Windows

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Trivia

The intro from this game was partially used on the beginning of doom metal band Tristitia's third album, The Last Grief.

Here's an interesting fact: When the game concept was originally conceived, it was a stand-alone game called Shifter, according to Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights. The title was obviously a reference to the realm-shifting gameplay mechanic.it was changed into a Blood Omen sequel before any work was begun on the project.

However, the Shifter influences made into the game:Namely, the story of the vengeful servant hunting down his former master and brothers, and the incorporation of Angelic and Biblical imagery and motifs.(Raziel and his brothers are named after angels, not to mention Raziel's design.Also, on a side note, Kain is something of both a God and Devil figure in Nosgoth, in this game at least. Though that may not have been intentional on the developer's part.)

Dyack has disclosed separately that Silicon Knights intended to produce a Blood Omen sequel, but has not elaborated on the details other than to comment that it would have been very different than the direction Crystal Dynamics took the series in. Given that "Legacy of Kain" is actually the suffix of the first Blood Omen, it is entirely possible that their plan was for a sequel (or sequels) with a different (anti-) hero altogether, and that the result would have been something more like the next game they created - Eternal Darkness.

SPOILER! MOVE ALONG!#############################################



Alright,the Alternate Ending everyone keeps talking about is this(At least according to the Soul Reaver entry on Wikipedia):

You may remember the corridor with the strange visions. One of these was the one where Raziel strikes Ariel with his wraith blade, resulting in her being absorbed by it. In the Alternate cut, this happens in the game. With the enhanced Reaver, Raziel kills Kain in the Moebuis's Retreat.Afterwards, Raziel would have journeyed to the Silent Cathedral and made all of its bells ring a certain frequency fatal to vampires, thus deleting every single living vampire in Nosgoth, himself included.

There was a graphic novel based on the game. It was published by Top Cow.

One boss that was left out of the final cut was the Priestess. She was supposed to be the leader of a human cult that worshiped vampires. When she is defeated, Raziel receives some sort of possession/control ability.(In fact the first three words said in the game are "Kain is deified". They're said at the start of the intro, so that's not really a spoiler.)

Whilst she didn't show up in the game, she did appear in the graphic novel.

Soul Reaver's main theme song, "Ozar Midrashim 1.1", was composed by Kurt Harland from Information Society, and it is featured on their 1997's album "Don't Be Afraid".

Soul Reaver was initially rated T by the ESRB for Windows and PlayStation, but the Dreamcast version was rated M. The original two versions were later rerated to M as well.

The full, original game was bundled with the year 5 - 50th edition (2001) of CD Expert, a Brazilian computer magazine.

In the Windows version of the game, there is a small cutscene that does not work properly. This cutscene occurs in the lair of Zephon (aka "The Silenced Cathedral") when Raziel opens up three of the Organ pipes. The resulting hymn destroys the two vampires in the room. It is believed that this cutscene was originally part of something larger, and perhaps an alternate ending to the game.

Large parts of this game were cut or changed from the original conception. While this is not important in and of itself (almost every game goes through a period of change during development), it's notable the sheer quantity of what was altered or overlooked. Without spoiling the plot too much, let me just say that there was an alternate ending planned, at least two more bosses, expanded areas, a lot more power-ups to the Soul Reaver and one of Raziel's brothers, Turel is missing completely.

Word is that Eidos thought the game was taking too long and tightened the deadline.

Animation fans will find Michael Bell's voiceover work in Soul Reaver very familiar. Bell has been a voice actor for many cartoons over the years, including G.I. Joe, Transformers, Voltron, and the Smurfs.

Contributed by PCGamer77 (3025) on Jul 05, 2004.

You find your brother Dumah (5th boss fight) lying immobile on his throne, his body pierced by the spears of vampire hunters. As you learned earlier with other vampires, the way to get him to revive in order to take proper vengeance with your own hands is to remove said spears.
However, if you switch into spectral realm before reviving him, you'll have the opportunity to chit-chat a little with his wandering ghost.

Contributed by Schadenfreude (578) on Jun 12, 2004.

Throughout your journey you'll encounter a few human survivors whose primary reaction will be to attack you.
If you just run away without harming them, later in the game you'll notice that, every time you run into a human, not only he won't attack you, but he will fall to his knees and bow to you!
Looks like the rumor of the kind-hearted blue demon spreaded quite fast.

Contributed by Schadenfreude (578) on Jun 12, 2004.

The game offers a great deal of replay value in the search for the Glyphs. Glyphs are the magical artifacts that give Raziel elemental based powers.
Every time you kill a boss you gain a new physical ability which lets you access places you were previously unable to, not only to proceed with the game, but also to find 'secret sub-worlds' in which the Glyphs lie. These side-searches are really worthy because of the beautifully designed environment that these 'secret sub-worlds' are.
One of them is specially interesting for fans of the first BLOOD OMEN game: the place in which the Stone Glyph (for reaching which you need Zephon's walk-climbing ability) is hidden is no other place than Nupraptor's retreat. The giant skull-shaped castle on the side of a mountain in which Kain's very first target used to live. Words can't begin to describe what it means for a fan of the series the view of this familiar place in all its 3D glory, but with the weight of 1000 years on it.

Contributed by Schadenfreude (578) on Sep 05, 2003.

Speech samples from this game were used by the industrial band Velvet Acid Christ in their songs Dial8 and Mindphlux (Trip Zone Mix) on the album Twisted Thought Generator.

Contributed by phlux (4157) on May 20, 2002.

The front cover of the UK Playstation version features a hologram, which if you twist in the light shows Raziel in the spirit world with the twisted pillars found in the game. If you twist the other way, it shows him in the mortal plane with the pillars straight. Naturally, holograms don't scan well but you can see the cover in the Cover Art section with both planes dimly featured.

Contributed by Macintrash (2535) on Aug 21, 2001.