PC REVIEW | Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered

After the successful release of Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered, the next logical step was to remaster Legacy of Kain: Defiance. For those of you unaware, Defiance serves as the climactic final chapter in Raziel and Kain’s story, catching people up on what is going on in time for the release of Ascendance. Crystal Dynamics is back with PlayEveryWare with another remaster of the iconic series. One that has a very vast and detailed story that spans decades at this point. But don’t be fooled, as remasters can go one of two ways. If you are new to the series and want to know what the remaster is all about, read on!

Things I liked!

• New Camera Style | Legacy of Kain Defiance offers a new camera control style which is a much better fit for purpose in 2026. It feels a lot better when controlling the characters on screen and makes navigation a lot easier. One of the newest additions to the remaster is the ability to swap between remaster and original styles on the fly by pressing the right thumbstick in. This not only changes the graphics back to the 2003 original, but also the camera style too. It is a neat addition that games like Tomb Raider Remastered, and even Halo Remastered, adopted when they released too. It is a great way of seeing what work has been done in restoring these classic games.

• The Story | The story of Legacy of Kain Defiance has thankfully not changed. Even after 23 years, Defiance has some of the best writing, and storytelling within the Soul Reaver franchise. After having Raziel killed to be revived by the Elder God as a wraith during the events of Soul Reaver, Kain travels backwards through time and is followed by Raziel into Nosgoth’s past, uncovering the conspiratorial events that led to the land being doomed to an eternity of corruption. After establishing his free will by refusing to kill Kain when prophesied, Raziel discovers that Moebius had originally manipulated Kain into igniting a genocidal war against vampires until he was the last of his kind. In manipulating Raziel, who has free will and thus whose decisions and actions cannot be foreseen by Moebius, Kain hopes to find a way to undo the consequences of his actions and restore Nosgoth to its former glory. It sounds complicated on paper, but it is timeless, and offers deep character development with lots of side characters that help flesh out this very engaging story.
  
  
• Vampiric Abilities | Amongst the melee combat, each character has a wealth of vampiric abilities that can be utilised against enemies. Blood drinking obviously restores health and also maintains the theme and character profile of vampirism, being able to turn into a bat and travel, telekinesis, and elemental Reaver spells such as earth, wind, fire, dark, and light. This helps combat stay somewhat entertaining, providing you have the resources to use them.
  
  
• Shifting Protagonists | Legacy of Kain Defiance tells its story by shifting protagonists throughout the entire game. Raziel and Kain are both playable here, and it was the first game to let you do so. At first I thought pacing issues might occur, but this wasn’t the case. Thankfully, each character is well written and I genuinely had a great time with each character. This, combined with the fantastic story, meant that whoever I played as worked well in its favour.
  
  
• Tons of Unlockables | Legacy of Kain Defiance has a lot of extra content to unlock. It ranges from concept art, models, additional skins, and music, to name just a few. It makes working your way through the game and uncovering secrets worthwhile. If you are a fan of the series and want to see more of the game, including reading additional lore, this is something that I would suggest you take your time doing. It is such a detailed game narrative-wise that it does deserve the attention if you are to truly understand the series.

Mixed & disliked!

• Sound Design | Most of Defiance’s issues are plagued by its poor sound design. Much of this is due to reusing a lot of the original audio, and because of this many bugs are still present. Below I will talk about what I think is happening, but I suspect a lot of the original code is still being used. This means that when attacking or using certain abilities, you will find that sound just isn’t there. The satisfactory slap of meat when you throw someone against the wall with telekinesis is somehow just gone; this is also true for other attacks as well. It is not always present, but it happens enough to take you out of the immersion.

• Repetitive Combat | While combat has had a slight upgrade in the ways of implementing a new camera, it doesn’t save the combat from becoming repetitive way too quickly. Outside of the vampiric abilities, the melee combat is largely the same and gets very tedious very quickly. Modernised combat mechanics would have been nice to see to alleviate some of the stresses of fighting.
  
  
• More of a Visual Overhaul | Remasters are not like remakes, and this is where I sometimes have a problem with companies essentially just giving it a lick of paint and calling it a day. While I can’t say this is purely the case here, it does appear that most of Defiance’s code is original, with some additions added. Mainly, though all the textures are replaced, but gameplay mechanics, sound, and all the hallmarks of an ageing twenty three year old game seep through the cracks, resulting in some very frustrating moments.
  
  
  
  

CONCLUSION

Score: 65/100

Legacy of Kain: Defiance offers a fresh coat of paint on the final chapter in the Soul Reaver story. Despite this, however, Defiance is overshadowed by the flaws of the original game. Poor sound design, buggy original code, and repetitive combat hold it back from being a truly remarkable remaster. Thankfully, the story has aged well enough that even if you are familiar with the game already, it is worth another go for old times’ sake.

Aaron

Gaming is in my blood.  Be it handheld games, Xbox, PC, Switch or Playstation, I am all over it.
I make my own games as part of my profession and love playing co op games with friends in my spare time. Avid dog lover and camper van enthusiast.