Here we are, as the rumour mill turns once again grinding the grains of doubt into the flour of possibility… my god that was a little bit poetic wasn’t it? Anyway, moving on from my GCSE English writing style, the latest rumour doing the rounds concerns the iconic PS1 classic, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. XboxEra co-founder Nick gave some weight to the buzz in the latest episode of the XboxEra Podcast, using the age of adage of a “mysterious source” so if that really means anything is up for debate. Nick, however, does sound quite convinced by the idea so decide for yourselves and have a listen, the clip is at the 1:18:00 mark.

So, what we have is a suggestion that the game is in development and a possible announcement later this year, not exactly ground-breaking but its been enough to get the fans of the gothic series salivating. While I only ever played the original Soul Reaver and a small amount of 2, I’m still a big fan of the adventures of the blue wraith Raziel. There was a time when I was younger that I couldn’t draw a character without them borrowing a few design elements from good ol’ Raz. The cloak and scarf, the broken wings and of course, the titular Soul Reaver burning away on his arm. Raziel is one of the coolest looking characters ever made for a video game and the idea of seeing him with a proper remake in HD has me more excited than a vampire in a blood bank.

The PS1 was a different time for face rendering

Going back to out information gathering chum Nick, “I believe it’s being announced this year,” Nick said. “Maybe at PAX, or it could get saved for The Game Awards.” Now that’s a fairly wide window really. Since PAX is happening next month, while The Game Awards are likely to be dated a little later in the year, we have a good few months of anticipation, and even then, we don’t even know if it is happening! This could all be speculation and leads to nothing but smoke and mirrors. Of course, though, rumours in the games industry do have a habit of being true, so maybe this is something to be cautiously excited for.

Easy on the wet look gel there Raz

There have been hints and suggestions of a Soul Reaver remake for years now, with the idea gaining a lot of traction back in 2017, and its easy to see why. The title was a smash hit on the PS1 leading to most people who owned the console having played it at least once, making this sequel leagues more popular than its predecessor Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. This probably had a lot to do with it being a super fun action adventure title in 3D, while Blood Omen was a more in depth and frankly confusing 2D top down game with a rich deep story that while incredible, was confusing. Meanwhile Soul Reaver’s story was a little more accessible and took more of a back seat to some exciting gameplay improvements.

Obviously the potential of a remake after all this time has a lot of us excited and hopefully the original devs at Crystal Dynamics will take a brief break from disappointing Marvel fans to write their own love letter to those of us who want to make a gloriously violent return to Nosgoth.