Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

Moby ID: 5563
Windows Specs
Buy on PlayStation 2
$25.00 used, $164.99 new on eBay
Buy on Windows
$6.99 new on Steam
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Description official descriptions

Following the events in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Raziel discovers a way back through time and encounters one of the Circle of the Nine, Mobius the timestreamer. Mobius urges Raziel to continue his quest for revenge and destroy the vampire lord Kain. Raziel reluctantly agrees and heads off to discover the knowledge and weapons that will allow him to achieve his goal.

Soul Reaver 2 is a third-person action game with puzzle-solving and some platforming elements, similar to the previous installment. The game world is viewed from behind Raziel's shoulder; the player can move him in any direction, climb, attack, swim, jump and use specific abilities. Raziel retains his special moves from the previous game, which include gripping onto the sides of ledges, climbing walls, and gliding downwards with his torn wings. Like in the previous installment, Raziel can travel between the material world and the spectral realm at will, gaining access to new areas by exploiting distortions that exist between the mirrored worlds. As before, he must drain the souls of his enemies to prolong his existence in the material realm.

Raziel no longer gains abilities from absorbing great souls and instead must imbue his Soul Reaver weapon by activating certain elemental temples. Once activated, various "elemental fonts" can be used to charge the Soul Reaver to specific attributes. Raziel can arm himself with a variety of other weapons including daggers, swords, axes, spears as well as the Soul Reaver and bare-handed claws.

Unlike the previous game, Soul Reaver 2 is linear and follows specific paths through different areas. Raziel cannot return to certain areas once he has left them behind. The game features diverse puzzles, often involving blocks or manipulation of different devices. One common theme is "light puzzles" where Raziel must reflect light, using mirrored objects, so that they touch switches or objects which require activation.

Spellings

  • ソウルリーバー2 - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

143 People (123 developers, 20 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 58 ratings with 5 reviews)

Dramatically improves upon the original, but loses quite a bit in the way...

The Good
The Legacy of Kain series is probably one of the best 3d action/adventure franchises out there, which carved a name for itself by adding some innovative touches to what's essentially a stagnant formula but also by adding to the gameplay an incredibly solid storyline and setting, which continues to twist and bend in every direction in this new sequel.

I won't bore you with the details of what made Soul Reaver 1 so good (just check out any of the reviews), but instead allow me to do a quick rundown as I mention the areas where the game has improved:

The gameplay remains basically the same, which is a good thing. The game thrusts you into what's more or less a seamless world through which your character goes around unearthing the story and gaining new abilities. These abilities unlock new areas of the world and the cycle repeats itself again and again. On top of that, time travel now takes you to different ages of the same location, which unlocks even more challenges and so on. As before, you can switch between reality planes in real time, suck souls and battle re-spawning enemies as you solve puzzles. Said puzzles have been extremely improved and now provide original challenges that call for Raziel to make use of all his abilities and think a bit instead of pushing boxes ad infinitum (the annoying box-pushing puzzles from the original are in fact, gone). Combat has been considerably improved, with a new "lock-on" feature (seen also in other games of this type) that allows you to easily circle-strafe around an enemy, dodge, block and parry his attacks besides just slashing randomly in his/her direction.

The story in the original Soul Reaver was a surprising delight of treachery and plot-twists, and this time things are taken even further. Having had his revenge, Raziel now travels in time in pursuit of Kain, but this little adventure faces him with some unexpected revelations, such as his own true nature and how both him and Kain were fooled by other forces. Additionally, the time travel element takes you in and out of several key moments in the history of Nosgoth, and it's truly a magnificent sight to see how well the writers managed to make seemingly paradox-inducing elements work for them and thus deliniate the fate of Nosgoth as well as give hope to it. Raziel for instance, is found to be the cause of his own doom, yet he finds out he's the only one with the power to alter fate. Those as well as many other plot-points once again weave a web of conspiracy and treachery that will leave you dizzy before you know it. Luckily, this time around the developers included a diary that keeps tabs of every conversation and event in the game for easy review.

Finally, as befitting a next-generation game, Soul Reaver 2 sports some of the most impressive production values in it's class, which include SPECTACULAR voice acting and musical score as in the original, as well as truly amazing graphics that make the original look like a Gameboy game with a completely re-done engine, new models with larger poly counts, larger stages with more detailed texture work and all sort of lighting and particle special effects for some excellent eye candy.

The Bad
It's even shorter than Max Payne! And that's saying something... Not only is the game shorter than the original (by a lot!), but it's completely linear with all the optional glyph quests removed and leaving you nothing to explore on your own. To top that off it's incredibly easy! Save for some rather nasty plane-shifting monsters that appear in some of the later time-eras, each and every fight in the game is a doozer. Gone are the puzzle boss-fights from the original, replaced with the same generic bozos you can eliminate with a couple of hits... it's a shame really as one can't help but wonder why they improved the combat system so much only to have virtually no challenging fights in the game!

Additionally, there's a particularly infuriating problem with the PC version, and it's the fact that while the original PS2 Soul Reaver 2 was just as short, it featured an entire DVD-worth of extra materials to complement this. When you finish the PS2 version you get a code and this unlocks a pletora of extra features which include a veritable roadmap of the Nosgoth continuity (complete with a detailed timeline), cutscene collections from the original Soul Reaver as well as Blood Omen, and a wealth of behind-the-scenes material showcasing the making of Soul Reaver 2.... The way I see it this omission is a clear "Fuck You!" to PC gamers, and I'm not taking it lightly.

Finally the game ends on yet another cliffhanger wide-open ending, basically saying a lot but resolving nothing... So far the series is interesting enough to arouse my interest, but if they keep pulling this trick I'm not gonna be around it for much longer.

The Bottom Line
Soul Reaver 2 improves upon the original in practically every way possible, taking the already fantastic gameplay and content to new levels of quality. Unfortunately in the way it also found a way to lose enough length, challenge and non-linearity so as to coming really close to being an interactive movie... This is something to take into consideration from a gameplay-value point of view, and also if they expect you to pay anything above 10 bucks for it.

Finally (and I HATE saying this) get the PS2 version as it packs all the extras that made up for the lackluster value in the game.

Windows · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

An amazing piece of game with stunning graphics...

The Good
The game's Graphical Programming is quite advanced compared to the last game. The added Extras at the end of the game are very funny and the artwork is amazing. The fun during game play is Raziel's new found sense of humor, and his brother-like relationship with Kain is interesting. If anyone liked the last game, then I strongly recommend this game, it is also good for those who want a more involved RPG to play.

The Bad
The main let down of this game, for me, was the poor story line, and after the reviews that I had read in magazines, the main play graphics were annoying. I think the game's playing graphics are about the same as Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

The Bottom Line
In brief this game is an amazing piece of work. The main story-line is about a young Vampire forced by a half-truthed revenge on his lord, who is lead into the past and is again mis-lead by the devious Moebius. Kain of course creates a paradox by bringing the two Reavers together.... the world lies on the edge of a knife as Raziel tries to over-power the Reaver to find out more of his past. The finale is a repeat of an earlier FMV, Raziel, caught between life and death, is forced to over-power the reaver, after killing his human self, he is again faced and caused to kill his vampire self. As Kain gives a warning we are left with a cliff-hanger as Raziel slips into the Spectral Realm to recover and continue this story in Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 3.

Buy the Game to find out the entire story and to meet the Saraphan and find the truth about Moebius, Kain, Ariel and Raziel's bretheren.

Windows · by Eldarwen Taralom (2) · 2003

Linear, but still good fun to play!

The Good
The first thing that I loved was the first thing that was presented; the opening movie was superb quality and it retold the ending of the previous game, Soul Reaver 1, but it did so truthfully and didn't drastically change things (such as retcon a few important details). After the FMV came a regular cutscene, which still had pretty good quality and... LIP-SYNCING! That's right, whereas in Soul Reaver 1 the mouth of a person didn't move, people actually talk now! Of course, the syncing isn't perfect - but it's still a MAJOR improvement.

Still on the grounds of graphics, every detail was great. I liked the Shade enemies and how they looked see-through yet dark, the many other enemies were improved from the previous game (most notably the Slaugh). Most items/structures that were rendered seemed quite smooth, though some still were noticeably rough-edged (but it was an early PS2 game... I think). Things such as the Soul Reaver weapon and Mobeius have also been "improved" (I place "improved" in inverted commas because some fans may not agree that this change was for the better).

Onto music, then. The first thing that hits you is that this game lacks that mighty kick-ass opening music of Soul Reaver 1, but on the bright side it does have a alright soundtrack despite its absence (If you can get around the fact that the music rarely plays in some areas of the game).

Gameplay. Luckily they've kept the same type of gameplay and perspective from SR1, and they've improved some minor details - such as removing the sometimes annoying and glitchy block puzzles (which are replaced by more creative and unique puzzles - such as the one in Janos' Retreat and in the Forges). The glide function was much more smoother, and gives you more air-time (yay!), and other minor details were improved. Over all, the biggest gameplay changes where the inclusion of Save Point markers and new Soul Reaver fonts and puzzles, along with a linear exploration.

Oh, and another note: Cutscenes were used in the last game for the sole purpose of Raziel's journey, but in this game, cutscenes forward the game and also provide interesting details and notes about Nosgoth and its inhabitants.

As for a fun factor, I'd say that despite its linear nature, Soul Reaver 2 is quite a fun game. Impalement, vampires, blood, souls, exploration, puzzles, evil dudes, expanded story! And did I mention impalement!? Of course the game is fun. If anything, its more fun than Soul Reaver 1 - and what's more, it isn't filled with (many) glitches!

The Bad
For those who have played Soul Reaver 1, you'll notice that this game doesn't have a soundtrack that was as good as SR1. The kick-ass music track that played practically throughout is absent here, and there's nothing that is as good in Soul Reaver 2. In fact, after playing SR2, you'll possibly be unable to recall the slightest bit of audio.

The game is also linear, but it removes the easiness of getting lost - which was almost always the case in SR1 (unless you used a walkthrough guide).

The Bottom Line
For a Legacy of Kain fan, this truly is a highlight of the series. I would recommended it to any Legacy of Kain fan, or anyone whose played any of the previous games (Blood Omen 1, Soul Reaver 1). For a player new to the series, I would still recommend it, but with the caution that the storyline may be hard to pick up. But apart from that, it's all good gaming, my fellow gaming friend.

PlayStation 2 · by Reborn_Demon (127) · 2007

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

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Best writing...ever? Donatello (466) Jan 5, 2014

Trivia

Cut content

  • The game originally called for time-travelling Raziel to run into both forms of Kain, that is the older one he is already familiar with, along with the younger, more arrogant Kain known from the Blood Omen. An early preview of the game, suggests this was the intention.
  • The Water, Earth and Spirit Elemental Reavers were meant to be included in this game, they were not finished in time. Their symbols can be seen in the Elder God's Chamber along with Fire, Air, Light and Darkness.
  • Apparently, the Spirit Reaver was meant to have a Hookshot-like ability.
  • In the "Making of" material section, the Enemy subsection included artwork of Vampires that were meant to be encountered ingame. However they were cut from the final release, and the only Vampires are either main characters or the strung-up kills of the mercenary and Sarafan Armies. Apparently, there were two parts where Raziel would have met them. Firstly, there was a planned sequence involving Raziel interrupting a slaying. And secondly, there was to be a hidden vampire village in the swamp ruins. It's not known whether or not they would have been allies or enemies. There were vampiric and/or demonic cultists planned to appear but they were also dropped. Actually, the lack of vampiric opponents is a surprising turn of events considering that mutated and devolved vampires made up the bulk of the enemies in Soul Reaver.

References: Series

  • When Moebius stands in confrontation with Malek at his side, faint screams can be heard in the background. The screams and dialog match the introduction to the first Blood Omen game, implying that events are occurring at the same time.
  • When Raziel enters the 'full circle' room for the first time (the room with the snake on the ground), in Moebius' crusade era, there are paintings on the wall depicting the Sarafan warriors and a statue of Raziel himself. Well, if you look at Rahab's picture, you'll see a couple of seahorses carved in his armor. Funny thing, since Rahab will be the first vampire with the ability to swim in Soul Reaver...

References

Although the game was released before the movie Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, there's a reference to it, or at least a big coincidence.

When Raziel is heading back to the Serafan Stronghold, after Janos Audron's death, as he reaches the pillars, 3 demons block his way. These demons are very similar to the Balrog in LOTR, but without wings. One of them turn to Raziel and say "You shall not pass!", just like Gandalf says to Balrog in the movie!

Title screen

The background image that swirls around during the title screen is actually the Tomb of William the Just, the view shifts between the material realm and the spectral realm.

Information also contributed by chiriniea, Mark Ennis and WildKard

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Related Sites +

  • Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds
    Website dedicated to the 'lost' content of the games in the Legacy of Kain series. Missing bosses, areas and plotlines that might have been.
  • Zarf's Review
    A review of Soul Reaver 2, done as a comparison to its predecessor, by Andrew Plotkin (November, 2001).

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  • MobyGames ID: 5563
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Unicorn Lynx.

Additional contributors: Jon_Talbain, Shoddyan, Slug Camargo, Foxhack, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 30, 2001. Last modified January 20, 2024.