Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 15, 2021

  [h1]“Changing the currents of Fate, even by accident, comes at a heavy price.” [i]~Gwen Mitchell[/i][/h1] Time is a funny thing, isn't it? And I'm not talking about the fact that the story in this game revolves around the time paradox. I'm talking 'bout how the way you see things change with time. Back in [b]1996[/b], the original [b]Tomb Raider[/b] was the sexiest thing we were able to imagine. Nowadays? Freakin' triangular boobs... I'm not trying to say that dated graphics makes games worse. I'm trying to say exactly the opposite. That sometimes, the “wow!” effect from next-gen technologies and storytelling just won't let you see the game for what it actually is. And only when you return to it a bit later, you can see things clearly. Some games? Thanks to their fun and addicting gameplay, they age perfectly and it's always a pleasure to return to them again and again. While the others... The others rely on the technology too much and as the result, when you return to them years later, they don't feel nearly as good as they felt when they just came out. [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b]? Unfortunately, it's one of the second kind. In [b]2000[/b], [b]SONY[/b] released what quickly became their most successful system up to this day – [b]PlayStation 2[/b]. A year later, [b]Crystal Dynamics[/b] released the second chapter in [b]Raziel[/b]'s saga – a game called [b]Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2[/b]. And back in the days? I instantly fell in love with it. At that point I was already a [i]huge[/i] fan of the series, which I followed since the very first game ([b]Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain[/b]) and seeing the next-gen installment for the shiny new system? It was way beyond epic. [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] offered some really impressive visuals with weather effects, improved controls that used everything that [b]DualShock 2[/b] offered, a complicated story with a lot of twists and familiar names from previous games, and, of course, it offered the series' signature narration. [b]Tony Jay[/b], [b]Simon Templeman[/b] and [b]Michael Bell[/b], they were still here to provide us with tons of cutscenes full of juicy lines. Now, here's the problem. You know how video game series often become more and more dumb with every new entry? Like back in the days, we were supposed to... you know. Draw maps, think about what to do next... Nowadays, even when it's about genres that are [i]supposed[/i] to make you think, developers do everything to make your life easier. Playing a [b]Point & Click[/b] adventure? Why not to press space to see all the active areas on screen? Still stuck? Press [b]F1[/b] and the game will f*cking solve itself. And kids nowadays are like “[i]That's the way, because what if we want to play the game, but don't want to actually do anything?[/i]” Good grief, y'all... Unfortunately, [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] became the victim of such tendencies. Remember how in the first [b]Reaver[/b] we used to explore, look for the secrets and solve puzzles? Well, in [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] all you need to do is... to go forward. Most of the time, the game will show you [i]exactly[/i] where to go and [i]exactly[/i] what to do. There's a thing you can interact with? There'll be a cutscene, in which [b]Raziel[/b] will look on it. There's a “hidden” path somewhere? There'll be a cutscene that will show you the exact location. Sure, there are puzzles, but all of them (literally, [i]all of them[/i]) are so dumb that you'll want to cry. Most of them are just the same exact thing, actually. Thankfully, it's not the cube puzzles from the first [b]Reaver[/b] again, but still, it's boring as f. Take the right charge for your sword and use it in the right place. Repeat until credits will start rolling. Sure, some people may say that dumb action with good story is actually a good thing. Especially since, like I've already said, the controls were improved in this game and therefore battle mechanics became more enjoyable. [i]But[/i]. First of all – [b]Legacy of Kain[/b] was born as a [b]Zelda[/b] clone. And even the first [b]Soul Reaver[/b] tried to do [b]Zelda[/b] thing by copying [b]Ocarina of Time[/b]. Switching to “move forward and enjoy the story” was not... really a good idea. Second – this game is small. Well, you'll still get your [b]5+[/b] hours of gameplay, of course (a usual amount for [b]Legacy of Kain[/b] games), but most of the time you'll just re-visit the same exact places over and over again. Sure, you'll visit them in different period since in [b]SR2[/b] we'll play with time quite a lot, but still, it'll be the same exact areas. The entire game comes with only a few of them and it doesn't really feel good. Finally, in this game there are no proper bosses. At the very end you'll meet some strong opponents (I'll avoid spoilers, but story-wise those are a pretty neat surprise), but that'll be just it – just some strong fat opponents that won't feel that different from regular ones. Like I said – no proper bosses here. In other words – no big open world full of secrets, no complicated puzzles, no proper bosses, nothing. What's left? Cool visuals and great storytelling. But that what brings us to the thing I've started my review with. Back in the days, those were more than enough to compensate for everything. Nowadays? Not so much. [b]PS2[/b] graphics is considered retro nowadays (“[i]Why, God, why? We had a deal! Let the others grow old, not me![/i]”), while storytelling... Well, it still feels good thanks to a solid story and cool voice acting, but not nearly as impressive as it was supposed to feel back in the days. Now, where does that leave us? That's an interesting question. Can I say that the [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] is a bad game? No, I can't. Dumb as heck? Sure. Very limited? Obviously. But bad? No. It's totally playable and if you loved what came before it, it can still be pretty enjoyable up to this day. Personally, I recommend [b]PS2[/b] version over the one we have in [b]Steam[/b], since, like in previous game, [b]PC[/b] port doesn't have rumble feature (while rumble feature was always very good in [b]Soul Reaver[/b] games), but well, [b]PC[/b] port does support high resolutions (up to [b]1080p[/b]) and therefore look way, [i]way[/i] better than what we had on consoles, so, in the end, the choice is yours. One way or another, I don't think there's a way to give this game a thumb down. The story, the narration, the design, all that is still worth your time. And yet, [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] is a nice example of why video games should not rely on technologies too much. Should not forget about the most important thing – the gameplay. Sure, a lot of people nowadays consider story to be the most important thing in video games. I want them to take some time and look at [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b]. Because what we have here? It's exactly that. A tale about developers wasting too much time on making a spectacular show and forgetting about the gameplay. Thanks to that, I actually feel like re-playing this game nowadays was a bad decision. As much as I love the world and characters... it's one of those cases, when the game was, like, a million times better in my memories than it actually was. You may say that it's only because this game is old now, but guess what? I've re-played both previous games before it and they still felt good. Especially the original [b]Blood Omen[/b], which can offer a great fun up to this day (it's on [b]GOG[/b] now and I totally recommend buying it). [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b]? It's just that. A heavily dumbed down experience that relies too much on its storytelling. Did I still enjoy the story? Yes. Do I still love the world of [b]Nosgoth[/b] and its characters? Sure thing. And yet, while re-visiting games like the first [b]Blood Omen[/b] can still be a lot of fun, re-visiting games like [b]Soul Reaver 2[/b] can actually make you regret that decision. Just because there's not enough gameplay, while quite a lot of the original charm is lost in time. Like tears in rain. Dixi.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 17, 2022

  Technical Issues

  Lets start with the technical issues, because this is probably the hardest game in the series to get working, at least it was for me and I had some extra steps that most guides didn't cover. I also want to give a special thanks to Wrace, who single handedly has kept these games playable and seemingly is still be trying to help others in getting these games working to this day. I found this discussion the most helpful and up-to-date. Its probably the best place to start, it has Wrace helping in the comments and that's what got this game working for me. Technical notes/General Tips <*>Its essential that you don't play this game above 60 fps, a lot of in-game mechanics break. I see people complaining about being stuck in place when in spectral mode, this is usually due to very high fps. <*>If you have a 120-144 Hertz monitor, you have to set it at 60 hertz via your OS. In order to achieve 60fps via the use of the games inbuilt v-sync. There are alternatives of course. <*>Don't play the game in 16:9, unless you have installed the widescreen patch, otherwise everything is very stretched, so use the highest 4:3 resolution you can. <*>I very strongly recommend you play with a controller, otherwise the combat will really feel clunky. <*>With a controller pointing your move-stick and pressing JUMP towards the enemy, dashes you forward while locked on, then u follow it up with an attack. With the keyboard this is extremely awkward and initially made me think combat was broken. <*>If you're not sure about something or stuck, read the manual! It helps explain a lot mechanics you might of missed/forgot(I really miss good'ole manuals) <*>I didn't know how to drop items without throwing them, found out you had to crouch then press action. (me dum dum) <*>Not obvious at first, but When facing multiple enemies, when locking on the nearest enemy, the others will ignore you, until you either kill or stop locking on, but this isn't always the case, especially late-game. When I finished with the fixes, that game ran flawlessly, except 1 instance where music didn't play during 1 cut-scene, otherwise not a single issue.

  Soul Reaver 2

  Now the game is sadly a downgrade when compared to the first 'Soul Reaver', but there is great deal to love about this game. The story is the obvious standout, I simply couldn't stop playing because of how hooked I was on the plot. I cant remember the last game had such a gripping storyline and the voice acting is stellar, its absolutely a 10/10 in that aspect, I still have my personal theories going into defiance. Gameplay wise, its decent, but I'm quite forgiving when it comes to old adventure games and the major difference from the first 'Soul Reaver' is this game is linear, so no secrets or diverging paths. I didn't skip any enemies, there's reasonable amount enjoyment in mastering the combat, thought clunky at times. You can manipulate the AI, because they will try countering your attacks, so mixing it up crouch/light/heavy/dash attacks can be fun... until you get stunlocked. You don't have spells from the first game sadly, a lot was cut form the game to ensure they hit their deadline with this one. The only real new ability you earn is being able to run through swamps/water with the air reaver. The puzzles are quite enjoyable and the game is overall paced quite well, the combat can get repetitive and little tedious at times. Overall, I strongly recommend this game, if not for the story alone.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 17, 2022

  this is perhaps one of the greatest stories ever told in the history of video games
• Trauma

  Nov 21, 2022

  Just posting this to make my findings about this game known. This game works out of the box on Steam Deck. This game ( as well as all of the other Legacy of Kain games on Steam) has horrible issues with game pad compatibility. However, it works flawlessly on Steam Deck as there are community profiles that map the keyboard buttons to the buttons on the deck, allowing for flawless controls. And the game runs and performs flawlessly from my experience.
• SolidSnakeUAE

  Dec 3, 2022

  the game unplayable unless it run in 60 FPS fix available in the community hub discussion buy it on discount fantastic story and the strongest enemy is the camera
• Cd49

  Dec 18, 2022

  To everyone who has trouble getting Soul Reaver 2 to run on Windows 10. Here's what I did: 1. Go to the Reshade Website and download d3d8.dll (This converts all the directx 3 stuff to direcktx 8) 2. Extract and copy into Soul Reaver game file (C:\Steam\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Soul Reaver 2) 3. Download the widescreen fix for Soul Reaver 2 and extract them into the game files also 4. In the game files create a text document and write: "@start /affinity 1 /high sr2.exe" (This will make SR2 only use one core to prevent crashes during cutscenes) 5. Click save as and make sure to type the file ending .bat 6. Click on the bat file to open the game (Do this everytime you want to play) 7. Go into Graphic options and set your prefered Resolution with a bit depht at 32 8. Change the selected Driver (I used Trial and Error) 9. Enjoy the best narrative in the Legacy of Kain series and videogames as a whole PS: Since you're running the game through the .bat file, Steam won't show you as in-game and won't record your total playtime. PPS: You can still see your playtime everytime you save
• gamedeal user

  Jan 3, 2015

  I'm not reviewing the game itself, but the version currently on Steam and how it plays. That is, depending on your system, terribly. Lots of people have problems with random freezes during cutscenes, which is a pain since save points are often an hour or so apart and you can't even skip cutscenes you've already seen. The localized versions of this game, while they exist and are generally considered good quality, are simply not available on Steam. This is English only, and worst of all, this game comes from a time when not having any kind of subtitles was acceptable (way to do accessibiility, by the way). I don't care how old this game is. If you are republishing it, you have to do basic support. Why are we still paying for it if not this? Update on this : So it appears the frequent freezes are related to processor affinity in multiple core systems (most modern PCs). There are workarounds, none of which are very convenient for end-users. This could be fixed somewhat easily for everyone if Square Enix had any care. For this reason, and for the non-inclusion of versions other than English, I still don't recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 8, 2015

  [h1]Soul Reaver 2[/h1] "This is the sublime moment of our undoing, Raziel - the ineffable fulcrum upon which swings the entirety of our history. This is where all of Nosgoth is betrayed." ~Kain This game is the third entry of the Legacy of Kain series. Second, if you don't include Blood Omen 1 as that was made by other people technically, but the rest of the Legacy of Kain series was built right off of that game. Also, I feel this is quite obvious but will post a warning all the same, [b]this review will most likely spoil the first Soul Reaver game.[/b] After all, Soul Reaver 2 picks up literally right where Soul Reaver 1 left off, converting the final dialogue between Raziel and Kain of 1 into 2's CGI prologue scene. Kain escapes Raziel's reach by using the time streaming chamber to escape to a much less desolated version of Nosgoth in the past. But Raziel, still the faithful servant of the being only known as the Elder God who ordered him to assassinate Kain at the very beginning of Soul Reaver 1, follows him into the portal fearlessly armed with the Wraith Blade. And then, he meets Moebius. Moebius is a more than dubious character, one which Raziel is rightly suspicious of. Moebius, similar to Raziel's master, the Elder God, pushes him towards executing Kain. It doesn't take long for Raziel to gain the ire of both of them. As Raziel encounters the Kain that fled from him not too long after meeting Moebius at the Pillars of Nosgoth and does not kill him. Instead, Kain asks him to witness this pivotal moment of Nosgoth's history: the Corruption of the Pillars. After all, they walk in the first Blood Omen's era, about 30 years before Kain is presented with the choice he is given at the end of the first Blood Omen. Either die as the last vampire and thus bring about the extinction of his race, or allow the pillars to begin to collapse entirely, bringing about the apocalyptic version of Nosgoth you travel through in the first Soul Reaver. Kains tell Raziel to unearth his destiny, and then leaves. And thus, in Soul Reaver 2, you are no longer chasing Kain to assassinate him as Moebius and the Elder God seem so determined, but instead, travel through Nosgoth in several different eras, learning more about your past as a human, the Soul Reaver, and your destiny. There's quite a bit of time traveling in store for you, keep in mind this advice: "History abhors a paradox." Following in Soul Reaver 1's foosteps, Soul Reaver 2 is another action adventure game. The combat and graphics have obviously been improved quite a bit. However, as I said in my Soul Reaver 1 review, it's important to have reasonable expectations. I had less issues with Soul Reaver 2 than I did with Soul Reaver 1, less flickering textures, I could use a 360 controller without installing a program such as Xpadder or something. Still, even Soul Reaver 2 is still almost like fourteen years old. I did have a few crashes, lessso than Soul Reaver 1, but unlike in Soul Reaver 1, you cannot just save anywhere. So if it does crash before you can save, you probably will have to repeat things you've already done. Also, I cannot verify if it'll work on Windows 8 or anything like that. Personally, I played on Windows 7 and it was fine. The combat has been updated from Soul Reaver 1 and is in general different. In Soul Reaver 1, often, you found yourself doing your damndest to avoid getting hit because that mean you would lose the Wraith Blade, and if that happened, you would have to either throw your enemy into a fire, pool of water, or into the sunlight to kill them because after all, the majority of enemies in the game were vampiric. In Soul Reaver 2, the most common enemy you'll be fighting will be the Sarafan (humans), these weird creatures made of darkness that appear in parts, and hellish demons that will actually follow you into the Spirit Realm if they knock you into that (that's right, they added enemies actually capable of removing the "no stakes" element of the Spirit Realm). Additionally, while the Wraith Blade still works the way it did in Soul Reaver 1 for a bit in the beginning of Soul Reaver 2 (you keep the wraith blade until you get hit), not long into the prologue, the rules are changed when the Wraith Blade actually meets the past version of itself, the Soul Reaver. The Wraith Blade actually gains a will of its own. The Wraith Blade had always been a soul consuming spirit bound to Raziel and before then, trapped in the Soul Reaver itself, but now it was fully awake. Basically, what this means is, you won't lose the Wraith Blade anymore if you get hurt, but the more you use it, the more a little a ring will fill around your health. If it becomes full, I believe your health will actually begin to drop, although, I'm not too sure. To be honest, I was always mindful of how much I used the Wraith Blade because of this. Plus, I also just used the other weapons you could get from Sarafan and the sort. The Spirit Realm remains in Soul Reaver 2, and to be honest, while it's still cool in Soul Reaver 2, I preferred the way it looked in Soul Reaver 1. You maintain most of the abilities you gained from killing your vampiric brothers in Soul Reaver 1, such as phasing through barred barriers and certain doors in the Spirit Realm, climbing certain walls in the Material Realm, actually being able to swim without being immediately sent to the Spirit Realm/basically falling apart (you're essentially a walking corpse after all)... and etc. Where as in Soul Reaver 1 your goal was to kill off your vampiric brothers and then kill Kain, in Soul Reaver 2, you'll find your goal is more along the lines of finding elemental forges to imbue the Reaver with various different elements, along the lines of fire, darkness, light, air, and etc. As there are numerous doors that are locked unless you possess a certain element, and most of these places contain knowledge about things you want to know more about. Plus, you're already there, why not explore a less ruined Nosgoth that isn't infested with vampire spiders? Admittedly, I preferred the boss battles to the forges but... the one final "boss battle" this game does have is awesome for story reasons. There's less of this in Soul Reaver 2, but as in the first, if you're stuck and it seems there's no way to progress, enter the Spirit Realm. And also, if you find the enemies that will pursue you into the Spirit Realm if they beat you annoying when they start showing up, it seemed to me that they were actually easier to kill in the Spirit Realm. So keep that in mind. Also, another improvement in the transition to Soul Reaver 2. There's still puzzles, but almost zero block puzzles. Hoorah! Although... there is one thing I was sort of bummed out by. Soul Reaver 1 was linear sure, but it didn't feel that way. There were side areas you could explore, you could save anywhere... but SR2, BO2, and Defiance are all on a checkpoint system. They're still good, but the Nosgoth you explore in SR1's probably my personal favorite. As it was with Soul Reaver 1, I definitely recommend this game. The gameplay's certainly improved from Soul Reaver 1, and everything else (the story, the atmosphere, the voice acting, and the music) continue to be excellent. As long as you appreciate old games, yes, absolutely play this game/series. After SR2, only Blood Omen 2 and Defiance remain... and also Nosgoth, I guess. I'd recommend playing Blood Omen 2 between this game and Defiance. Defiance should be the final note you finish playing LoK on, not BO2 for... reasons I'll go into in my inevitable BO2 review. tl;dr: Absolutely. Legacy of Kain, in the words of the Elder God, "you are worthy." 7.8/10.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 30, 2015

  Three words: Legacy of Kain. One of the best sagas out there. It has amazing voice acting, great story (although a bit hard to follow if you haven't played the other games, which is no problem since most of them are usually on sale together), simple but satisfying gameplay, hidden stuff and much more. If you buy this saga you're in for a great time, and you'll love it as much as many of us have. 10/10
• gamedeal user

  Apr 6, 2016

  One of the old relics of my games, which continues the incredible stories of Raziel. The puzzles and story gives to this game a special charm.