Soul Reaver 15th Anniversary

Today we celebrate the 15th anniversary of a game which changed my life, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Soul Reaver first grabbed my attention in a preview listed in one of the OPSM issues in 1998. Its revolutionary mechanic of no-loading times and shifting between two realms made it a real hit in 16th of August, 1999. Highly anticipated, it was often compared to its competitors, mainly Tomb Raider 3. I was previously used to the box-like structure of Tomb Raider games but Soul Reaver totally surpassed any ps1 game at that time with its complicated architecture, stunning visuals, expertly crafted models and professional voice over. Even to this day, the game remains highly playable and enjoyable. It will always remain on top of my favourite games of all time.

It is hard to imagine it has been already 15 years since Soul Reaver was published and in order to commemorate its release, I am giving away Legacy of Kain collection on Steam and 10 Nosgoth keys (which were all graciously contributed by a fellow LOK fan and friend, Chance, thanks a lot!).

In order to win the LOK collection, write me an email at ancientvampire(at)centrum.sk with a description of why do you like Soul Reaver and what is your favourite moment from it. I´ll choose one winner and post their answer in this article.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations to EzioAs! Hope you will enjoy the collection.

"Why I like it

While I did play it 3-4 years after it was released, I got into it very quickly. Even though it was released during the PS1 era, it still has graphics that were very good for it's time. The environment was also very well done and the character design was very different from any game I use to play (which is mostly RPG).
There's shifting from different world, difficult puzzles, swimming, multiple spells, places to explore, there's tons to love about the game.

However, the biggest thing that remains to me why the Soul Reaver (and the entire Legacy of Kain games) is the story, dialogue and voice acting. No game came even close up to this day (well, some do but still doesn't beat it).

My Favorite Moment

Hmm, quite difficult to choose but I'll say the ending, the one where Kain goes into the portal, Raziel follows and meets Moebius. I know most people hate it but I do love cliffhangers. They give you the sense that next game already has the storyline and most of the time, it doesn't clash with previous games. That's my favorite moment."

For anybody else who does not have Nosgoth yet, grab a key from below and redeem it here. 

(You need a SE account and link it with your Steam account in ordert to play).

BEWUDE-225-JOWAVA-011
DECOLE-205-BOBODE-031
NEBODE-227-JALANE-016
NECOLA-227-JALAVA-001
PEWOLA-225-JADABE-221
PAJOFA-325-COYAVA-225
BEJUFA-227-JAWADA-201
NEPUFE-777-COTOVE-015
DAGODE-375-BANATA-236
VAWOFA-257-BADABA-211

Update: All keys have been used!

I hope you will enjoy the game and looking forward to your emails!

Gamer's Republic Soul Reaver Preview

A few weeks ago I was browsing Ebay for any magazines which would have rare SR1 info or screenshots and stumbled upon Gamer's Republic issue no. 6 from 1998. The  front cover with Raziel looked very promising... I had a hunch it will be worth it, so I purchased it almost immediately (luckily it was not expensive at all). When it arrived in the mail I was rewarded with plenty of previously unseen information and screenshots. The magazine also features and advertisement for a an official SR1 strategy guide by Millennium publications set to release in January 1999. However, in that time only the SR1 Prima guide was published as the official one. No other record of this SR1 'official' guide by Millennium supposedly exists (if anybody has any info, I'd be grateful).

 

Download Gamer's Republic SR Preview in PDF

Greenish SR1 logo

This page mentions the following info - it is unclear as whether there were 10 actual Lieutenants planned or it mistakenly lists 3 Kain Encounters and Priestess as part of the number:

''In victory against 10 clan leaders, special abilities are bestowed upon Raziel as he assimilates his victim's essence, every confrontation leading  to a greater being.''

 About the Reaver enhancements:

''Raziel starts out with only his claws to battle, but once he first confronts Kain, he destroys the Soul Reaver sword (the weapon Kain used to butcher his victims in the original game), and must claim it as his own in the spirit world. Once Raziel claims the sword, he can baptize it, as with other weapons, in streams of light, water, fire, spirit, imbued it with added strengths.''

About the Undercity and vampire worshippers:

''In religious undercity, zealot cult members will actually rush to torched vampires and split themselves open to pour blood over the vampires' charred remains, resurrecting them.''

 Close up of the Chapel area

 Rare close-up shot from the Sunlight Forge

 Rare close-up shot from the Water Forge

Previously unseen render of Raziel with lava as background (implying Turel's territory?)

PSM 19 and more SR1 early screenshots

I have finally got my hands on the old US PSM issue no.19, which houses the most interesting preview and strategy guide for the cut content of Soul Reaver! All credit goes to Whitney from Silent Hill site, who kindly uploaded the pages regarding Soul Reaver and thanks to Kevin who contacted her.

Download US PSM issue no.19

SR1 is refered to as "Kain 2"

This page has rare shots of an early Soul Reaver, when Raziel held it like a sword. Also notice the caption under Turelim vampire (Dark Demons part) saying: "This Aluka boss grants Kain the ability to breathe underwater." which has every single word in it wrong! The page also mentions that Raziel mission is to exterminate all the vampires in Nosgoth and that humans would give you tips.

From this page, they included a strategy guide (Guide for an unreleased game? This is rather unusual and premature). Adepts are called "acolytes" in their description and mentions the Melchahim as "Skinner clan", while refering to Necropolis as area called "Melchahim" instead.

On this page, Rahabim are called "the Aluka clan" and also mentions two cut abilities - Shift at Will and possession. Shift at Will will be gained after 2/3 of the game and that Raziel can now access Sound Forge, Sound Glyph,  Force Glyph and Undercity. It also describes how would possession ability work in great detail.

This page describes each Soul Reaver enhancement in great detail, however, it does not state where exactly each forge is located.

This page deals with Glyphs. Strangely, it describes the Sunlight Glyph being the weakest (only stunning enemies instead of burning them) and Force Glyph is put as pre-last (while it doesn´t kill enemies like Sound and Fire Glyph do).

My fellow SR1 researchers Kevin Chatmajo and Aevum have found interesting collections of old images from many gaming sites. Some of them are previously unseen images of alpha and beta versions of the game.

Alpha/Beta Screenshot Collection Gallery

Sources: allgame, GIA, Player´s Choice Games, Gamespot, MobyGames, Gamer´s Hell,

Also, check another version of Sanctus Christus SR1 video (in French) which has tons of unseen footage:

The Undercity and the Priestess

In the last two weeks I was focusing on redoing all of the Undercity and incorporating it into the world of SR. I have used several bits of the existing City architecture and used some of them to built the new Undercity part. I have also applied the released Undercity textures on the new levels to create an authentic feel. I won´t spoil where the entrance to the Undercity is as you have to find it yourself, but I hope you will find the additional area exciting to explore and solve the new puzzles. 

Compare with the original screenshots (source: Arnold Ayala´s blog):

Also, here is the Priestess as she will appear in the game:

Compare with original Priestess sketch (recoloured by me):

Competition winners and more SoulRev screens *UPDATE*

The winners of the Christmas competition are Tube Reaver for the fastest email with all the screens and he won Trine 2 Complete Edition and Baziel, who won Serious Sam double pack. Alas, I didn´t get more emails, so I hope you at least enjoyed the SoulRev demo. I have currently finished the material version of Necropolis and going to tackle its spectral version. I have also used Daniel´s higher res textures for the chapel and started working on the northern vastes part. Hope you like the new screenshots! (They are still WIP so I haven´t tweaked a lot of the textures yet for example).

UPDATE: I have uploaded more screenshots below.

Fan game Soul Revenant announced!

A new fan game has been announced by Jake Pawloski on LOK PS forums - a 3D enhancenment of the original Soul Reaver, aptly named Soul Revenant. The game takes everything which was great from Soul Reaver and enhances it to improved graphics, enhanced models from SR2 and Dreamcast), similarly as the project Blood Omnicide does, which is a Blood Omen remake in 3D. The game will require for you to own a legal pc version copy of Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2, which you can purchase on gog.com.

Soul Revenant will feature all the locations found in Soul Reaver in higher polygon count, all the abilities and glyphs and also the same game mechanics. The game will also feature a recreation of all the deleted areas, events and audio as it was originally intended by the creators. Our first goal is to finish the game rules and animations, then we can publish a playable demo taking place at the beginning of the game. For now, you can see the first screenshots from the Underworld level below and later we will post a video of the first cutscene as well.