Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996)

I loved Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. I had heard of the “Legacy of Kain” series but I did not now what the correct order of the games was or what it was all about in the first place. After discovering that this was the first game, I played it and was immediately impressed.

In this game, you play as Kain, a nobleman who was murdered and resurrected as a vampire. Hungry for revenge, he sets out to kill The Circle of Nine, a corrupt oligarchy of sorcerers who were responsible for his death and vampire curse. Over the course of time, you are consumed by your curse and start to see it as a blessing instead of a curse, corrupting you from inside and make you even more hungry for power. One by one, you slay the members of the Circle of Nine and take their token, making you much stronger and feared. In the end, you place all the tokens on the Pillars of Nosgoth, cleansing them from the corruption of the insane sorcerers and restoring balance to the world, or so is the plan. In an epic plot twist, Kain discovers that he himself is considered one of the nine mad sorcerers and has to make a choice, which spawns one of the two possible endings. In one ending, Kain refuses to sacrifice himself, letting the world crumble and turn into a barren wasteland with him as the most powerful entity in existence. In the good ending, he sacrifices himself to restore balance to the world and make sure that all the vampires are extinct.

I really liked the gameplay mechanics in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. In its core, it is just a top down third person RPG, but the vampire aspects and skills make this game an innovation of its time. You can explore the many dungeons on your own pace and there is no specific path that you must follow, making the game nonlinear.

What makes it unique is that you constantly need to keep an eye on your blood meter, which serves as a health bar, and as some sort of timer, because it depletes automatically over time. There are many human, animal and fantasy creatures in the world to feed on, but you need to think carefully about wounding them so you can feed, or outright kill them, if the situation becomes dangerous. When there are three enemies at once for example, you cannot take your time on slowly wound one enemy, because the other two are still on your back.

Besides your health meter, you also got a blue magic/mana meter, which is used to cast unique spells. This bar replenishes over time, but can be filled up faster by drinking the blood/energy of ghostly enemies.

You also need to stay away from drinking the blood of demons and undead, as they poison and hurt you. For the demons and undead, it is clear that you need to avoid them, but there are also some mutants in the game, which are tricky and mysterious at first, making you doubt if they can be fed on. Many times, the answer is no.

On your quest, you come across many upgrades, unique gear, new magic attacks and shapeshift spells. You collect Rune Pyramids, Blood Vials, drink from Blood Fountains to increase your strength, acquire weather resistance upgrades and much more. If you take the time to explore every inch of the dungeons, you can find some crazy powerful stuff.

There is a night and day cycle in place, in which Kain becomes more powerful in the night, and when there is a full moon, in which certain doors are also accessible. This is another unique and great mechanic.

Graphicly, this game looks amazing. The detail in the surroundings, characters and effects is stunning. It has a dark, Gothic theme over it and the lighting in certain areas looks very pretty. The effects of the blood, and the blood drinking animations are also very solid.

The music and ambient sounds are dark and unsettling, enhancing the Gothic theme even more.

The controls, navigation and menus are a little confusing and “illogical” at first, but when you get used to the unique layouts and shortcuts, it works fine.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is unique in every way with its excellent mechanics, powerful story, balance, fun factor, and challenge. There is so much to do and explore and the visible progression in your character’s development with your new spells, weapons and upgrades really motivates you to play for hours on end.

I can only praise this game and would recommend it to everyone.