Legacy of Kain: Defiance (Windows)

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Description

Following the events of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2, Raziel and Kain were trapped in the Serafan fortress. Separated by sudden events, Raziel was forced to retreat into the spectral realm, leaving Kain to escape from the Serafan on his own. Both must escape the predicament they find themselves in and fight back against those who would seek to use them as manipulations in a grander plot. From both heroes cry out shouts of defiance, and a thirst to find the revelations that have been buried in the world of Nosgoth.

Legacy of Kain: Defiance is a third-person action game with light puzzle-solving elements, combining concepts seen in both Blood Omen 2 and Soul Reaver 2. The story unfolds through chapters, focusing alternately on Kain and Raziel as they pursue their separate, though intertwined quests. Control of each character alternates between levels, however both are controlled from a behind-the-shoulder perspective. While both heroes are different, they are similar in movement, ability to attack, defend, jump and access special abilities.

Kain and Raziel no longer pick up weapons, instead both using a form of the Soul Reaver weapon (Kain uses the physical sword form, Raziel uses an energy blade). Each Soul Reaver can now be "charged" to unleash a special ability, determined by the current alignment of Soul Reaver at the time. Both Kain and Raziel lose energy at a constant rate and must feed to replenish life energy (Kain feeds on the blood of living creatures, Raziel feeds on the souls of living and non-living creatures). And both Kain and Raziel feature telekinetic abilities to manipulate objects at a distance.

The two are, however, different characters that play differently, each requiring use of his talents, to bypass obstacles (sometimes the same obstacle). Kain focuses on strong combat and destructive abilities. He is able able to power up the Soul Reaver weapon using properties of the Pillars of Nosgoth. Raziel is more subtle, able to use stealth and the phasing between material and spectral worlds in order to discover new paths. As in Soul Reaver, Raziel can phase into the spectral world at any time but must find a special location in order to phase back. Raziel powers up the Soul Reaver using elemental powers.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "凯恩的遗产：挑战" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "Наследие Каина. Defiance" -- Russian spelling
• "LoK: Defiance" -- Common abbreviation

Part of the Following Groups

• Games made into comics
• Legacy of Kain series
• Premier Collection releases
• Protagonist: Vampire
• Technology: amBX
• Theme: Time Manipulation
• Theme: Vampires

User Reviews

Defiant but not as one would expect	Diogo Ribeiro (340)
If not for the pesky camera and repetition, this could have been one of the best games ever.	kbmb (435)
The saga that redefined "plot twist" comes back with a fancy combat system and a few controversial features.	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (589)
I wonder if you can SUE a developer for creating a game that gave you migraines?	Indra was here (20902)
How to ruin a game in two steps…	Cabeza2000 (818)

Critic Reviews

Gamesmania.de	Feb 23, 2004	86 out of 100	86
Gamigo	Feb 19, 2004	8.3 out of 10	83
GameStar (Germany)	Feb, 2004	83 out of 100	83
Shooterplanet	Feb 19, 2004	81 out of 100	81
IGN	Dec 18, 2003	8 out of 10	80
Withingames	Feb 18, 2004	4 out of 5	80
Gameplay (Benelux)	Feb 28, 2004	78 out of 100	78
PC Action	Feb 04, 2004	77 out of 100	77
PC Games (Germany)	Feb 17, 2004	70 out of 100	70
ActionTrip	Jan 06, 2004	69 out of 100	69

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
A new title?!?!?!?!?!	3	Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze (589) Aug 23, 2012

Trivia

References

• There is a cheat code that replaces Kain's weapon with a cardboard tube, with Kain uttering "Fear the Tube". This is a reference to the popular web comic Penny Arcade and its "Cardboard Tube Samurai" character.
• In one of the larger rooms in Vorador's Mansion, you can see a large painting. It is a portrait of a woman's face. However, the interesting thing is that she may be a reference to Umah, the female vampire from Blood Omen. If you look closely at her forehead and the sides of her face, you can make out tattoos similar to Umah's. In fact, one event that was removed from the game was the appearance of a pre-vampiric Umah.

Turel

The boss monster Turel, who Raziel encounters later in the game, was cut from the very first Soul Reaver. Although Turel was mentioned in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver as one of Kain's vampire clan leaders and his disciples could be found in the game, he himself was missing without any plot-related explanation. Furthermore, a strategy exploiting Turel's weakness is needed to defeat him in Defiance, similar to the bosses in Soul Reaver.

Information also contributed by Mark Ennis and Terok Nor

Related Web Sites

• Legacy of Kain: Defiance (Official Website)
• 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.)
• Wikipedia: Legacy of Kain: Defiance (Information about Legacy of Kain: Defiance at Wikipedia)