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?)

Turel's clan territory and Lt. Raziel skin

Since the Undercity is done now, I have started working on the Smokestack area and overhead mountain paths leading to it. Follow me on facebook, where I post updates frequently. Here are the latest screenshots I took from the Smokestack/mountain area:

Also, I got an idea to have a little easter egg in the game. Since we never got to play as Lt. Raziel in Soul Reaver, I have decided to put him in my remake as an unlockable skin.

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):

New footage and screens from Soul Revenant

I finally got back to working on the game again and put all the levels in the world so they are pretty much ready for putting in decorations, torches, etc. I have recorded a short video of how it looks like so far. Bear in mind that animations, enemies, abilities, lighting, etc. is all unfinished and will require lots of work and tweaking. Like the project on Facebook for more news and screenshots!

Amy Hennig IS coming back! *UPDATE*

Today we inform you that a super secret source from inside Square Enix HQ has emailed us about what every fan yearned for - that Amy Hennig is retaking Legacy of Kain! More details follow soon!

UPDATE: Our source decided to reveal himself and also sent pictures confirming the discussions he had with Amy. He says his driving force to contact her is that he has been missing in the game industry for ten years now and he got bored while being trapped in Soul Reaver. He stressed that the fact that he is not in the latest game called Nosgoth is just outrageous and demands a new LOK Game to be made!

Here are some incriminating photos he sent us:

According to him, he and Amy got their heads together and conceived a new idea for a LOK Game. Then they went back to Square together and pitched them the new title Legacy of Raziel: The Tales of the Talking Sword, which will be in the same style as critically acclaimed games such as Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us. He did not say when the production on this new LOK game will start, but we can only hope it will be soon.

On another note, Nosgoth is giving away special skin of Justin Reaver! Don´t miss this once in a year opportunity to get you this slick haired sexy golden Reaver that everybody wants!

Amy Hennig left Naughty Dog

According to various sources and her twitter account, Amy Hennig departed from Naughty Dog on 3rd of March and currently is unknown her next career move. You can read more on her career here and here. I wish her all best and thank her for all the amazing games she provided us with.

UPDATE: In the latest news it claims Amy wasn´t forced out as the original post claims to be the case.

Nosgoth Live Q & A Transcript published

Since the live Q & A from September provided a lot of answers for the new mp game Nosgoth, I have decided to transcribe it into a text form so it is easily accessible any time. I apologize that it comes so late. It was done in November, but because of some unforseen consequences it had to be postponed. Huge thanks goes to my fellow friend and LOK admin Aevum, who helped with the transcript and its proofreading. Hope you enjoy!

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.