this Kane’s legacy The series has been unlucky. destined. Multiple attempts to resurrect its wreckage have been unsuccessful. Kane’s Curse has reportedly taken the studio and career down. But, maybe that makes sense; the series’ dual protagonists — Kain and Raziel — were never known for their luck, were they? Destined to dance between life and death as Nosgoth blooms and fades around them, their attachment to the world of the living is always insignificant, at best.
Well, we can expect a revival of the brand. The news this week that Square Enix unceremoniously axed all the less popular IPs (that’s how I understand it) means Raziel and Kain now have a new god; Embracer’s Faceless, super corporate suit. At first glance, you’d think the investment firm would be content to simply pump out a LoK-style battle royale (hey, remember Nosgoth?) but, on closer inspection, it actually looks like all of us might still have hope for some of us Wonder what happens after Defiance, the final chapter of the saga from 2003 so far.
“[Embracer has] The studio’s rich portfolio of original IP, brands with proven global potential (such as Tomb Raider and Deus Ex), and demonstrating the ability to create AAA games with large and growing fan bases, give them Particularly impressed,” the company said in a press release. “Embracer sees an opportunity to invest in these franchises, as well as additional IP acquisitions such as Legacy of Kane, The Thief and other original franchises. . ”
The company name checks the facts of the venerable dark fantasy action-adventure series, which is a lot more than we’ve seen from Square Enix over the past two decades, at this point. Suddenly, out of nowhere, as if some sleeping god opened his eyes, a loud voice came from the depths: “Lazier… The wheel of fortune turns again.”
For a series that makes us sit down and think about fatalism and humanity’s struggle for free will, I do think Kane’s legacy of original creator (Silicon Knights), best known author (Amy Hennig) and caretaker developer (Eidos ) has absolutely no say in what happens in the game. It’s as funny as Milton is; steeped in irony with a hint of bitterness. The most critically acclaimed game in the series, Soul Reaver, scored an impressive 91 points on Metacritic – for context, that’s better than PSOne stable releases Final Fantasy VIII, Resident Evil 2, and Doom 3 is even higher. There are a lot of people in this series who love being there, even today…so why has it been abandoned for so long?
Perhaps Square Enix was freaked out, a few years ago when the company’s Legacy of Kane: The Dead Sun, produced by Climax Studios for Square Enix Europe, was doomed to disappear without a trace. Later reluctantly admitted that the title “just wasn’t the right game, at the right time”. You’d think that a game developed by the folks behind Silent Hill: Shattered Memories that focuses on both vampires and humans — wrapped in In an endless quest for revenge – would be perfect around 2010, wouldn’t it? A dark, edgy open world would be the perfect chaser for all the shady shooters of the time.
But Square Enix threw the soon-to-be-finished project into the abyss, just as Kane threw Lazier into the lake of death at the beginning of Soul Reaver. Since then — save for a cynical, unpopular multiplayer game that was assembled from Dead Sun’s assets — the series has been dormant. dead. It remains to be seen whether the series will emerge from the depths of development hell, disoriented and blinking, adjusting its vision to a world where NFTs and microtransactions are the norm. But I choose to read Embracer’s acknowledgment of its forgotten goth son as a statement of intent — not just ownership.
The success of Arkane-style immersive sims such as Star Wars: Fallen Order, God of War, The Last of Us, and even Prey and Dishonored proves that people don’t like the dark, Appetite for contemplative games. The way we all, collectively, have drawn tons of gothic lore from FromSoft’s blackjack is a testament to our desire for action-adventure games with well thought-out worlds whose identities matter as much as any protagonist. We are ready, huggers, to return to Nosgoth. In fact, there may have never been a better time.
Starting with Soul Reaver, the series is known for its core gimmick that lets Raziel transition between realms—a mechanic that takes the story’s obsession with breadth and depth and implements it in the gameplay. The story spans eras, and Lazier has the “gift” to be able to switch between physical and physical forms. On the PS1, this is handled in an impressively technical way, even on a more basic level. Think about how that would work… Look at, say, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
In the hands of a competitive developer, contemporary technology will allow players to traverse a semi-open world with not only scope but depth. The stories you can tell – about Nosgoth and its eternal struggle – SSD powering your world…enough to make your mouth water. The industry desperately needs a game that redefines our relationship with open-world gaming, as Breath of the Wild did on Switch, and the unique setting of Nosgoth — and the Abyss of the Legend of Kane — is flawlessly executed A container for such experiments.
Wanting to see Pillars at the center of this cyclical world again is my wishful thinking, maybe – I just crave that goth-industrial, Shakespeare vibe where the game always wears a fitted leather jacket. If I go my own way, in The hard-working team in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. will focus on Nosgoth, studying the legacy of Kain’s selfishness and Raziel’s single-mindedness to the world — and the poor bastard consequences of having to live with them, for a few years down the line. Given the situation, this all feels right.
