Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 - Gameplay

Gameplay

Soul Reaver 2 is a single-player action-adventure game. The player controls Raziel, a ghostly "ex-vampire", from a third-person perspective. Gameplay, which is based on the original Soul Reaver, prompts the player to shift between the material and spectral planes to progress. The material realm represents the physical, living world, whereas the spectral realm is a warped mirror of this environment, inhabited by the dead. Interactive elements are divided into three classes: large rotatable and movable objects (which must be repositioned or reoriented), contextual objects (for example, levers), and puzzle objects (such as keys or disks, which must be carried). In the spectral realm, the player cannot manipulate objects and weapons, and water is as insubstantial as air. Raziel's health slowly regenerates in the spectral world, whereas it gradually depletes in the material realm. If Raziel runs out of health in the material world, he is shunted into the spectral realm, and if killed in this plane, he returns to the nearest checkpoint beacon. Unlike Soul Reaver's warp gate model, Soul Reaver 2 returns to the save point system of the first game in the series, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain; the player can record their progress at, and continue their game from, obelisks in key areas.

Raziel retains most of the powers he possessed in the previous game, including the ability to jump, glide, interact with objects, phase through insubstantial gates in the spectral realm, climb walls, fire bolts of telekinetic energy, and swim. To sustain his strength and travel between the planes, he must devour souls; this is typically accomplished by defeating enemies. The game's combat consists of a hack-and-slash system, entailing the use of combinations of various attacks before executing a finishing move. Human enemies exist only in the material world, and include mercenaries, demon hunters, and the Sarafan, a monastic order of vampire hunters; other material creatures include dogs, thralls, and mutants. Sluagh exclusively inhabit the spirit world, whereas cross-planar beings such as demons and shades can pursue the player between both realms. Enemies leave behind souls when killed, which replenish Raziel's health once consumed. Though Soul Reaver featured a variety of boss encounters, Soul Reaver 2 does not; this was a conscious decision on Crystal Dynamics' part, to ensure the game's pacing more closely emulated that of a novel or a film.

The player's primary weapon is the Soul Reaver, a phantasmal sword required to solve many puzzles. The Reaver is symbiotically bound to Raziel, and cannot be permanently lost. At the beginning of the game, it operates as it did in Soul Reaver—manifesting at all times in the spectral realm, but only available in the material realm if Raziel is at full health—but, following an early story event, its behavior permanently changes. After this alteration, the sword can be summoned or dismissed at any time in the material world, but, each time it damages an enemy, a bar representing its instability begins to fill. The bar diminishes over time, but if the player allows it to reach full capacity by overusing the Reaver, the aroused blade will turn against Raziel, siphoning his health. The Reaver also absorbs enemies' souls, preventing Raziel from consuming them, and, as such, it can be tactically preferable to rely on other weapons (such as claws, swords and spears). As the game progresses, the player encounters magical forges which imbue the Reaver with powers based on the classical elements (darkness, light, air, and fire). These enhancements have various puzzle- and combat-related functions, but are only available in the material realm. If Raziel shifts, he loses his active elemental imbuement, and must re-forge the blade at minor elemental fonts scattered throughout the game world.