Being a 90s child has been good recently. Getting a complete remake of my favourite 90s game, Final Fantasy 7 with Remake and Rebirth; all the Resident Evil remakes; the return of Frasier and X-Files on television. One day sociologists will study why the 21st century was so obsessed with recreating the recent past. One series so long missing from this nostalgia-train has been the cult-classic Legacy of Kain series.
Or has it been missing? The recent remasters of Soul Reaver 1 and 2, of Legacy of Kain: Defiance and the announcement of a new (albeit small-scale) entry with Ascension hints at an attempted revival. But it feels so forced, so small-scale, especially given the series’ grand ambitions.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance was the last entry in the series, all the way back in 2003. It was the most ambitious entry in the series in that you could play as both Kain and Raziel and narratively it attempted to conclude the previous entries’ twisting, time-travelling story beats. Gamers at the time (like myself), who would spend hours discussing, wondering, daydreaming where the story will go next, never got any answers. It was like a relationship that ends with a text message; we had no closure.
The remaster doesn’t bring closure. So already, the remaster, which sees Crystal Dynamics team up with remaster veterans PlayEveryWare, starts off at a disadvantage. Not even the possibility of playing a (tiny) fragment of the abandoned The Dark Prophecy entry will scratch the elephant-sized itch for series devotees. Somehow, regrettably, I doubt Ascencion will either.
On a technical level, PlayEveryWare has performed yet another masterclass in remasters. The graphics are brought wonderfully up-to-date (though still not fully next-gen), and quality of life improvements like adjusted camera controls, help make the game feel smoother and modern. PlayEveryWare were also extremely generous to the series’ long-suffering fans; the fan-service here is commendable. Really fun unlockable skins for both characters; lost levels; endless concept and 3D art.
At times, Legacy of Kain: Defiance feels less like a remaster and more like the opening of a Legacy of Kain museum. And as an art historian I can only be giddy about that. The original game, after all, had its faults, even for its time; its gameplay mechanics were limiting, the combat, whilst fun and made you feel powerful, was repetitive, and the environment, whilst beautifully Gothic (Nosgothic?), was too overstuffed with tedious puzzles and forges.
The gameplay, and only the gameplay, is what has held the Legacy of Kain series from reaching the higher echelons of the gaming pantheon. Because in terms of story and characters few can match it. Raziel and Kain are some of the best-acted and tragic characters in gaming and even, arguably, in modern culture. Simon Templeman’s voice-acting for Kain is consistently spine-chilling. As I played the remaster I found myself repeating all Kain’s lines by heart as if the past 22 years were just a sigh. Raziel’s Michael Bell is similarly one of the most intriguing character of fiction in living memory.
Its central theme of these two vampiric souls defying the machinations fate, the monstrous and mysterious Elder God, whilst dealing with the Hylden race’s genocidal desire to right the wrongs of past wars, are as riveting as any Shakespearean drama. So why has it never been revived to the same extent as other major series from the era have been?
Here I’d like to make a controversial but not crazy statement: Kain is a more interesting character than pre-2018 Kratos. The whole time I was playing Defiance I kept thinking of God of War’s stellar reintroduction into modern gaming. What Santa Monica Studios did with Kratos in 2018 (and later in Ragnarok) is a feat of narrative and creative genius.
If someone at Crystal Dynamics could do something even half as interesting with Kain in the 2020s, in terms of revamping not the character, per se (because Kain needs less reimagining than pre-2018 Kratos, no?), but the series’ gameplay, mechanics, etc., then Legacy of Kain fans could not only get the answers we’ve been waiting 22 years for, but modern culture could get a new Shakespearean hero (I’m dreaming here, but if a Legacy of Kain reboot hits the ground running, it wouldn’t be long before Netflix or Amazon Prime come knocking at Crystal Dynamics’ door).
Overall, this remaster is a masterclass in remastering by PlayEveryWare. But unfortunately, it feels like a stop gap. What us 90s fans really want is a new Crystal Dynamics masterclass. Until that happens, however, Legacy of Kain: Defiance presents us with a museum that we’re happy to visit and re-visit, waiting for the series next big marquee exhibition, and its true revival.
