Introduction

Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Crystal Dynamics

To live and die in Nosgoth

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is the second in Crystal Dynamics' line of games whose main connection to each other is the word "Kain" in their title. (OK, also "legacy" and "of") The first game, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, was an RPG set 1000 years before Soul Reaver. For whatever reason, someone at Eidos thought that the previous game's subtitle would make a good title for the current game. We still don't understand.

In the first game, you played as Kain himself (I guess if they can spell combat with a K, Cain is fair game too). Soul Reaver opens with Kain getting PO'ed at Raziel, his head vampire honcho, for growing wings. Pretty cheeky, since Kain is supposed to experience all gifts for a decade or so before his homies get to try them out. For his insubordination, Raziel gets thrown off a cliff into the Lake of the Dead, and that's that.

Or not

Surprisingly enough, Raziel doesn't actually die, even though the water burns vampires like acid. Instead, he is saved by a mysterious entity known as the Elder. Though his re-awakening after passing out from the agonizing fall seems instantaneous, it has actually been hundreds of years. The vampires have done a poor job with Nosgoth, and the Elder wants to use Raziel to get rid of his former brethren.

Raziel would rather simply perish, as he has been horribly disfigured, and is no longer a vampire but a soul reaver, one who feeds on souls. However, he has been saved by the Elder, and thus has no control over the matter. Besides, some part of him would sure like to open up a can of whoop-ass on Kain.

A boy and his tentacle

Why me?