Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered Review
“For my transgression, I earned a new kind of reward — agony”
Video game preservation has become a critical point of concern among gamers with the rise of digital, the end of physical, licensing, and delisting of products. Short of owning original hardware (that works) and physical game discs (that also work), it can be difficult to play older games, legally at least. I for one do not shy away from emulation in order to experience a game if it is otherwise unattainable. When I see a classic or retro game get a modern remaster, HD edition, or drag and drop port, I am usually pretty happy. At least until I see the name Aspyr attached to it. Aspyr has a reputation for terrible ports and even worse customer support, and when Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered was announced, I went from thrilled to devastated in an instant. Thankfully that remaster was actually quite good, and that leads us to Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the denouement of both the Blood Omen and Soul Reaver storylines.
For the record, Aspyr has gotten a lot better with its recent HD Remasters – except for the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection cough – so I have been able to relax when I see their name. Yes, I used an em dash, it wasn’t AI. Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remasterd comes from the original development studio, Crystal Dynamics, with help from PlayEveryWare to deliver a package that any fan of the series would appreciate. PlayEveryWare is a co-development studio that’s worked on dozens of games prior and whatever they did for Defiance, they did a damn good job.
What is the Legacy of Kain?
If you have never heard of the Kain series, it all started with a game called Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain by Silicon Knights for the PlayStation in 1996. You play as the titular Kain, experiencing his transition from a human nobleman to bloodthirsty vampire on a path of vengeance after being assassinated, then resurrected by a necromancer. Silicon Knights was spearheaded by Denis Dyack, who later went on to create the cult classic action-horror game Eternal Darkness.
A few years later, Crystal Dynamics developed a sequel titled Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in 1999, which was my entry point into the series. Soul Reaver was a game that enraptured me. It was the first game I can remember playing that had genuinely outstanding voiceover work, especially compared to games of its time that had been released on console. In Soul Reaver you play as Raziel, a general in Kain's army, after Kain damns him to an abyss for evolving wings before him. Vampires, always so dramatic! Raziel is resurrected by an Elder God to seek vengeance as a “Soul Reaver” and stop Kain. After Soul Reaver came Soul Reaver 2 in 2001, Blood Omen 2 in 2002, and finally Defiance in 2003.
The Old.
The New
How Does the Remaster Hold Up?
The first thing to understand when it comes to enjoying a game that is the 5th installment to an older franchise is to ask, where do you stand? Are you entirely new to the Legacy of Kain series? Are you going to play the previous games? Or are you like me and have played and enjoyed many if not all of the original titles? Your answer may very well determine the value you can find in any given remaster of this nature. You will only enjoy a game like this if you take it as is and not treat it as a modern game.
Defiance is an action-adventure game where you play as dual protagonists Kain, and Raziel, alternating between the two per level. The story is a continuation of the events of Soul Reaver 2, wherein Raziel creates an altered timeline and sees Kain set out to defeat Raziel, believing it will bring Nosgoth under vampiric rule and restore the pillars of Nosgoth. He does so under the manipulation of the Elder Gods and a servant named Moebius who believe vampires are abominations and seek to end them once and for all.
To truly take in the entirety of this grand epic you would need to play through all the games, or at least watch a video on YouTube that explains it all. Luckily, the remaster includes a history of Nosgoth that tells the story spanning the first three Legacy of Kain games, so it has you covered there.
Remastererdssss
The remaster has improved just about every aspect of the game as a whole. I even loaded up my copy of Defiance on the original XBOX and I realized just how much had been done to the remaster to make it play better.
This updated version adds the choice of a free camera that follows the player, whereas the original had only a fixed camera. I found that playing with the fixed camera allowed me to find the path forward more easily, though, as it often looks where you need to. The overall movement and platforming, although not perfect, is better than it used to be, thanks to the addition of the right stick and more buttons to set actions to.
Kain admiring his handiwork.
The passage of time and the removal of nostalgia goggles has revealed this game’s weakest faults and design. What passed as solid gameplay 20 plus years ago, now seems monotonous and repetitive. Combat often boils down to swinging your sword wildly at enemies with reckless abandon, as the auto targeting system never seems to know who to pursue. Enemies also have to be beaten to a point of exhaustion, more often than not requiring a finishing move to unalive them.
I find myself wishing that I could just lop off a head or appendage and call it a day. There are several skills to be learned and advanced through the game, but I often relied on a standard combo or the launch into air combo to maximize damage to get the enemies to the point where you stab them with the Soul Reaver, or depending on if Kain or Raziel are at the helm, suck up the blood or soul of your victim respectively.
“I’m very very sneaky”
One of my favorite elements of the first Soul Reaver was the variety of ways you could end your foes, be it impalement, thrown into a fire, or sent into an abyss. It just doesn't feel the same here in Defiance, and sadly I wasn't taking notes when I was 16 to confirm if I felt that way the first go around.
Puzzles and exploration are at the core of the game as you often have to find the path though areas, seeking out keys to open doors, or shifting planes to cross fields that were otherwise inaccessible. Kain can turn to mist and pass through gates. Raziel, however, has to dematerialize himself and shift to the spectral plane to pass similar barriers. Then embody a corpse to rematerialise in the physical plane.
Exploration is mostly straight-forward but comes with its own challenges as it is very easy to get lost in repetitive environments, with little direction and no map to guide you. Scratch that, there is a map in the menu but it does little to assist – or make it clear where the fuck you are supposed to go, save for the waypoint marker that pops up when you hold the left trigger. This only gives you a general direction but not an end goal. It’s not all bad as the gameplay still manages to be fun and the puzzles, rewarding. There is a reason that so many people, including myself, have very fond memories of Kain and Raziel’s adventures.
A view to slay for.
Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder
As for the visual presentation, this is a remaster of a game from 23 years ago, but the team did a very good job of refreshing the character models and enhancing the world to now play and be presented in high definition format. There is also the included feature to flip the graphic presentation with the press of a button to that of the original game, so you can see how it compares or straight play the game with the classic visuals if you prefer or choose to. This is what I call the “Nostalgia” button and I firmly believe all remasters should have this option. I for one love when remasters have the one button press flip, the only downside to it is, you can flip by accident quite easily as it is set to clicking the right stick.
The Sounds of an Era
The music and voiceover work is phenomenal and has stayed with me through the years. The excellent voice talents of Michael Bell as Raziel and Simon Templeman as Kain throughout the entire series have always been at the top end of voice performance in video games. The dialogue for the gothic adventure has always felt like the soul of what makes a vampire game and it has been beautifully delivered from the beginning. The soundtrack is also instantly recognizable with its orchestral waves of atmosphere married with what can best be described as industrial metal soundscape and rhythms.
Every time I hear the theme song for Raziel in Soul Reaver, I hear Nine Inch Nail’s “Reptile.” The two tracks share thematic elements in the drums and horns. The original song “Ozar Midrashim” by Kurt Harland from Information Society circa 1997 was used for Raziel's theme and it still holds a special place in my heart. There was an incredible cover for the song by Celldweller in 2025 on the Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver The Dead Shall Rise Official Soundtrack for the graphic novel of the same name. This may be the 90s kid in me but these songs have burrowed their way into my soul, leaving an intrinsic mark on how I experience the music and the games I associate with them.
Bonus Points
Who doesn't like bonuses and when it comes to pleasing a fandom, LoK: D does a pretty good job. It includes a photo mode, alternate character skins, a comprehensive lore reader, and unreleased content and lost levels from the game.
The Lost Levels is a collection of cut content lovingly scrapped together to add more of the original game for players to devour. The Dark Chronicle is a movie player to watch the cutscenes from the game. Plus, there is a Making of Defiance video included. If you have the deluxe edition of the game you also gain access to the Dark Prophecy Demo – which was a canceled sequel to Defiance – a vertical slice of what the sequel would have been like. The deluxe content also includes three digital comics books to read.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered is a wonderful reason to revisit or experience this on-point 2000s era action game. The game hasn’t aged as well as Kain over the centuries, but there is still plenty to enjoy from this package, especially if you are ending a journey through the previous games. Despite its faults, I enjoyed my travels with Kain and Raziel that swept me up with the nostalgia of playing games of the era at a very reasonable price. Getting modern updated versions of older games like this is a point in the win column for video games preservation and ensuring that there are easy and convenient ways to experience them.
A digital XBOX Series X|S copy of Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered was provided by Crystal Dynamics. Learn more about Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered by visiting the official website. Screenshots were captured using native XBOX capture.
DEVELOPED BY: PlayEveryWare/Crystal Dynamics
PUBLISHED BY: Crystal Dynamics
DEMO AVAILABLE: NO
RELEASE DATE: March 3rd, 2026
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When I see a classic or retro game get a modern remaster, HD edition, or drag and drop port, I am usually pretty happy. At least until I see the name Aspyr attached to it. Aspyr has a reputation for terrible ports and even worse customer support, and when Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered was announced, I went from thrilled to devastated in an instant.