This game is something to behold. It's a great sequel to Soul Reaver in many aspects but also a colossal fumble in others. The writing and presentation are a great continuation of SR1, and the cutscene and voice directions are nothing to scoff at. It has, in my opinion, one of the most fulfilling and striking endings in any videogame, using the buildup the game (and its predecessor, as well!) had created up to that point to deliver a horrifying crescendo few other games come close to matching. Many of my issues with Soul Reaver 2 stem from its gameplay differences, but not everything unique to it are downgrades to me. The dungeons I found interesting and the backtracking overworld, on paper, sounds horrible, but in practice it helps serves the narrative in a way I didn't mind on top of being cleverly used in a few areas. The progression and combat is streamlined a little too much for my liking, gutting the upgrades and glyphs from the first game in favor of making health upgrades tied to story progression. Having the Reaver available to use almost always takes focus away from the environmental weapons, and overall combat feels less satisfying than Soul Reaver 1when you're NOT instantly killing things because the meter is filled to red.