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Author's notice: THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO POSTED AT WWW.GEEK-LOVER.COM, NOW A PARTNER SITE TO ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com

The year is 1997, and I am in a videogames store. I have just gotten my Playstation, so I naturally want to buy a game to play with (the game also came out for PC). After going through the store in search (which didn't really had much of a variety of titles) I find out there is an offer, two games for the price of one. The two games are "Darkstalkers", a Capcom 2D fighting game that it's characters are horror archetypes like the Werewolf, the Mummy, the Zombie e.t.c. The other one is a obscure game that I have never heard of before, "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain". I take a look at its back cover and it's about vampires, darkness and the whole shebang. "Ok", I say to myself. "What have I got to lose"? (after all I was and still am, a horror junkie with a thing for gothic stories, and I was getting two games instead of one).

So, I get home, play a little with Darkstalkers and then I decide to pop the other game in to see what was it about. An hour or so later, I have completely forgotten about Darkstalkers. Kain was THE man, or rather vampire... Thus began my love for a great series of games, that back then and still up to this day, is one of my favorites.

And who is Kain exactly?

"There is a Magical operation of maximum importance: the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood".

The game's opening FMV starts with these words spoken by an ominous voice (actually years later, I found out that they are an excerpt from the works of Alister Crowley, occultist and philosopher. Chapter 44 of Liber 333 for whoever might be interested).

Then we get to see the brutal and graphic attack of a vampire, to what apparently is some kind of Holy order or something. What seems like the order's leader and some bald girl (right before being flayed alive) are calling for the warrior-protector of the order, Malek. He arrives too late though, and finds everyone dead. The mysterious vampire suddenly appears behind him and...BAM!, down Malek goes.

Next thing we see, is Malek being chained to some ritual altar, and a creepy looking man, punishing him for failing to protect his own, by binding his soul to his armor forever, without his body. Then we see a girl tending to some balance scales, suddenly murdered by someone unseen, and the image of some mysterious pillars cracking.

Then, the game starts (or so you think), with you being a nobleman and entering a inn. You go to the innkeeper for some ale, but he dismisses you, saying that he won't keep his inn open for you. He's speaking of things that come in the night. Things that no sane man would welcome... So he sends you on your way. But the minute you get out of the inn, you are ambushed by some bandits, who no matter how many of them you kill, they keep coming. And at some point they kill you! WTF? I haven't played the game for more than 5 minutes, and i'm already dead?

Oh no wait! There's another FMV coming up!

Here, we find our hero(?) Kain (who is voiced by Simon Templeman) in some sort of Hell, bound and still impaled with the sword that killed him, through his chest. Then, the creepy guy that condemned Malek appears. We learn that he is the necromancer Mortanius (voiced by the late Tony Jay), and that he gives Kain a chance to get his revenge. And how exactly a dead man can have his vengeance? Simple! He gets turned into a vampire! (Ummm... if that stands, can be Jesus called a vampire? Or is he a zombie? Yes, i know, i'm going to hell...)

 

Killing, slashing, drinking blood! And it has a story too!

So the game actually starts here, with Kain waking up in his grave, and getting out of the cemetary. Here the player gets his first taste of blood (literally. Although in a weird, but cool way. The blood of your enemies flies straight into Kain's mouth, via vampiric telekinesis aparently). He also gets his first artifacts (like the Heart of Darkness, which basically is your "continue"), a blood vial that increases your energy, and a rune which increases your magic power.

So, after leaving the cemetary in a classic setting of rain, thunder and darkness (and learning that too much exposure to water, is fatal to a vampire, since it is acid-like to the vampiric flesh), Kain goes on to find his killers. And he does exactly that. Of course, heavy manslaughter ensues and Kain gets his revenge. Game Over.

Nah, i'm kidding. Mortanius speaks telepathetically to Kain and tells him that that his killers were nothing more than mere pawns, and that the real perpetrators can be found at the Pillars of Nosgoth (the world where the game is , which protect Nosgoth from destruction.

So naturally Kains sets out, to find them!. When he reaches the Pillars of Nosgoth (actually this was to be the original title for the game) though, he finds the lamenting ghost of Ariel, the former Guardian of the Pillar of Balance (the girl with the scales, who was killed in the intro),who tells him that the humans guarding the Pillars from decay have gone insane, and that they must be killed for the Pillars to be saved and gives him a cryptic warning of the Unspoken. 

 

So Kain, embarks on the quest to destroy the Circle of Nine (also known as the Guardians of the Pillars). He goes to their fortresses, kills them and gains various powers. At one point, he finds a supposed ally in the Oracle, who tells him of the Nemesis and tells him to seek the aid of Vorador -- a powerful vampire.

After his meeting with Vorador who tells him of his story and his attack on the Sarafan, the warrior-monk vampire hunting order (a.k.a the intro FMV slaughter), Kain with Vorador's help, eliminates several more guardians.

 

Afterwards, Kain learns that an army commanded by the Nemesis -- a corrupted ruler once named William the Just -- is on the brink of conquering Nosgoth.But Nosgoth's ruler,King Ottmar can't concentrate on the invading menace since his daughter was put under a curse by the evil Dollmaker. So once again, our friendly neighbourhood, blood sucking vampire goes to save the day!

Upon dealing with the Dollmaker, the Princess' curse is lifted, and Ottmar is finally up to the task of fighting Nemesis. And he manages to get his ass handed to him. Ottmar's army is defeated by the armies of Nemesis. Ahhh... looks like Kain has to do everything himself...

 

Kain decides to undo this series of events by using a Time streaming device -- which he found in a cathedral in the city of Avernus (he also finds his legendary trademark sword there, the Soul Reaver, an integral part of the saga) -- to go 50 years back into the past, and kill the young King William before he becomes the dreaded Nemesis.

He succeeds, but in the altered history, the murder of William at his hands, sets off a genocidal crusade against all vampires led by Moebius, the Time Guardian who was manipulating Kain under the guise of the Oracle (that clever bastard!), rendering him the last of his kind, as he executes Vorador in front of Kain.

But Kain proceeds to slaughter the whole mob, and spectacularly kill Moebius in a such a bad-ass, kick-ass scene, that words cannot describe it. But the video below probably will! Never, never fuck with a amoral, cynical vampire who is the definition of an anti-hero kids!

 

Then, Mortanius (who is revealed to be one of the Nine and the Guardian of Death), summons Kain to the pillars, where he and Anacrothe the Alchemist the two last remaining member of the Circle of the Nine, fight a Sorcerers battle to the death. Mortanius kills Anacrothe, and Kain steps out of the shadows to kill him as well.

But after he defeats him, Mortanius turns into a monster, the Unspoken which Ariel had warned him of (and there's a whole more into that story, but more on that in the next part of this series of reviews), and the final battle ensues.

 

After Kain makes the Unspoken speak a few words such as: "NO, PLEEASEE DON'T KILL MEEE! NOOOOOoooo..." (or if you prefer, kills him), Ariel reveals to Kain that there is a tenth Guardian. He himself, is the Guardian of Balance, and succesor to Ariel. And thus Kain is presented with a choice: either he sacrifices himself and restores balance to Nosgoth, or he seals it's fate by condemning it.

 

And guess what the loveable bastard chooses!

Actually, the player can choose to sacrifice himself, but in terms of continuity, that's not what happened. By taking that decision, Kain sets in motion a  sereis of events that will lead into "Soul Reaver", the game's sequel, which will be the next game that i will review!

Hey, you said "review" where the hell is it?

Yes i know. I just figured that most of you, will not play the game since it's old, and you will most likely turned off by its graphics, but none the less, i strongly recommend you to. And don't worry about being completely spoiled by the story above. The game has lots of stuff that were not part of what i told ya. Go search the torrents and find it!

Vae Victis...bitches!

Now, on to the review. Blood Omen is an action-adventure RPG mastepiece of gloomy atmosphere, great voice-acting (btw, Simon Templeman who plays Kain, has appeared in "Charmed", as the Angel of Death) and creepy mood. The game has a deep and complex story (written by Amy Hennig), and the characters, are not the usual one-sided heroes you will find in most games. Actually there aren't any heroes. Kain himself, as the protagonist can be described an anti-hero at best and he's quite a heartless, merciless bastard who does whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

The graphics are pre-rendered, and you have a top-down view of the action. And yes, they way dated by today's standards Also the loading is a major downside to this game unfortunately. The sound though is excellent. The music, written by Steve Henifin, the composer for the Silicon Knights sound team, which was the developer of the game, has done a brilliant job. All the music in the game is excellent and fitting with thw whole atmosphere. The voices, dialogues, the screams and enviroment sounds are fantastic and are of help in immersing the player to Kain's bleak universe.

The controls are rather simple, and you have lots of options when it comes to battle. Spells, weapons, armors and later the classic vampire transformations: Wolf (more like a Werewolf), mist (helps when you need to cross water and avoid takng damage), and bat (you can travel to other cities and villages). You also can pull a spell off, so you can look more humanlike in appereance and get useful information from townsfolk, or use it to stealth past some enemies and later you will get to upgrade it.

The weapons also vary: flaming sword, twin axes, amongst others, and of course, the infamous Soul Reaver sword and there are some armors too (like the bone armor, which prevents skeleton attacks or the wraith armor which lets Kain take half damage, as long as you have magic. Useless if you run out of magic.).

There is a large selection of spells to use (of course you have to find them first), such as "flay" (flay your opponents), "repel" (a very useful spell, that creates a shield around Kain which repels all damage and projectiles) and many others.

There's also a day and night circle. Kain's vampiric powers are stronger at night and when there is a full moon, the Werewolf form is at it's strongest. Also there are places in the game that hold secrets,and can only be accessed at night, or when there is a full moon.

You will find blood vials and runes that will increase your health and magic point repsectively, and at certain points at the game, you will come across Blood Fountains, where Kain can gain more strength, faster
magic regeneration, the Beguile Form (the upgrade to the "diguise" form, resistance to rain, and resistance to snow. Each Blood Fountain can be used only once.

There are also the Spirit Forges,which let you sacrifice blood for objects. There is one for each object and there are some, that  only open during full moons. Some of the Spirit Forges, especially ones that give Kain more powerful objects, are more concealed, and require a bit of searching to find.

All in all, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, is a severely underrated game, a "diamond in the rough" if you will. It's excellent narrative, it's unusual characters, it's simple yet not shallow gameplay, and it's immersive, deep story (which is a bright example of how game storylines should be handled, in my opinion)are things that not many current-gen games possess. And of course it introduces Kain, one of the most memorable cynical, sarcastical anti-heroes and vampires in gaming history.

Now if you'll excuse me, i have people to slay, wall-chained victims to suck dry as they cry for help, and laugh in a sinister way as i yell "Vae Victis"*. And yes, that's all things that Kain does too. Ain't he adorable?

THE GEEK JUDGEMENT:9.5/10

*"Vae Victis" is Kain's trademark war scream and it has a historical base.