This review contains spoilers
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver tells the story of Raziel, mouthless, blue vampire boy, facing his greatest foe: box pushing puzzles. Ok, actually it tells the story of... well, it tells PART of the story of Raziel's fight with Kain, his former vampire boss. He enacts this battle by hunting down his brothers-in-arms, devouring their souls to gain new abilities, Metroidvania style, to explore more areas of a large, interconnected world, all the while being guided by a faceless elder god who never really explains why any of this is happening.
Soul Reaver comes from that magical turning point in gaming history where developers realized that voice acting could actually be good, and this is by far the best part of the game. Characters speak in pseudo-Shakespearean riddles about betrayal and purpose with a level of seriousness that adds proper weight to the setting, bordering juuuuuust on the edge of being a little too edgy for its own good. All the performances hold up even by today's standards, particularly Raziel's self-serious, single-minded internal monologue. It's all pretty one-note, but it's a good note that suits the Gothic goings-ons. Unfortunately, no amount of high-quality acting can outplay the lesser parts of the game.
Soul Reaver is a lot of old game design wrapped up in much prettier packaging. Raziel's adventure takes place in one massive environment with no visible loading screens. Teleportation gateways serve as shortcuts around the world, but even those hide any perceptible loading of assets. It's an extremely impressive technical feat for a game of this size from 1999. Raziel travels through swirling lakes, vampiric temples, and a massive cathedral that is, in fact, a giant pipe organ of sorts. It's all very unique, but the creativity was spent entirely on these settings and not so much on what to fill them with. Despite the sprawling environments and varied enemies that inhabit them, the main thing Raziel spends his time doing is pushing boxes. Literally every level has multiple box pushing puzzles. Every so often he'll flip a switch or pull a lever, put it's usually in service of getting Raz to the next bunch of boxes to push. It's tedious and wears thin almost immediately. Credit where it's due, most of the overall puzzles are built into the environment itself, being a part of the natural setting, but rounding the corner to see another stack of boxes just waiting for Raz to push around is sigh-inducing.
When he's not pushing boxes, Raziel is leaping, climbing, or swimming around the world. He can swap between the physical and material planes pretty much at will (returning to the physical world requires using a highlighted spot in the environment), and the area around him can shift dramatically between either version. It's a neat idea and offers some cool visuals, but both realms are stuck with Raziel's dated controls and camera. He often slides to a stop, turns in wide circles, and decides randomly when to use his high jump, making precision platforming more aggravating than rewarding. Add a camera that usually wants to be as close to Raz as possible and it all becomes a harsh reminder of how early 3D platformers played.
Fortunately, levels culminate in a boss "battle" against one of Raziel's brothers, and most of these are memorable high points of the journey. Very rarely is a fight won with brute strength. The majority of Raz's brothers are bested with some sort of creative puzzle solution, turning their powers back against them. It's a satisfying way of defeating these creatures that have been twisted and deformed by the passing of hundreds of years, whose sole purpose seems to be betting Raziel that he can't kill them. Each time he proves them wrong, he absorbs their soul and special ability, which enables him to traverse more parts of the environment, tracking down Kain to his final hideaway.
At the end, however, all of this fratricide leads to a great big reveal of... nothing. The game's story ends with a defeating "To Be Continued..." text screen. Nothing is answered, nothing is explained, no one ever speaks in any specifics. Raziel is never clued into anything that Kain is actually up to, and is instead forced to, I assume, get answers in the sequel that wouldn't appear until the PS2. It's a deeply unsatisfying ending that comes at a point when things seem to be picking up, not concluding.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is rightfully remembered for terrific voice acting, dramatic presentation, and gorgeous environment and character design. It's rightfully less remembered for its janky controls, repetitive combat, and abundance of box pushing puzzles. Overall it's a memorable experience that shows off some of the best that the PS1 era had to offer, but, much like the beginning of Raziel's tale, many years have passed and many things have changed in the world of games, making it a worthwhile journey with a heavy dose of caveats.
Soul Reaver comes from that magical turning point in gaming history where developers realized that voice acting could actually be good, and this is by far the best part of the game. Characters speak in pseudo-Shakespearean riddles about betrayal and purpose with a level of seriousness that adds proper weight to the setting, bordering juuuuuust on the edge of being a little too edgy for its own good. All the performances hold up even by today's standards, particularly Raziel's self-serious, single-minded internal monologue. It's all pretty one-note, but it's a good note that suits the Gothic goings-ons. Unfortunately, no amount of high-quality acting can outplay the lesser parts of the game.
Soul Reaver is a lot of old game design wrapped up in much prettier packaging. Raziel's adventure takes place in one massive environment with no visible loading screens. Teleportation gateways serve as shortcuts around the world, but even those hide any perceptible loading of assets. It's an extremely impressive technical feat for a game of this size from 1999. Raziel travels through swirling lakes, vampiric temples, and a massive cathedral that is, in fact, a giant pipe organ of sorts. It's all very unique, but the creativity was spent entirely on these settings and not so much on what to fill them with. Despite the sprawling environments and varied enemies that inhabit them, the main thing Raziel spends his time doing is pushing boxes. Literally every level has multiple box pushing puzzles. Every so often he'll flip a switch or pull a lever, put it's usually in service of getting Raz to the next bunch of boxes to push. It's tedious and wears thin almost immediately. Credit where it's due, most of the overall puzzles are built into the environment itself, being a part of the natural setting, but rounding the corner to see another stack of boxes just waiting for Raz to push around is sigh-inducing.
When he's not pushing boxes, Raziel is leaping, climbing, or swimming around the world. He can swap between the physical and material planes pretty much at will (returning to the physical world requires using a highlighted spot in the environment), and the area around him can shift dramatically between either version. It's a neat idea and offers some cool visuals, but both realms are stuck with Raziel's dated controls and camera. He often slides to a stop, turns in wide circles, and decides randomly when to use his high jump, making precision platforming more aggravating than rewarding. Add a camera that usually wants to be as close to Raz as possible and it all becomes a harsh reminder of how early 3D platformers played.
Fortunately, levels culminate in a boss "battle" against one of Raziel's brothers, and most of these are memorable high points of the journey. Very rarely is a fight won with brute strength. The majority of Raz's brothers are bested with some sort of creative puzzle solution, turning their powers back against them. It's a satisfying way of defeating these creatures that have been twisted and deformed by the passing of hundreds of years, whose sole purpose seems to be betting Raziel that he can't kill them. Each time he proves them wrong, he absorbs their soul and special ability, which enables him to traverse more parts of the environment, tracking down Kain to his final hideaway.
At the end, however, all of this fratricide leads to a great big reveal of... nothing. The game's story ends with a defeating "To Be Continued..." text screen. Nothing is answered, nothing is explained, no one ever speaks in any specifics. Raziel is never clued into anything that Kain is actually up to, and is instead forced to, I assume, get answers in the sequel that wouldn't appear until the PS2. It's a deeply unsatisfying ending that comes at a point when things seem to be picking up, not concluding.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is rightfully remembered for terrific voice acting, dramatic presentation, and gorgeous environment and character design. It's rightfully less remembered for its janky controls, repetitive combat, and abundance of box pushing puzzles. Overall it's a memorable experience that shows off some of the best that the PS1 era had to offer, but, much like the beginning of Raziel's tale, many years have passed and many things have changed in the world of games, making it a worthwhile journey with a heavy dose of caveats.