To say that I like the Legacy of Kain series is a bit of an understatement. It is the reason for my fascination with vampires (specifically Nosgoth vampires), my interest in worldbuilding, my first contact with an online fan community (and mind you, when it started I had a dial-up modem at best) and my first interactions with global community as a whole, and thus the need to learn English. I could recite every cutscene from both Soul Reavers, I listened to Ozar Midrashim on loop for literal days. When Blood Omen 2 came out I got it for my 18th birthday and I literally started playing it with 2 other friends while most of my other guests were partying (and if you knew the series you know that the game was kinda shit). So yeah, I have no idea how nobody got the idea that I might be just a little bit autistic back then. 
Sadly, the series ended with Legacy of Kain: Defiance in 2003 and while there were blips on the radar since then (most noteworthy the Dead Sun spinoff which got canceled and the Nosgoth MOBA game which I could never force myself to play), there was nothing about the awesome plot-driven story of the main series. And then we got the remasters of Soul Reaver 1 and 2. The game which started my obsession and its direct, beautifully done sequel. Now with HD textures, detailed models, and revamped engine.
I always tell everyone that you should never pre-order any game… well… do as I say, not as I do, I guess. I replayed Soul Reaver 1 in its classic version before the remaster came out to have a good comparison and… let me tell you, getting through that game was far more frustrating than I remember. With that freshly in my mind I sat to the remaster and it’s amazing how much better it is. The mouse and keyboard control, the new models and textures and support for current hardware are great. It’s not all perfect, of course. I don’t know what they did to the intro cinematic in Soul Reaver1, but it looks kinda wonky. The new models, while very detailed and with crispy textures, are still using the original animation rigging which made them move in very funny ways at times and there are still many places where the limitations of the original engine and map layout are showing through. And of course there’s also the fact that Soul Reaver especially relied on shitty controls to make it difficult. It took me just over 4 .5 hours to complete the speedrun of it from the Abyss to the doors of the Chronoplast and a couple more to get 100% run. Then again, I literally played the game weeks before and I finished it countless times in the past so it might just be me.
But those are minor issues. I see the Legacy of Kain community revitalized after decades of slumber and now an actual new generation of people who weren’t alive when the original series came out can appreciate one of the better-written series with some of the best and most inspiring world building.
I was greatly inspired by that setting and by the mechanics of time travel and destiny that lie at the base of the series and I crafted my own RPG setting around similar ideas, so I gifted remastered versions to my DnD players. I’m somewhat worried that it might be a bit spoilery as to what they are actually against in that campaign, but at the same time I hope that the experience will be as entertaining for them as it was for me all those years ago when I first immersed myself in the world of Nosgoth.
As a matter of fact you can consider this the mandatory Merry Christmas blog post. I Wish all of you Happy holidays
