Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered review

The team at PlayEveryWare had a challenge ahead of them.  The remaster of Soul Reaver 1 and 2 was such a triumph, so everyone was expecting that the Aspyr team would be handling Legacy of Kain: Defiance – the culmination of both the Blood Omen and Soul Reaver games. This game is a critical capstone as both protagonists come together to face their biggest threat — the Hylden.  This made it a bit of a surprise when we found out that it'd be handled by the crew who handled ports of games like Among Us, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Another Crab's Treasure, Dispatch, and more.  Thankfully, I'm happy to report that their streak of fantastic ports and engineering work at PlayEveryWare continues.  More than just a remaster, this release is pure fan service, and most importantly, it is worthy.

I remember when I played this all the way back in 2003 on the PS2 and original Xbox.  I also remember that my chief complaint was the Devil May Cry-style camera angles causing serious problems with platforming.  I remember some incredibly frustrating moments, such as trying to escape poison mist with Raziel that was infuriating as the camera seemed more intent on jamming its face into any nearby wall, causing a lot of unnecessary deaths. Throw in some floaty glide physics, awful swimming systems, tedious platforming sections with enemies who exist only to shoot you at the last section to make you repeat them, and it made for a game that could be a hard pill to swallow, despite the amazing storyline.  Thankfully, and probably most importantly for the overall enjoyment of the game, that has been completely resolved with a fully unlocked camera.  It's hard to overstate just how much of a huge improvement this really is.  Any nostalgia I had for this game was immediately met with a sharp reminder of just how much of a sixth-gen example of its time it really was.  Games that emphasized a specific aesthetic or mechanic over whether those things were fun is a product of its time, and one that's thankfully behind us.  This remaster fixed that — something I never would have expected.  

There's little point in dissecting the story as that's really not what anyone interested in this game is worried about.  This is a complicated, time-hopping, paradox-laden story that picks up directly after the cliffhanger of Soul Reaver 2 as they both grapple with their roles in the destruction of Nosgoth.  They become often-unwilling partners in its restoration, utilizing complex time travel to further fracture the timeline into a fourth possible thread, with the story bouncing between both perspectives unfold, both being manipulated by Moebius the Time Streamer and the the parasitic entity known as the Elder God.  It's as strong a story as it ever was, and an absolute treat to experience all over again and with so many improvements.  The series ended here, starting a period of time I like to call "Square Enix has unrealistic expectations, repeatedly".  

Because this is a game that starts right off a cliffhanger, it builds directly from that point in power leveling.  Kain and Raziel both begin this new game incredibly dangerous and equipped with powers and skills from the prior titles.  As such, it also assumes you have recently played and carried the skills and understanding of those powers.  If you've not played the Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remaster, you'll want to likely do that ahead of starting here or you might find the combat more challenging than it needs to be.  It will also likely hamstring your puzzle brain a bit as you won't be used to how the powers are used to solve environmental puzzles.  Besides, both of those are amazing, as you can see in our review, so don't sleep on it.

A well-written story is only as good as the voice actors that bring it to life, and Defiance is arguably the series at its best.  Simon Templeton's performance as Kain hits a fever pitch of malevolence, and Michael Bell's slow realization of his role to play as Raziel is masterful, with both delivering arguably the best these two legends have to offer.  If you were inclined to read the script in its entirety, it's available in the game as an extra.  This was something the remaster of the first two games did as well, as well as Lost Levels you can experience for yourself (more on that in a moment), but the list of goodies available for the super fan is absolutely absurd here.  

It's a rare thing when we get to hear about cancelled sequels that never saw an announcement.  To get to play that demo is even more rare indeed, but that's precisely what you have in the Deluxe version of the game. I don't normally make value judgments on games based on price as that's a personal thing, but for the chance to play a piece of forgotten and hidden history is worth it for a fan like me.  To do that you'll need to pop up to the Deluxe Edition you'll bump up to $29.99 from the $24.99 base price, which is frankly a pittance based on the amount of work that has gone into this remaster.  The Deluxe Edition also gets you access to a Legacy of Kain tie-in comic (translated from German for the first time ever), as well as a new cover for the 2004 one-shot prelude for Defiance from Scott Tucker.  If you opt for the Heart of Darkness Collection, that'll set you back $44.99, but that adds in an extensive Skin pack, as well as a second entire game – Legacy of Kain: Ascendance.  We'll cover the latter in a separate review as it's unfair to judge them together, regardless of quality.   Back to the price, however — that price is a pittance for the amount of work that has gone into this project.  

Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered gets much of its graphical overhaul right, with impressive upgrades to character models, and the chance to try out a few that never saw the light of day.  The environments have gotten retouched in many places, with details small and large getting the once-over.  The lighting is arguably better in many places and much worse in others.  There is a new overblown spirit effect while Raziel is in the spirit world (with an option to turn it up to 10 or all the way off if you don't like it), as well as fresh adjustments to lighting and shadows.  In too many places it's all just too bright.  For a game that is aggressively this Gothic, it needed to retain its dark nature a bit more.  Thankfully, you can play it with the original lighting if you're so inclined, so it's a minor thing, but I'd have liked to have seen a pass or two more to get this right instead.  

At the main menu you'll find a "Dark Chronicle Prologue", which are the cutscenes from the aforementioned remastered Soul Reaver 1 and 2, stitched together with the intro from this title, tying it together with a nice little bow.  From there you'll find the original opening movie, as well as The History of Nosgoth. The History Of Nosgoth is told with pencil sketch stills to tell the story thus far, accompanied by Kurt Harland's amazing soundtrack.  Kane's Arcane Tomes and Raziel's Arcane Tomes are both filled with fantastic concept art pieces and animation tests you'll unlock as you uncover the story. They're purposely locked so you don't spoil the story, but it's very cool to see some of the original concepts for these characters and backstory.  The Training Room is exactly what it sounds like, spawning Kain in a round room to allow you to brush up on your power usage, climbing, and combat techniques against some stationary dummies - useful if you're rusty.

The Lost Levels are a big lure for this Remaster, and it doesn't disappoint.  There are eight individual areas to explore, namely The Collapsed Pillars, The Sanctuary of the Clans, The Early Stronghold, The Early Underworld, The Early Forge, The Air Force, and The Dark Forge and The Water Forge, with an Intro to the Lost Levels note from the developers on their condition.  Some of these cutting room floor artifacts are wireframe level basics that never really made it that far, but others are fairly fleshed out ideas.  It's always interesting to see behind the curtain, and I'm appreciative that the PlayEveryWare put so much work into it.  

In addition to these lost levels, The Making of Defiance gives you another peek behind the curtain. It is locked until you complete the game, but it's another treat for completionists and fans alike. The Music Player is, again, what it sounds like.  It grants you access to not only songs from this game, but many from Soul Reaver 1 and 2, as well as Blood Omen!  These have been retouched to ensure they sound their very best, and frankly it's exactly the kind of thing I'd want as DLC — this is a fantastic soundtrack.  

I will point something out that is frankly moot in a remaster — this game is very much a product of its time.  The linear level design, the monster closets, the shallow and repetitive combat, the forges that all feel like copy and paste versions of each other, and of course another cliffhanger ending that will never (...unless this is a glimmer of hope?) get resolved.  That said, all of these problems are washed away amidst incredible, almost Shakespearean writing, a compelling story thread, and some of the best voice acting that is arguably unsurpassed to this day.  I didn't expect PlayEveryWare to fix all of those other elements as the risk to messing up the secret sauce is too great, but just know going in (or returning to it) that this game is aggressively early 2000s-era gameplay through and through.  

Most remasters simply upgrade graphics and throw in a handful of goodies to plus-up the end product.  Most of the time, that's enough to bring long-time fans along for the journey, while also bringing in a fresh generation of players who might have missed it on the previous platform.  Better still, it helps with game preservation as it helps games that were previously locked onto a prior generation with no way to modern platforms — wins all around.  This isn't that.  No, instead the team at PlayEveryWare did something unexpected, solving a long-standing technical issue that had plagued the original.  It cleaned up the uneven audio mastering, allowing Simon Templeman, Michael Bell, and Tony Jay's absolutely incredible performances to breathe new life.  This isn't a remaster — it's a resurrection.  Do we dare to hope this is the start of something new?  After 22 years, is it even possible?