At last, the time has come to discuss the final game in the Legacy of Kain series: Legacy of Kain – Defiance. I say this is the final entry in the series because it has been more than twenty years since this game was released and there has been no talk about further sequels. Which, to be honest, is fine by me. At this point, I have played every game under the Legacy of Kain banner, and I’ve found all of them to be lacking in one way or another. Don’t get me wrong, they are not terrible. There are some redeeming qualities. But overall, I’ve found these games to be mediocre at best. Will Defiance end up being the shining star of the bunch? Let’s find out!
Legacy of Kain – Defiance was released at the end of 2003 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and PC. It is a direct sequel to Soul Reaver 2, meaning it ignores the alternate timeline that was presented in Blood Omen 2. (Although there are some nods to it here and there). This game features both Kain and Raziel as playable characters. Note: The following story summary assumes that you are familiar with the characters and events from the previous games. Defiance begins immediately where Soul Reaver 2 left off with Kain rescuing Raziel from his fate. However, by doing so, Kain has inadvertently caused a temporal paradox that thrusts the world’s timeline into chaos. Defiance begins with Kain hunting down his nemesis, Moebius, in attempt to locate the whereabouts of Raziel and to force Moebius to provide guidance for restoring the world’s rightful timeline. After completing the game’s introductory level as Kain, players are then able to take control of Raziel (who now finds himself thrust five-hundred years into the future, during the events of the original Blood Omen). Throughout the game, the storyline jumps between Kain and Raziel and shows each character as they continue to manipulate the history of Nosgoth with their actions over the various ages of the world. All this back and forth and timeline hopping can get a bit confusing. In fact, more than once I had to slow down because I was struggling to understand just what was going on.
The storyline for the Legacy of Kain series is deep and fans that get into that sort of thing really have a lot to enjoy here. But for those who are not quite as invested in the history of the series, the storyline can be a pretty tough pill to swallow at first. Regardless, by time all is said and done, this game does give the series a pretty solid ending. But, I will stop short of going into any more detail or I run the risk of spoiling it.
If you’re wondering which version of the game is the best, the answer is – it doesn’t matter. Legacy of Kain – Defiance looks and works nearly identical on either the Xbox or the Playstation 2. The same can be said about the PC version if you take the time to set it up for play with a controller. These days, only the PC version is still available for purchase. So, unless you have one of the original consoles, you don’t have a lot of options. Regardless, for my review, I played the Playstation 2 version of the game.
Knowing that this game featured playable versions of both of the main characters in the series, I went in expecting there to be a fairly large contrast in the gameplay. After all, in previous games, the two characters were quite different. I expected the levels featuring Kain to be more hack-and-slash (like Blood Omen 2) and I expected there to be slightly more puzzle elements in those levels that featured Raziel. Instead, both characters are played mostly the same way. Defiance is largely an action-based hack-and-slash game. In fact, it reminds me very much of Devil May Cry or Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, only without any of the complexity. Seriously, there’s very little skill that goes into the combat in this game. Which is a bit confusing because there are indeed abilities and combos that you unlock as time goes by. But, by and large, these advanced techniques are rarely needed. Some of the mechanics that you do use frequently include deciding on how you want to finish off an enemy. This is done so that you can either charge your weapon or recover health. But even this feels almost like it was tacked-on instead of having any real meaning.
When it comes to puzzle solving, there’s very little in this title. Unlike the Soul Reaver titles, there’s no real Zelda-style puzzles to challenge your mind. Instead, most of the obstacles in this game rely on exploring until you find a key item needed to progress, then backtracking to a door and using the key. Yes, there are a few instances where Raziel will use his ability to merge in an out of the Spectral Realm in order to overcome various roadblocks. But I also found this mechanic to be considerably under utilized.
Despite having gameplay that feels a bit shallow, the action is fast-paced and entertaining. I actually found myself having a lot of fun with the combat system, even if it didn’t seem very
The best thing about this game are the graphics and art direction. Defiance keeps with that gothic, brooding feel that makes the Kain games so unique. As a PS2 title, this game makes good use of the console’s lighting effects. The developers did a fantastic job here. Sadly, the game world itself doesn’t feel very big. A number of levels use a hub-like system so you’re constantly going back and forth through the same scenery. After a while, things start to feel repetitive, even if they look amazing.
The problem I describe above does seem to make the middle part of the game lull considerably. However, by the time you reach the last quarter of the game, things pick up steam again. Once I reached the end of the game, I did feel like the story of Kain and Raziel had reached a fairly acceptable conclusion. There’s no doubt that the developers for this title had a monumental task in front of them by tying up all the loose ends that this series left behind. All things considered, I feel like they did a decent job. Still, I can’t help but feel like this game could have benefitted from just a little more polish and complexity.
