I played Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver on the PlayStation back in 1999 and it was the primary reason I was excited to review Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered. Unfortunately, even a remaster doesn’t hold up to my memory of the series and ultimately will only satisfy a small portion of gamers that are interested in a 2026 title that handles like a 2003 game. To be fair, my expectations were high based on my memory of Soul Reaver and everything I had heard about the story from the other games in the series. The gameplay hasn’t changed from 2003 but the remastered graphics and bonus materials might be enough to make this game worth picking up for the super fan.
In Defiance, you alternate playing as Kain, the main character of the Blood Omen games, and Raziel, the main character of the Soul Reaver games. Both characters have their own goals but are being manipulated by Moebius and the Elder God in one of the more interesting multiple-game-spanning plots I’ve ever seen. Both Kain and Raziel share enough abilities that switching between them isn’t too jarring but they do have their own unique abilities to provide some variety.
Once again, this is a remaster of a 2003 game so the developers slapped some new paint on old levels, models, and lighting, and though haven’t modernized the games systems. This is the same 2003 game and it certainly feels like it. The camera is fixed and allows you to pan around with the right stick but I was constantly getting lost and running around in circles. The combat feels floaty with no weight. The map is fairly useless for navigating levels that have multiple overlapping areas. Probably the most frustrating thing about the game is that it doesn’t do a good job of indicating where you have to go and what you have to do. If only some of that remastering paint they used included the yellow paint that’s so useful for navigating today’s games…
One thing I do appreciate in remastered games is when they allow you to toggle on and off the graphical updates. Thankfully, Defiance does this through the menus and it is interesting to toggle the graphics options on and off to see what work went into the remaster. The remaster also contains bonus material in the form of lore, developer art, lost levels, a music player, and the ability to rewatch any of the unlocked cut scenes. These are nice touches that might justify a purchase from hard-core Legacy of Kain fans.
Conclusion
It pains me to write such negative things about this game because now I am even more interested in the Legacy of Kain series after all the research that was required for this review. It’s not that this is a bad game, it’s just that this is a 2003 game in a 2026 wrapper and my score is intended for those who are new to the series. While I think that I’ll complete this game (with the help of a walkthrough), I’m afraid that today’s gamers won’t have the patience or nostalgic memories to allow them to power through the early levels and experience the story. I hope that this and the Soul Reaver remasters did well enough with purchases from super-fans to warrant a full remake of one or more of these games for newer players to enjoy.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
