Legacy of Kain is a series I was aware of for over a decade after seeing it in a random Top 10 Bossfights video and it's been etched into my mind ever since I first heard about its concept of basically being a conflict between two characters that spans multiple games told with Shakesperean dialogue. Despite this though, I haven't got around to playing the series properly until now for a variety of reasons, one of which was that, from the outside, Blood Omen seemed so dated. But, after beating it I can safely say that this game was actually a pleasant surprise.
That's not to say this game isn't without faults, because it's actually got a ton of them. For starters, I technically "played" the PS1 version, but I don't feel confident in saying that since what I really did was wait and stare at the screen since this version has loading screens up the ass for just about everything. I got used to it eventually, but it took a lot of adjusting and deterred me from going to the menu and experimenting with different armors, spells, items and weapons since I just wanted to get a move on when I was nearing the end of the game.
The game's combat is another low point, the top down view just leads to a lot of janky hitboxes where I swear I'm hitting the enemy but my sword just goes through them without doing anything. In the early game, combat is just this awkward game of distance management where you're trying to hit the enemy with the tip of your sword so you hit them while being out of their range and it's just clunky. Not too far into the game you get enemies who hit you with homing projectiles that knock you back and fighting them is an absolute endurance test of getting pelted by their attacks while trying to nudge yourself a little closer to them and the amount of times I heard "The Heart of Darkness" when fighting them was driving me insane. If the entire game consisted of this, I'd probably give this 1 star, but you get the Repel spell early on which makes you invulnerable and when combined with the Chaos armor that reflects damage you'd take onto the enemies, it breaks the game in half. It's cheap, and trivializes any challenge that the game would otherwise have, but if it's a substitute for being frustrated with the game's whack combat then I'll take it. There is some fun to do be had though even with combat that feels as stilted as it does here, mainly in the form of spells. They range from something as lame as turning on the lights in a room to shooting lightning to draining the blood and soul of enemies and I did enjoy playing around with almost all of them. I wish I could say the same about the weapons and armors you get but the reality is that the majority of these suck. The Havoc and Malice axes as well as the Soul Reaver prevent you from using spells at all so they're automatically useless and the Bone and Flesh armor might aswell do nothing with how insignificant their perks are.
When it comes to Dungeons, they're pretty bland, occasionally they'll have you utilizing some cool gimmicks that mostly involve mind control, but the majority of the time is spent going through a linear set of rooms, avoiding spikes and killing enemies for a few rooms with very little that's done to make the areas stand out from eachother.
And yet despite all that, I forget all of this games shortcomings anytime I stepped on a vista marker and heard Kain commenting on the world and his own circumstances. Simon Templeman does an immaculate job here and I can't stress enough how much it adds to the game. Particularly to the items, functionally they all kill enemies without much to differentiate them but the descriptions that Kain gives them makes them seem so much more interesting. As for the story, it's pretty good but not what I expected. I thought the game would focus on Kain's corruption as he'd slowly succumbed to his vampiric powers but he seems pretty accustomed to them right from the get go. He's meant to be an Anti-hero but his cynicism and disdain for any creature he encounters makes him feel downright villainous though he's still extremely entertaining and the highlight of the game.
I loved the setting of the slowly dying Nosgoth too with it being a cool blend of fantasy and medieval europe. The world-building is pretty strong and I really enjoyed learning about how volatile the land is due to needing to be maintained by the 9 pillars or about the turbulent history between the Sarafan and the Vampires. The story gets quite convoluted near the end but is still overall really solid and it's all stitched together with an incredible soundtrack that fits the grandiose nature of the game to a T.
So that's Blood Omen, a game I was dreading to check out but ended up being pretty decent all things considered. It's got plenty of poor designs decisions that sully the experience but for the most part they're just minor annoyance and the overall package is held up by fantastic narration, world-building and music.
That's not to say this game isn't without faults, because it's actually got a ton of them. For starters, I technically "played" the PS1 version, but I don't feel confident in saying that since what I really did was wait and stare at the screen since this version has loading screens up the ass for just about everything. I got used to it eventually, but it took a lot of adjusting and deterred me from going to the menu and experimenting with different armors, spells, items and weapons since I just wanted to get a move on when I was nearing the end of the game.
The game's combat is another low point, the top down view just leads to a lot of janky hitboxes where I swear I'm hitting the enemy but my sword just goes through them without doing anything. In the early game, combat is just this awkward game of distance management where you're trying to hit the enemy with the tip of your sword so you hit them while being out of their range and it's just clunky. Not too far into the game you get enemies who hit you with homing projectiles that knock you back and fighting them is an absolute endurance test of getting pelted by their attacks while trying to nudge yourself a little closer to them and the amount of times I heard "The Heart of Darkness" when fighting them was driving me insane. If the entire game consisted of this, I'd probably give this 1 star, but you get the Repel spell early on which makes you invulnerable and when combined with the Chaos armor that reflects damage you'd take onto the enemies, it breaks the game in half. It's cheap, and trivializes any challenge that the game would otherwise have, but if it's a substitute for being frustrated with the game's whack combat then I'll take it. There is some fun to do be had though even with combat that feels as stilted as it does here, mainly in the form of spells. They range from something as lame as turning on the lights in a room to shooting lightning to draining the blood and soul of enemies and I did enjoy playing around with almost all of them. I wish I could say the same about the weapons and armors you get but the reality is that the majority of these suck. The Havoc and Malice axes as well as the Soul Reaver prevent you from using spells at all so they're automatically useless and the Bone and Flesh armor might aswell do nothing with how insignificant their perks are.
When it comes to Dungeons, they're pretty bland, occasionally they'll have you utilizing some cool gimmicks that mostly involve mind control, but the majority of the time is spent going through a linear set of rooms, avoiding spikes and killing enemies for a few rooms with very little that's done to make the areas stand out from eachother.
And yet despite all that, I forget all of this games shortcomings anytime I stepped on a vista marker and heard Kain commenting on the world and his own circumstances. Simon Templeman does an immaculate job here and I can't stress enough how much it adds to the game. Particularly to the items, functionally they all kill enemies without much to differentiate them but the descriptions that Kain gives them makes them seem so much more interesting. As for the story, it's pretty good but not what I expected. I thought the game would focus on Kain's corruption as he'd slowly succumbed to his vampiric powers but he seems pretty accustomed to them right from the get go. He's meant to be an Anti-hero but his cynicism and disdain for any creature he encounters makes him feel downright villainous though he's still extremely entertaining and the highlight of the game.
I loved the setting of the slowly dying Nosgoth too with it being a cool blend of fantasy and medieval europe. The world-building is pretty strong and I really enjoyed learning about how volatile the land is due to needing to be maintained by the 9 pillars or about the turbulent history between the Sarafan and the Vampires. The story gets quite convoluted near the end but is still overall really solid and it's all stitched together with an incredible soundtrack that fits the grandiose nature of the game to a T.
So that's Blood Omen, a game I was dreading to check out but ended up being pretty decent all things considered. It's got plenty of poor designs decisions that sully the experience but for the most part they're just minor annoyance and the overall package is held up by fantastic narration, world-building and music.