A Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver HD remaster mod, that revamps the classic action-adventure from Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, has just been released thanks to an ambitious new fan project.
Originally launched in 1999, and written by future Uncharted creator Amy Hennig, Soul Reaver is the second game in the Legacy of Kain series. It focuses on the vampire turned vengeful wraith Raziel as he attempts to destroy and dethrone the eponymous Kain.
Personally, Soul Reaver was a mainstay when it came to renting games from my old, local video shop – with its distinctive character and level art, dark, gothic story, and highly challenging difficulty curve, it struck a perfect balance between high fantasy and grisly maturity, the precursor to modern young-adult games like Life is Strange and, naturally, the Crystal Dynamic Tomb Raider series.
Time, however, has not been entirely kind to Soul Reaver’s visuals – it suffers from the same muddy textures and blocky edges that plague a lot of late 90s games, especially when played on a modern, high-def monitor. So thank the undead Lord for this new fan project, which recreates and replaces every texture in Soul Reaver from scratch, making the beloved vampire action-adventure significantly easier on the eye.
It follows after the Steam and GOG versions of Soul Reaver were removed from sale, when the Legacy of Kain intellectual property was purchased from Square Enix by the Swedish Embracer Group, which also owns Gearbox Software, and Metro developer 4A Games. Fans of the series seem determined to keep it alive, and this mod proves that with a little refinement and texture work, there’s still plenty of verve left in the vampire classic.
Speaking of which, you should check out our guide to the best PC classics that are still worth playing. We also have a comprehensive list of the best vampire games, as well as the best action-adventure games.