to a degree, were building up to this, and the conclusion is worth it, although maybe a touch sudden. Defiance was not meant to be the last chapter of Kain's story, and that is clear, but at the very least it works as a satisfying ending, and that is enough.
In my Blood Omen 2 log I voiced worry on whether playing through all of these often janky games was worth it, and I'm glad that the answer is yes, yes it was.