We interview Jordon Reese, Product Manager at Aspyr on Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

Recently we sat down with Jordon Reese, Product Manager at Aspyr, to talk about the freshly-released Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered.

First off, thanks for taking the time to talk with us – I know you’ve just shipped the game, and likely working on any additional work post-launch.  I appreciate you spending some of that precious time with us.  I wanted to ask a few questions about the remasters, and the hard work you’ve put in to rebuild it.

GT: Can you tell us what it was like working with the old game engines? Did you end up rebuilding inside those engines, or did you port everything to a new engine?

Aspyr: Work in older engines is both challenging and rewarding. We try to do all our work in the existing engine to preserve the game’s feel and overall quality. It’s always an exciting undertaking, as you never know what sort of dragons you might step on or what fun things are hidden. We’ve gotten old levels in games before, additional or cut costumes, and all sorts of fun things.

GT: Many remasters have a button you can press to toggle between the old graphics and the new. Is that something we can expect here?

Aspyr: Absolutely! It’s important to us as a studio to not only bring gems like Soul Reaver back to players but to preserve the original experience. To this extent, we want to maintain the core experience for anyone who wants to play but also bring something new to the table to capture excitement and delight fans.

GT: Lots of folks are very excited for this game and would love a physical edition, a Steelbook preferably? Did you think of doing a physical or collector’s edition?

Aspyr: We go into any project asking ourselves these kinds of questions. We really want to provide the best experience possible to players whether they choose to purchase digitally or physically. I can’t say right now yes or no but as soon as a decision is made you’ll know about it.

GT: A whole lot of things have to go right for any of this to happen, and I doubt you can talk about it given that you’re focused on these remasters, but let me ask this question a different way – do you have the rights to be able to go back and remaster Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain? Blood Omen 2 is far closer to the gameplay style of Soul Reaver, so that seems more likely, but do you have the rights to tackle that? Or Defiance?

Aspyr: Aspyr is part of the Embracer family. The studios within the Embracer organization work extremely closely with one another on various projects, as seen with our strong relationship with Crystal Dynamics to bring Tomb Raider and Soul Reaver back with remasters. We are always looking to do what’s best for the player and what’s best for the IP. If that means bringing other games from the series to market that’s a conversation we want to have.

GT: We know that you worked with Crystal Dynamics to bring this to life, but did you get the chance to work with Amy Henning on her writing and direction, or Kurt Harland on his incredible musical score? Any chance you got to talk with Michael Bell or Simon Templeman?

Aspyr: During any project we always reach out to the original team and try to, at minimum, speak to them about their experience, things they would have wanted to complete, or just further familiarize ourselves with the time and place for when these games were built. I don’t want to mention anyone specific but we’ve had a great time speaking with some of the original contributors to these titles.

GT: The Lost Levels have a lot of folks intrigued, myself included. So much was left on the cutting room floor in both of these games, and you’ve added a lot of it back, along with a fantastic map to help bring it all together. Can you talk about the map a bit? It seems like there’s a lot going on beyond just tying all of the various gameplay hubs together.

Aspyr: We worked closely with Crystal Dynamics to ensure the map not only ties the various gameplay hubs together but also gives players a strong sense of place within Raziel’s world. The feedback and enthusiasm from the community played a big role in shaping this feature. The map is more than just a tool—it’s a way to immerse players deeper into the game, helping them visualize their journey and feel truly connected to the intricate world of The Lost Levels. It’s a feature built with both legacy and new fans in mind, and we’re thrilled to share it with everyone.

GT: There is a lot of cut content to interact with in these Lost Levels. Much of this can be reached with a combination of debug menus, cheats, and clipping on the original releases, but many fans are going to be interacting with it for the first time. How are you giving players access, and have you brought any of it to life?

Aspyr: Players can access the Lost Levels directly from the menus, where they’ll be able to dive straight into each area and explore the original design and terrain as it was left in development. These levels are presented as a “museum experience,” allowing fans to engage with the raw, unfinished content as a glimpse into the game’s creation process. Aside from loading updated textures, we’ve preserved the original code, ensuring these levels remain true to how they were originally envisioned, giving players an authentic window into the game’s history.

GT: Turel in specific seemed to have a lot of his work done, minus his conspicuously absent bat-like ears, including a handful of animations. Are we going to get to finally face off against this monstrous creature?

Aspyr: He’s such a cool character we wanted to include him somehow. We think that players will be excited about his return and being able to see his model in action.

GT: We’ve seen a lot of awesome interaction between the team and fans around small adjustments to the looks of bosses like Rahab, Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, and Dumah. Does it make you nervous to be this close to the finish line and still making big changes like this?

Aspyr: We’re so excited for the launch and being able to bring a game so beloved back to fans and get new players in the game. I’m counting down the days and can’t wait!

GT: You’ve included concept art in the game. Certainly you’ve included the work from Crystal Dynamics, but have you included some of your hard work as well?

Aspyr: We wanted to include as much bonus material into the game as we could. This includes some of the original concept art from Crystal Dynamics as well as fan-made content from the awesome community.

Thanks for celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the game with us, and thanks again for taking the time. Congratulations on the launch, and for the excellent review scores.  It’s well deserved.

You can read our extensive review on the remaster right here — stay tuned as I suspect this is FAR from the last news we’ll hear from this universe…

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