The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (PSX) - 4. Zephon

At the time of this video release, The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver will be celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary, and 25 years later, it remains to be something of a benchmark for 3D Platformers, or rather, a benchmark for what we now refer to as “Metroidvania”. Now some of you might already be laughing at that very notion but, truthfully, Soul Reaver is a Metroidvania, one that transforms the concepts established by Symphony of the Night, and Super Metroid, into one compelling 3D adventure.
Ofcourse, whether that is the most appealing part of Soul Reaver is another matter entirely as The Legacy of Kain’s story casts you into the macabre world of Nosgoth, a place disturbed by corruption and darkness. The operatic overtones of the story need little overstating either as our protagonist, Raziel, sets out on a quest for vengeance against his vampiric brethren and his former Lord in Kain. It is presented with a level of maturity that often got overlooked back in 1999, with Simon Templeman, Michael Bell, Tony Jay, and Anna Gunn (yes, that Anna Gunn), all convincingly delivering their lines and adding depth to the drama.
Raziel uniquely is a Spectre, the titular “Soul Reaver”, existing between the material and metaphysical realms of Nosgoth. What makes this fascinating is the way this thread is interwoven into Soul Reaver’s gameplay and storytelling. The shifting of realms changes the way in which puzzles are solved, objects are interacted with, and how platforms are traversed throughout play. How it looks in motion is truly incredible, even all these years later, as you see Nosgoth’s gothic architecture literally warp around Raziel in realtime during transitions.
Soul Reaver is likewise famous for having next to no load times on PlayStation as well. Outside of the initial wait into the underworld, you can experience the campaign, from beginning to end, with minimal disruption. There were a couple moments where my nearly thirty year old SCPH-1002 struggled to keep up with the Soul Reaver’s constant streaming of data but it is still something of a miracle to see on a machine with relatively limited system RAM and even more limited reading speeds on it’s CD-Drive. Soul Reaver does however also benefit by having very crisp MIDI based audio, with ambient tracks that feel suitably otherworldly throughout Nosgoth’s eerie terrains. Likewise, the muddiness of Soul Reaver’s textures seep into the anachronistic remains of the gameworld, with effective use of dithering to mask fog (similar to Silent Hill released during the same year). Visually, Soul Reaver sets the mood very effectively.
In a similar manner, the 3D animations feel smooth for the hardware and move with purpose, they aid in Soul Reaver’s combat too, as you can see very expressive tells from enemies during their assaults. Crystal Dynamics, the developer, smartly opted to have a control scheme not a million miles different from The Legend of Zelda’s own 3D outings, with a lock-on interface employed for taking on individual foes. This Lock-on works just as well in Soul Reaver, although maybe sometimes it gets hampered by some finicky camera work, which admittedly, was a problem for many other 3D person action games of the time too. But perhaps, in returning to my original point about Soul Reaver being a Metroidvania - exploration is king. Looking behind every nook and cranny, finding areas you can’t access without having the appropriate power-ups, taking in everything that Nosgoth’s locales have to offer truly represents the bread and butter of Soul Reaver’s design. How it all meshes together feels distinctive and that is something I can’t express enough. Perhaps Crystal Dynamics ambitions were big enough that it all concludes in a rushed manner however. Soul Reaver’s single player experience just sort of ends. Although, as luck would have it, Soul Reaver 2 goes above and beyond to resolve the concepts established in the first game, taking on the facets that were otherwise left on the cutting room floor.
Today, The Legacy of Kain IP sits in limbo, with Soul Reaver especially in dire need of restorative treatment. If any game is deserving of the Nightdive Studios treatment then it would be this one, if only to let modern audiences know that exceptional game design can go a long way in making a piece of interactive fiction be remembered forever.
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A LEGAL NOTICE:
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Any copyrighted footage I use is covered under fair use laws, or more specifically those listed under Section 30(1) of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1989 and under section 107 of US Copyright Act 1976. This video exists purely for the purpose of research and criticism. I do not make a profit from any uploaded content, nor do I intend to. Thank you for watching.

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My asmr for the night sorted lol