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.

2013 roundup on the Ancient´s Den

Since this is the last day of the year I´ve thought I´ll give you a short re-cap of all that has happened. This year was quite an interesting one. January started with a discovery of interview with Amy Hennig on EGM.

In February, it was discovered that SE has registered a new domain name called "War for Nosgoth", this was one of the first clues that something´s up. Further confirmation of this occured in May, where title WarforNosgoth was included in the AMD patch logs but SE denied any comments on this. However, it was more than for certain that Legacy of Kain was about to return from the dead and it was only matter of time when this will be announced publicly as well.

Following this in June, Divine Shadow revelead a shocker - for the last three years,a new Legacy of Kain game has been in the works. Dead Sun took us hundreds of years after SR1 sd the player would play as a hybrid of human/vampire Gein/Asher. For certain reasons, this game was canceled after almost three years. While Dead Sun stayed dead, another project still kept going. George Kellion, Community Manager of SE London, acknowledged the existence of a new game called Nosgoth, finally putting out any doubts about a new installment awaiting. On another note, Ken McCulloch has been arrested for pornography charges, a very sad end for a co-creator of BO1. Meanwhile on the Eidos forums, moderator the Hylden has released an awesome looking separate texture packages for Defiance which enhances the textures in the pc version,.

In July, I have been editing Kain from Defiance (thanks goes to Hylden who got me the model) for my SR remake and I also have released my BO2 in-game soundtrack for download and at this time I was contacted by very interesting sources inviting me to a special event regarding the new LOK game.

In August, I have started working on Soul Revenant more, getting together with my programmer and we got quite a few things done. I have also compiled an FAQ regarding Nosgoth as many misinterpretations and questions has arised concerning the new game.

September held the biggest event in my life so far, the Nosgoth Community Day to which me and other dedicated LOK fans have been invited. Later in the month the embargo was due so we could publish our accounts of that  amazing day on our sites. Also Blood Omen 2 finally got on Steam and I published an interview with one of the series´s writers, Carol Wolf.

October brought upon us the early alpha testing in Nosgoth and enabled European and American players to apply later in the month.

In November, the LOK Wiki was updated with several articles and more article regarding lore was posted on Nosgoth´s blog.

And at last, in December there have been Nosgoth blog posts regarding the Razielim and gave us a missing piece of their history. As the Chronoplast Turns by my friend Umah made it´s return with exclusive content after long dormancy. I have finally uploaded all the parts of my SR1 walkthrough as well.

I have released a playable demo of Soul Revenant and more screenshots. Progress is going pretty well, yesterday I have added outer part of the Cathedral complex:

When putting the sections of the Cathedral together, I discovered some rather surprising overlap of areas, which will be a bit more challenging to fix as you can see below:

As my YT channel got 1 million total views, I´ve decided to make this thank you video for all those who have been watching, so thank you again!

I wish you happy new year!

Best wishes,

Raina Audron

Merry Christmas from the Ancient´s Den

Soul Revenant demo and Christmas Contest

Hello my dear readers,

since Christmas and New Year are just around the corner I decided to make something special for you this year. I have prepared a short demonstration on how my SR remake goes along and with it, I´ve thought it might be fun to get you involved in a small contest and you can win some games too!

In order to win one of the prizes (Steam game keys) you have to find 20 Christmas presents which I hid within the demo. Download the demo and the instructions on how to participate. The instructions also contain the controls, so don´t forget to download it as well! Enjoy!

Note: Please make sure you download the correct file as pictured below. Also no installation necessary for you to play.

Download SoulRev Demo  - Mediafire

Download SoulRev Demo - G-drive

Download the Instructions

I hope you will like the demo and have fun with the competition!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you all!

Soul Revenant Update - Adding Raziel´s territory

After a two month break I decided to continue with work on the project. In the last few days I have been adding decoration to the Sanctuary of the Clans and also worked on putting together Raziel´s stronghold and added to the game. I still have to add the spectral version of it, but as it is a rather tedious and long process, I´ll try to add in the next few days. If all goes well and I´ll get together with my programmer next week, I might be able to release a playable demo before Christmas. Just bear in mind it is only a small demonstration as you can´t really fight anybody (I´ve placed few enemies in so you can see them in few spots), has bugs and collision problems, have to iron those later. Like us on facebook if you support our cause, thanks!

Below are screenshots from the newest build and a sample of higher res flags which I made to replace the old ones.

Razielim´s fate unearthed - Nosgoth blog articles

New blog posts regarding Razielim have unearthed their fate after Raziel´s execution into the Abyss. With Kain gone, the Lieutenants assaulted the remaining Razielim. However around hundred of them were spared, as they were pupating in the Underground city. Once emerged in their new state of change, they found themselves trapped underground. Starved for blood and with no knowledge of their sire´s apparent death, they became desparate and try to claw their way out. However, their beautiful forms suffered when they could not feed on blood and their skin hardened. Once they found their way out, they ventured through Coorhagen and flew to reach their clan territory in the West only to find Dumah.

Razielim blog part 1

Razielim blog part 2

Razielim blog part 3

On another note, Razielim won the poll regarding a favourite class in Nosgoth:

TAD YouTube updates

I have finally finished uploading all the parts of my SR1 walkthrough on my TAD YT channel. I´m planning to do a little special thank you video for New Year if my total views reach one million before the end of the year (only 4 000 views left!), so I hope you will like it. As I couldn´t record the credits from the pc version, I have decided to recreate it in HD and widescreen format since such a great credits deserve to be in high quality. Also, I´ve uploaded a way on how to defeat Kain under a minute. Both the credits and the second Kain encounter video are taken from part7 of the walkthrough, but I uploaded them separately so it´s easier to watch them. Hope you enjoy!

SR1 Credits - HD remake

How to defeat Kain in under 1 minute

Soul Reaver Walkthrough part 6 - Ruined City

Soul Reaver Walkthrough part 7 - Oracle´s Caves

And the Chronoplast turns once again

My friend Umah Bloodomen just re-launched her LOK dedicated page As the Chronoplast turns (ATCT). It has a lot of interesting and never before seen content such as the article concerning Umah´s visit to SE, where she explains her experience with Nosgoth on the Nosgoth community day, you can also listen to the exclusive podcast interview with Umah, Blincoln, Tenaya and the Hylden (they each give their accounts and feelings about Nosgoth) and  a fun spoof interview with Simon Templeman, or check her Galleries page on her cosplay and photos from the community day. Also check the Hylden´s section as he will post new screenshots from his work in that section