Raziel, vampire child of Kain, despotic absolute monarch of the land of Nosgoth, makes the fatal mistake of surpassing his father/master in power and evolutionary level. Kain's wrath will mercilessly fall upon his lieutenant, condemning him to be thrown into the corrosive waters of a deep abyss. For poor Raziel, it seems like the end but, after centuries and centuries of atrocious suffering, he reaches the bottom of the chasm, still alive but horribly disfigured. A mysterious higher entity, the Elder God, will leverage Raziel's thirst for revenge to push him into a patricidal-fratricidal mission with the ultimate goal of eliminating Kain and all his most capable servants, who are also Raziel's brothers.
This is the preamble of "Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver", (Eidos Interactive/1999) the subtle, corrupted, and decadent charm of gothic made into a videogame: it is not a game for lovers of frantic action: few battles, no rivers of blood; it is not particularly challenging either, the controls are very easy and immediate to learn, it requires just a bit of wit and dexterity at some points and most importantly, it is a masterpiece, not only for the plot development but also for the atmospheres: in this "Legacy Of Kain" you find yourself in the shoes of the wretched Raziel, wandering through a decaying land, perpetually darkened and covered by banks of fog, where ancient and majestic ruins of palaces, abbeys, and cathedrals languish in total neglect and abandonment, populated by vampires now degraded to the rank of beasts: even Raziel’s powerful brothers have definitively abandoned their anthropomorphic form to turn into enormous monsters.
And so Raziel, accompanied by spectral and very discreet soundtracks, often overshadowed by the sound of his footsteps or pure and simple silence, must flush out his brothers one by one and kill them to acquire new faculties and special powers in preparation for the final showdown with Kain: meantime, he has the opportunity to uncover shocking details about his personal story, which disturb his dark and tormented nature, depicted with absolutely human traits despite his cadaverous zombie appearance. The game, already quite long, gains further longevity thanks to a good amount of optional missions aimed at increasing Raziel’s power, enriching a masterpiece video game that, although part of a saga, shines on its own (considering the settings in which it takes place, so to speak...) and is a perfect mix of gothic appeal, sobriety, atmosphere, and plot complexity: there are all the conditions to call it a masterpiece, yet even this wonderful video game is not immune to flaws, primarily due to the fact that "Soul Reaver" remains an unfinished work: in the original intentions of its creators, it was supposed to be the final episode of the saga, and thus the "first" plot included more enemies, locations, special powers, and a grand finale, but instead, the final result fades just at the climax, when the unsuspecting gamer expects the showdown, an enigmatic open ending arrives that leaves much of the questions and storylines in suspension, merely hinted at before the final act and deferred to subsequent chapters, and this is a pity because such a substantial "big game", conceived and structured in such an impeccable way, would have undoubtedly deserved absolute perfection.
"And so I fell into the depths of the abyss, screaming as white fires consumed me. Indescribable pain, extreme agony, time ceased to exist, only this torture remained, and a growing hatred for the hypocrisy that had condemned me to such hell. After an eternity, my torment eased, bringing me back from the precipice of madness. The fall had destroyed me, yet I still lived."
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