As popular as Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was during the PlayStation’s heyday, its predecessor in Blood Omen almost never gets mentioned. Though not for a lack of trying. Released 25 years ago today in 1996, Blood Omen not only gave us a memorable anti-hero in Kain and unveiled the world and rich lore of Nosgoth to players for the first time, but it also ended up in legal purgatory that has left it to be largely forgotten by the mainstream. Which, if you’ve played the game, you know is a damn shame.
For those who walked in late, Blood Omen takes place in the land of Nosgoth, and centres on a nobleman named Kain. After being assassinated by a group of bandits, Kain accepts a deal with the necromancer Mortanius, who resurrects Kain as a vampire to exact his revenge. After killing his assassins, Kain seeks to reverse his condition. He soon learns about the Circle of Nine, a group of sorcerers who protect and represent the Pillars of Nosgoth. The Pillars are the health of the world, which have become corrupted due to the Circle of Nine having been driven insane. Kane is then tasked with restoring balance to Nosgoth by killing the sorcerers, thereby allowing new guardians to take their place.
Originally conceived by Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack and art director/writer Ken McCulloch as “The Pillars of Nosgoth” in 1993, Blood Omen drew upon several influences to shape what would become its grey morality and its multilayered protagonist. Dyack states the first influence was Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time novel series, which featured a “complex and compelling” storyline which Dyack wanted to emulate. Other novels included Brian Lumley’s Necroscope series and Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. Lastly, and particularly for Kain, Dyack drew upon Clint Eastwood’s character of William Munny from Unforgiven. Dyack wanted to create a character that was morally ambiguous, which up until that point, video games really had no protagonist that was made up of these shades of grey.
It’s this attention to the game’s lore and character development that made Blood Omen such a blast to play. No one in the game is a pure “good” or “evil” character. Including Kane, everyone dances that line, being equally capable of doing what’s considered good or evil, and even that is up to interpretation. In fact, Silicon Knights even created a document to outline the various themes and interpretations of Blood Omen‘s cinematics. The game sets up Nosgoth as a land divided by humans and vampires. Even in that division, humanity has its own problems with internal strife, with those wanting to save civilization, and those wanting to end it.
The writing for Blood Omen is simply a thing of beauty. It seems as if every character has their share of elaborate dialogue, thanks to McCulloch. Obviously, Kain has some of the best, with moments such as his recalling of taking Mortanius’ Faustian bargain, not caring if he was “in Heaven or Hell”, and only wanting vengeance, but later noting that “Nothing is free. Not even revenge.” Of course, you need someone to deliver this dialogue effectively, and English actor Simon Templeman got what McCulloch was asking for, and delivered with perfection. Likewise, the other actors, including Tony Jay (who voiced Mortanius), Paul Lukather (the vampire Vorador who becomes a “father figure” for Kain) and Anna Gunn (who voiced Ariel, the guardian of balance), deliver great performances. Coupled with the score by Steve Henifin and Scott Shelly, it all contributes to a bleak atmosphere that drives the immersion.
But all of the excellent writing and performances don’t make a game by themselves. It’s the gameplay, after all. Thankfully, Blood Omen delivers on that front. The game is played from a top-down Legend of Zelda style, with Kane navigating the world and having access to a variety of weapons, vampiric powers and spells. And in a case of one component enhancing others, the writing and performances come into play with Kain offering detailed descriptions of his powers, weapons and items. This alone makes you want to grab and examine everything you pick up, and later on, interact with the NPCs you meet.
Anyway, as you might expect as a vampire, Kain is imbued with power to turn into mist, a wolf, a bat, and as a result of magic, disguised as a human . All of these are integral to exploring the world, particularly as a human where you’ll need to gain information from NPCs. And as a vampire, Kain is hurt by precipitation and is weakened by sun, requiring players to seek shelter, or later on, use magic to mitigate the effects. And of course, Kain must drink blood in order to regain his health. Players will have to watch to make sure that they don’t drink the wrong blood, as black blood will damage Kain, while green blood poisons him. You can also consume blue blood from ghosts to regain his magic, or by collecting magic spheres.
Speaking of magic, Kain can obtain several spells throughout the game. Apart from the spells that allow you to drain blood from enemies without stunning them, you have spells that allow you to control humans, throw lightning, and create shields. None of the spells feel useless, as they all serve a purpose. There’s one particular spell that unfortunately can break the game for you if you abuse it, but more on that later. As for weaponry and armour, you again have a variety available to you, with each coming in handy during specific situations. Depending on the weapon, players must be careful to not outright kill enemies (such as with the Flame Sword and the Soul Reaver), as doing so would cost them a chance to drink blood. Using two-handed weapons also prevents Kain from using magic, so again it pays to choose wisely.
Blood Omen is a linear game, with Kain having to visit villages and cities on his quest, but there are plenty of “off the path” areas to explore, made up of forests, caves and crypts, all with a mix of exploration, combat, and puzzle-solving. The environments for the time are well-detailed, employing then-novel effects such as coloured lighting to highlight secret passages and switches, and employs an overall darker, slightly desaturated palette to emphasize the dreariness and harsh world of Nosgoth. Obviously by today’s standards, it you can see limitations with the crunchy pixels, but it’s hardly something to complain about. Likewise, the animations of the pre-rendered sprites can’t compare to, say, Symphony of the Night, but again, it’s still quite serviceable.
What’s still an issue with the sprites is the collision. You must line yourself up correctly to attack, as will your foes. Being slightly offset will cause you (or the enemy) to miss, resulting in you having to either stop attacking and realign yourself, or keep attacking and hope your foe walks into your swings. This is especially egregious when you’re swarmed by enemies, causing you to even be blocked from moving, or due to the lack of invincibility frames, being continually hit.
This minor issue is contrasted with the bigger issue of Blood Omen‘s magic system, which can (and does) break the game. Casting the Repel spell will practically make you invincible to enemy attacks and reflect magic attacks. Coupled with the Chaos Armour (which reflects enemy damage back at them), you can waltz through many areas so long as you have enough magic power available to you to case Repel.
But those game-related issues take a backseat to the overarching issue which is the rights to the series. For those unaware, Silicon Knights (which created the characters and story for Blood Omen) partnered with Crystal Dynamics to get the game published. However, despite Silicon Knights’ attempts to ensure that they had the rights to the characters (one of the game’s opening screens states as much), Crystal Dynamics (which had also provided additional funding for Blood Omen‘s development) felt they had the rights. The lengthy battle also brought Activision into the fray, who distributed the game on PC. Fast-forward to today, and Silicon Knights is no more, with Crystal Dynamics being a subsidiary of Square Enix, and the rights issues are still not entirely cleared up. Only earlier this month it seems that the game was given the go-ahead to be released on PC again through GOG, but the consoles are another issue, entirely.
Potentially game-breaking spells aside, Blood Omen is still very much something to be experienced for the obvious quality storytelling and wonderful atmosphere. It’s from a time before we had a sizeable number of games that featured morally-grey situations. And even today, playing as an anti-hero as multi-layered like Kain is still an enjoyable experience, be it for the writing or Templeman’s amazing performance. And of course, Blood Omen was the start of a series that still enjoys a following today, though primarily due to its sequels. It’s a shame that the legalities behind the rights almost doomed Blood Omen to be forgotten, which are still unclear now. Whether we see a new entry in the series or even a reboot/remaster is the question that fans have been asking for a painfully long time. Perhaps with Blood Omen finally getting cleared for release again on PC, the Legacy of Kain series will finally get that renewed attention it so deserves, and the outstanding rights issues can finally be addressed.
