Legacy of Kain: Ascendance Review – Rising from the ashes

After years of full silence from the Legacy of Kain collection, this month has seen it resurgent, first with a remaster of Defiance (which I sadly discovered fairly underwhelming), and now with a model new title on the earth of Nosgoth. Ensuing from a profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign, and accompanying a graphic novel detailing the story, Ascendant provides gamers the chance to delve again into the bloody scheming of gaming’s biggest antihero, Kain, together with collection stalwart Raziel and the brand new character of Raziel’s sister, Elaleth. All of that is wrapped up in a placing 16-bit pixel type that’s supplies a recent tackle the Gothic excesses of the franchise. However, most significantly, how does it play, and can it usher in a brand new wave of Kain followers?

The introduction of Elaleth is the obvious new facet of Ascendance. All earlier video games have featured the twin, and duelling, protagonists Kain and Raziel. Elaleth comes into the narrative within the gaps between the primary recreation and Soul Reaver. Trapped within the vortex of time by the scheming of Morbius, she seeks revenge on her brother as a result of he was compelled to kill her beloved after witnessing him rework right into a vampire. In doing so, Raziel minimize off Elaleth’s hand to attempt to stop her being contaminated however was unsuccessful. This twisting story of vengeance and self-righteousness pushes the gameplay alongside and in addition helps to fill within the gaps from the unique collection. Elaleth is a comparatively one-track character, although, and lacks the complexity of the opposite two.

Throughout the recreation’s temporary playtime – I completed in 4 hours on Onerous issue – you’ll change between Elaleth, Raziel in each human and vampire kind, and Kain himself. Every character has some distinctive abilities, however the controls largely revolve round a easy trio of buttons with bounce, assault, and sprint being your mainstays. The ultimate face button is used for every character’s powers with vampires having the ability to swoop down on enemies, Kain having the ability to cross distances as a flock of bats, and human Raziel having a torch to burn vampire foes and cease them from respawning. The controls completely go well with the SNES-style aesthetic and it does really feel like a misplaced recreation from that period a lot of the time (this can be a good factor, by the way in which). There may be additionally a block and parry mapped to the proper shoulder button, however I killed over 1000 enemies and have apparently used this solely 26 occasions.

The issue with such stripped again controls, nevertheless, is that fight lacks a lot in the way in which of selection. There are some issue spikes (maybe because of my not realising I used to be taking part in on Onerous till the ultimate stats display appeared) the place it’s simple to get overwhelmed and die rapidly, and countering these requires you to take a gradual and regular method which feels counterintuitive to the arcade fight type. When taking part in as one of many vampires, this regular method is additional disincentivised by the truth that your well being is consistently draining and that you must feed off defeated enemies or acquire blood orbs to get well. Managing your well being whereas deciding which encounters to keep away from turns into a key technique, though there are common chokepoints the place it’s important to kill every little thing to progress. Fortuitously, checkpoints are fairly frequent so that you hardly ever should repeat an excessive amount of once you inevitably succumb.

The sport proclaims that it’s based mostly on verticality (therefore the Ascendance identify) and that is true to a degree with the winged vampire ranges (each Raziel and Elaleth) having the ability to fly upwards at the price of magic energy (which regenerates slowly or will be boosted by inexperienced orbs). These sections play out as mini puzzles the place it’s important to navigate obstacles while replenishing your magic alongside the way in which and are largely enjoyable, with a pair proving irritating. Other than these sections, although, a lot of the sport is a extra conventional left to proper hack and slash motion platformer. Not a foul factor in and of itself, however not fairly what was marketed.

As a Kain recreation, a big a part of the attraction comes from the lore and voice performing and Ascendance holds up effectively right here. Sequence regulars reprise their iconic roles and every really feel very in character, with Kain dripping condescension and Raziel affected by his destiny. Elaleth largely shows anger, however there are some scenes the place a bit extra vary is allowed and her voice performing is on par with the remainder of the forged. The story itself appears like a becoming addition to the broader lore, though there have been some eyebrows raised on the approach that Elaleth is inserted into iconic moments. A particular point out must be made for the music by Celldweller which is great, together with some banging remixes of collection favourites.

One in all my foremost complaints with the sport as an entire is the bizarre lack of aesthetic coherence. The playable elements are good, with a pixel aesthetic that jogged my memory of basic GBA and SNES Castlevania, and the extent development feels closely harking back to Tremendous Castlevania IV particularly (that is very a lot not a search journey recreation though there are hidden collectables to search out throughout the degrees). Nonetheless, there are common cutscenes that shift between anime type, PS1 3D, and even a bizarre chibi flashback. These had the unlucky impact of creating the sport typically really feel like a piecing collectively of deleted idea artwork somewhat than a totally cohesive imaginative and prescient.