Let me tell you, as someone who grew up with a Nintendo console, it was a big change once I got my PS1 and later PS2 consoles. It was also perfectly timed to coincide with my teenage years and the need to rebel a little bit.
For me, that was discovering the joy of dark and mature fare in my video games. Games like theLegacy of Kainseries.
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Though the first game I played wasBlood Omen: Legacy of Kain, I wasn’t well and truly hooked until I played the originalSoul Reaver.
This is a series that fully embraces the darkness and reveals a twisted, monstrous world.In such a place there are no real heroes, but there are certainly promising villains and anti-heroes.
Keep reading to see how the games fared in our list for everyLegacy of Kaingame, ranked. Get ready for a bloody good time!
6Legacy of Kain: Defiance
Two Vampires for the Price of One
Legacy Of Kain: Defiance
On paper,Legacy of Kain: Defianceshould have been a slam dunk. It lets players control both Kain and Raziel in one adventure.
On the plus side, it was probably the most visually impressive game in the series before the release ofSoul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered. But when it came to how it played,Defiancewas a letdown.
Everything from the combat to the camera controls was bland and uninspired. If you stuck with it and beat the game, it was because you were deeply invested in the admittedly fascinating lore of the series, not because you were having a blast with how it played.
If you’re able to push through, this is still a worthy addition to the series. Thankfully, the rest of this list can only go up from here!
5Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
A Bloody Beginning
PC, PS1, PS3, PS4, PS5
Crystal Dynamics, Activision, Blizzard
ARPG, adventure
Release Date
August 10, 2025
The originalBlood Omenwasn’t the very first dark game I ever played, but it was probably the second, eclipsed by a few years byDemon’s Creston the SNES. Here was a game where you didn’t control a hero, but a murderous vampire bastard.
Kain is primarily motivated by bloody revenge, and you’ll get plenty as you scourNosgoth. Not content to be an ordinary vampire, Kain gradually becomes a god-like monster as you progress and slaughter the Circle of Nine.
The best part of the game was how open-ended it was, allowing non-linear exploration as you drained humans, gained new powers, and wreaked havoc.
While the game shows its age with the top-down style and archaic systems, it was still a good introduction to Kain and a short glimpse of just how horrible he would eventually become.
4Blood Omen 2
Two Kain, Too Furious
Blood Omen 2
In many ways,Blood Omen 2wasn’t what fans were expecting after theSoul Reavergames. Instead, it was more like a modern version of the originalBlood Omen, just set in an alternate timeline that bridged that game with the firstSoul Reaver.
What this largely meant was the game eschewed the puzzles and lore-heavy exploration, and instead let Kain unload his rage on everything in his path.
Although it’s not all bad, it felt like it should have been more innovative than a derivative of the game that started the series.
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The main antagonist this time around is the Sarafan Order, a group of vampire hunters who have not only bested Kain but stolen the Soul Reaver from his undead hands.
If nothing else, the game’s presentation was compelling, even if this alternate timeline story didn’t quite deliver.
3Soul Reaver 2
Raziel’s Torment
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
After the glorious events of the original game,Soul Reaver 2had a lot to prove. Especially after the cliffhanger ending of the first game, which left everything up in the air.
While you can argue whether it succeeded in that regard,Soul Reaver 2was still a pretty enjoyable sequel.
Once again, players are tasked with controlling Raziel, switching between the Material and Spectral planes, devouring souls, and trying to find answers about where they came from.
Crystal Dynamics went above and beyond and tried to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the story, unfortunately, including more time travel.
If you’re a fan of the firstSoul Reaver, you’ll find a lot to enjoy here. But whether it fully nails the landing in terms of the ultimate conclusion is another question entirely.
2Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered
A Massive HD Facelift
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered
Even though remakes are all the rage these days, I honestly didn’t expect to get one featuring bothSoul Reaveradventures.
Though I’m generally not the biggest fan of reselling products to a new generation of gamers, even I’ll admit thatSoul Reaver 1 & 2 Remasteredlooks damned good.
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The best part of this game is the convenience factor, which lets you play both adventures back to back with no waiting.
The worst part was just that there’s not much of anything new to experience, other than the pretty new graphics.
However, if you’re a die-hard retro fan, you always have the option to play this collection with the old coat of paint instead.
1Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Soul Survivor
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
It might seem a bit contrary to give the gold toSoul Reaverinstead of theRemastered Collection, but the way I look at it, without the original game the remake wouldn’t have even happened. And this particular game still holds a piece of my beating heart.
Whereas Kain was a main character who was nearly impossible to relate to, I feel a lot of empathy for poor Raziel. He gets utterly destroyed and left for dead, and it’s only a quirk of fate and Elder God mischief that he didn’t perish.
More than that, I wanted the same answers that Raziel craved, along with dishing out well-deserved revenge on Kain.
I still find the gameplay compelling, both the combat and the mind-bending puzzles to solve.
Put simply, there’s a reason people still talk aboutSoul Reavereven if they don’t love the rest of theLegacy of Kainseries. I’d strongly recommend you discover why yourself.
