Legacy of Kain is a series of dark fantasy action-adventure video games primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics and formerly published by Eidos Interactive. The first title, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, was created by Silicon Knights in association with Crystal Dynamics, but, after a legal battle, Crystal Dynamics retained the rights to the game's intellectual property, and continued its story with four sequels. To date, five games comprise the series, all initially developed for video game consoles and later ported to Microsoft Windows. Focusing on the eponymous character of Kain, a vampire antihero, each title features action, exploration and puzzle-solving, with some role-playing game elements.
The series takes place in the fictional land of Nosgoth—a gothic fantasy setting—and revolves around Kain's quest to defy his fate and restore balance to the world. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver introduced another antihero protagonist, Raziel; the adventures of both characters culminate in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Themes of destiny, free will, morality, redemption and the hero's journey recur in the storyline, which was inspired by ancient literature, horror fiction, Islamic art and culture, Shakespeare's plays, Jewish mysticism and gnosticism. The Legacy of Kain games have enjoyed critical success, particularly receiving praise for high-quality voice acting, narrative, and visuals, and, as a whole, had sold over 3.5 million copies by 2007. In 2022, Square Enix sold the rights of the series to the Embracer Group, who have expressed interest in developing sequels, remakes and remasters of Legacy of Kain.
Remastered versions of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 were released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in 2024. A remastered version of Legacy of Kain: Defiance was released in 2026.
Games
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was created by Silicon Knights under the direction of Denis Dyack, with assistance from publisher Crystal Dynamics, and was released in 1996 on the PlayStation. In 1997, it was ported to Microsoft Windows. Dyack conceived the "vampire project" under the title The Pillars of Nosgoth in 1993, and Crystal Dynamics producer Lyle Hall chose this fantasy concept over two other proposals (one of which was Too Human). Pursued in hopes of bringing a strong narrative and artistic cinema to consoles, it was built as "a game which adults would want to play", featuring an unconventional hero and gameplay that demanded thought as well as reflexes. Developed as a 2D action-adventure game with role-playing game elements, it debuted to positive critical and commercial reception. Selling points included its 50+ hour length and the wide array of items and abilities the player character commands. Blood Omen introduces Nosgoth, a fictional land designed with novel-like complexity, and gives the player control of Kain, a newly resurrected vampire seeking revenge against his murderers and a cure for his vampiric curse.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was released in 1999 for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, and was ported to the Dreamcast in 2000. It originated as an independent concept inspired by Biblical themes called Shifter, devised by Crystal Dynamics' Amy Hennig and Seth Carus, but, at the request of company executives, was integrated into the Legacy of Kain universe in pre-production. Hennig, the game's director, likened the technological advance from Blood Omen to Soul Reaver to the evolution of The Legend of Zelda series from the Super Nintendo to the Nintendo 64—bringing the franchise into 3D while maintaining a similar style. Soul Reaver was hailed as a technical achievement for its plane-shifting gameplay mechanics and its data-streaming game engine, which eliminated the loading pauses that were prevalent in PlayStation-era games. It was a commercial and critical success, selling 1.5 million units worldwide, but the strong reactions of players to its cliffhanger ending impelled the developers to allay concerns that it was released unfinished. The game elaborates on one of the two endings to Blood Omen, taking place in Nosgoth's dark future where Kain rules an empire of vampires, and introduces a new protagonist, his lieutenant Raziel, who is executed by Kain and resurrected to exact revenge on his brethren and his master.
Soul Reaver 2
Soul Reaver 2 had an accelerated development cycle and was released after two years, despite a switch to sixth generation consoles early in the project. It was initially targeted for release in late 2000 on the PlayStation and Dreamcast, but was reworked and released in 2001 as a PlayStation 2 exclusive, and was ported to Microsoft Windows later that year. The developers' goal was to retain the elements that made its predecessor successful, but they decided to eschew the "complete a level, fight a boss" flow of the previous game in favor of a more narrative-driven approach. The plot serves as a direct sequel to Soul Reaver, picking up immediately after its ending. The player controls Raziel as he uncovers the mysteries surrounding Nosgoth's distant past and his own destiny. Meanwhile, Kain attempts to subvert fate and restore the world by manipulating history. While Soul Reaver was still in development, Crystal Dynamics initiated another project - a successor to Blood Omen - and when the Soul Reaver team had started work on their follow-up in late 1999, two Legacy of Kain games were in simultaneous development.
Blood Omen 2
Blood Omen 2'''s "creative seeds were sown" in 1999, and the finished product was released in 2002, six months after Soul Reaver 2, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and GameCube. It was not produced with the involvement of the Soul Reaver crew, instead being created by a new team at Crystal Dynamics under the direction of Glen Schofield. A key point of focus for the developers was the main character, Kain; Crystal Dynamics had "a huge investment in Kain as a character". Shifting the focus of gameplay towards action, gore and combat instead of puzzle-solving, it retains several of the qualities which made the previous games popular, but was criticized for lacking innovation. Despite middling critical reception, it was released on four platforms and sold well. The setting, an enormous industrial city, is a departure for the series. While the game was released after Soul Reaver 2, the events of the game actually happen after Blood Omen but before the events of Soul Reaver, in an alternate timeline created from the Soul Reaver 2 events. In Blood Omen 2 players control a younger Kain after an unsuccessful campaign to conquer Nosgoth, as he is opposed by traitorous vampires and a new enemy.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance Legacy of Kain: Defiance was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. First conceptualized as Soul Reaver 3, it represented a combined effort from the Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 teams to consolidate and re-balance the storytelling, puzzle-solving and combat aspects of its predecessors, fusing elements from the two sub-series into one game. They chose a new title under the Legacy of Kain banner to reflect this new focus. The player alternates between control of Raziel and the Soul Reaver 2 incarnation of Kain in each of the game's chapters, under the premise that only one of the two will survive—emphasis was placed on cinematic presentation. The story concludes on a hopeful note, but without full resolution; during production, Hennig departed Crystal Dynamics to work for Naughty Dog, and Defiance did not meet Eidos' sales expectations. Following its release, Eidos placed the series on hold. Former Eidos North America CEO Bill Gardner and Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone expressed interest in reviving the franchise, but Crystal Dynamics stated that they were not working on a continuation.
Nosgoth Nosgoth, a multiplayer game, was formally announced by Square Enix London Studios community manager George Kelion to be in development in June 2013, in response to a series of internet leaks and resultant speculation. According to Kelion, it was to be set in the same universe as previous Legacy of Kain titles, but would not be "a traditional or even single-player LoK experience". The game was intended to be viewed as "very much on a separate branch to both the Soul Reaver and Blood Omen series", and Crystal Dynamics were not involved in its development. Kelion stated that Nosgoth would be more formally announced and revealed at a future date, sometime beyond the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013. Nosgoth however was never officially released, but began open beta in January 2015. The game officially shut down its servers on May 31, 2016.
Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is a video game compilation released in 2024, developed and published by Aspyr that comprises the second and third games in the series. The remastered collection includes new features such as toggleable high-fidelity graphics, a modern control scheme, improved camera controls, a map and compass, "lost levels", a photo mode, and a day and night cycle which was cut from the original Soul Reaver. The release of Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered coincided with the 25th anniversary of 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The game had a development philosophy similar to that of Aspyr's Tomb Raider I–III Remastered, and built upon the games' original source code and engine, provided to the team by Crystal Dynamics.
Defiance Remastered
A remaster of the fifth installment, Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered, was released in 2026, on the same platforms as the Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is a 2D platformer and was released on March 31, 2026. The game was not released on eighth generation consoles. It is described as a retro action platformer and features new voice recordings by Michael Bell, Simon Templeman, Richard Doyle and Anna Gunn.
Ascendance received almost exclusively mixed to negative reviews. Beyond gameplay and story criticism, concerns about how Ascendance retcons key points of the lore were also mentioned.
Cancelled games Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy In 2008, it emerged that a sixth game, Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy, had briefly been in development at Ritual Entertainment in 2004 before being cancelled. A playable demo of Dark Prophecy, sourced from an old milestone build, is available on the Deluxe Edition of Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered.
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun
In 2013, Square Enix confirmed allegations that Climax Studios had worked on another new Legacy of Kain title for the PlayStation 4, Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, until this project's cancellation in 2012.
Overview Common elements