Possible Soul Reaver Reboot

Details are sketchy and nothing is confirmed, but here it is.

Personally, I haven't had such a negative reaction to the idea of a reboot since Dante's new look. Soul Reaver is one of my favourite games of all time, and it will take a lot to convince me that a reboot would be worthwhile. Especially galling is the fact that story was very important to the Legacy Of Kain series, with a long and complex arc spanning several games, which, and this is the important part, they never actually finished. We were left hanging at the end of Defiance. Something terrible had happened, but for the first time in the series, everyone seemed to know what they had to do. Why reboot this when I think most long-time fans would prefer a conclusion?

Also of concern is the fact that Amy Hennig, a key creative force behind the games, is no longer working for Crystal Dynamics. She will be a tough act to follow. There's also the question of the voice talent for the games, which in my opinion is some of the best out there. At the very least I would hope that Michael Bell and Simon Templeman reprise their roles as Raziel and Kain, but Tony Jay, the voice of another key character, is no longer with us, and he too will be difficult to replace.

Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

edited 21st Mar '12 4:20:40 AM by artfulscruff

I'm interested because while I had interest in the series I never actually got around to playing and while I can indeed settle for older control schemes and graphics a dolled up modern reboot might be the thing that actually gets me into the series.

At the same time I'm cautious because reboots can be...well...bad. Or ill received regardless. Which could mean no chance for this reboot to continue if in fact it needs to.

A graphics polish for modern platforms would be great. Hopefully they're not touching any of the deliciously ham-flavored writing though.

A reboot? Why couldn't they just continue the story from where we left off last time?

... anyway, I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I have fond memories about this game. I did find the actual gameplay slightly repetitive, but I really love the writing. If a reboot could capture that essence while improving the gameplay, then I'm not complaining.

Isn't the story pretty complete after Soul Reaver 2?

Eh, no.

Did you play Defiance?

Soul Reaver is just a part of the Legacy of Kain series.

And that's one of my biggest gripes about DmC. Anyway, I'll save my reservations once we know more, but unless this is leading into a rebooted version of the series that is still somehow compatible with the Legacy of Kain titles, I don't see how this is going to be a good idea.

edited 21st Mar '12 10:24:21 AM by X2X

This makes me nervous.

Given Prince of Persia (the PS3 one) and what DMC is looking to be, I'm extremely, fantastically wary of reboots lately.

On the one hand, I'd be happy to see more LoK, finally. I was a huge fanboy back in the day. On the other... man, I hope they don't fuck it up.

I'm just gonna use this metric: if they don't change the voice actors (save the late, great Tony Jay, of course), and Amy Hennig is still writing, then it's good. If either of those is changed, this is probably going to suck.

If they get Amy Hennig and the original cast back, then maybe I will have a little hope for this, but I can't see Hennig coming back to it, and even if this is really happening and turns out to be a satisfactory game, there'll still be the fact that they could have made a sequel instead.

Raziel! Now reimagined as an angsty street brawler who hates the world!

For the love of all that is holy, no. GG, no.

First he was a top brawler, but then he was terribly assaulted, his body was burnt with gasoline, and he got heavily hit with a crowbar to his jaw.

With no access to quality medical treatment, Raziel lost his jaw and his entire body is scarred, now he is madman lurking the streets, with a scarf on his face he seeks those who wronged him.

Soul Reaver: Darkman II?

Am I the only one who prefers Kain as the main character? I found Blood Omen more fun than Soul Reaver.

Admittedly, these two games are the only ones I played. And I didn't hear all that good things about Blood Omen 2.

He seeks revenge against the crimelord Kain, whose thugs beat him and left him for dead after he refused to do Kain's bidding.

I feel dirty just participating in this.

(ninja edit)

I like both Kain and Raziel. I have to confess I don't think I've had a proper Blood Omen experience. I played the very first game once but got stuck fairly early on, and Blood Omen 2 is [[Discontinuity non-canon]] to me. I'm not even sure how canon it actually is.

That's why Defiance is good though, you play both characters. And I'm sure you all loved that boss fight.

edited 22nd Mar '12 5:49:23 AM by artfulscruff

And all the time, he is under the delusion that he, Kain and his thugs are vampires and that he gained soul-absorbing powers after the assault.

Would be a way to bring the old story and the reboot together. In a completely stupid and ridiculous way.

@X 2 X

Wow, there are some people who still remembers Darkman, awesome!

I only saw a few parts of it years ago (with my dad giving me an overall synopsis of it later), but that was, ironically, the first thing I immediately thought of after seeing your post.

@Nyarly: Kain's games are more fun! By far. Plus, he's less gullible than Raziel and more of a giant douche. I like that.

The day this happens is the day I kill myself. No fake.

In Defiance I definitely prefered Raziel's gameplay. Maybe because besides the Enemy Civil War of the Conflict Reaver, Kain's special attacks were pretty damn useless. And he felt more… rigid overall.

And anyway I always loved the plane-shifting mechanic, although it was sadly under-used in Defiance. So I would love to see the end of this story but I would not love to play only Kain for the whole game…

If a reboot can make us play good ol' Raziel again I might take a look at it.

edited 22nd Mar '12 5:28:40 PM by Lyendith

I felt Kain's combat in Defiance was more fun; his telekinesis was better for most of the game, his attacks felt both more solid and more brutal, and I loved using the Dimension Reaver's special.

Raziel... well, the whole Spectral Realm thing was cool, and always has been, but damn, his games are seriously all puzzles, all the time. And they're not fun puzzles, either. Defiance was basically playing through the same two or three puzzles forever until you get tired of them, and I didn't like that.

Im all for the finish the series rather than reboot it side of things.

Problem is the games are fairly old, younger players arent likely to have played them, and a game that is a continuation of something so old probably wouldnt sell as well in the long run. Im guessing anyway, newer players will be lost to the storyline, so only people who remember the old games are going to buy it?

Now if they remade the old games for newer systems, or re-released them through the Playstation/Xbox markets, then I could see the possibility of them continuing where they left of.

I'd be up for finishing it.

BO1 and SR1 are on the PSN store, though. Best $10 or so I've ever spent.

Ive been thinking about buying a PS 3 as of late... the fact that you can buy those two games on the PSN may be what pushes me to buy it.

(That and a desire to play Heavy Rain....)