I fondly remember the fuss that was made over Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain back in the day. The PS1 felt like the first console that had experiences tailor made for mature players, even though darker, more adult games weren’t exactly a new thing.

And Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was a take on top-down, action-RPGs that went way further into ‘mature’ territory than other, similar titles had gone at the time. You play as the titular Kain, who begins the game trying to rid himself of his vampiric curse, but with the need to feed on blood very much a necessity.

Cinematic cut scenes aside, it’s aged pretty well, helped by being a 2D game with fairly non-linear gameplay (after a point, anyway). It’s well worth playing, and its appearance on the Evercade is very welcome indeed.

The cartridge also contains Blood Omen’s sequel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Switching to 3D, it’s visuals haven’t aged quite as nicely as those of its predecessor. While atmospheric and with a very moody ambience, the world doesn’t feel as rich or detailed as the pixel art Nosgoth in the first game.

Gameplay-wise, it’s more Tomb Raider than Zelda, with the latter series seeming to be quite an influence on Blood Omen. That said, the shift between worlds to take advantage of different abilities between them is a definite riff on the light and dark worlds of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and it’s very well implemented here, enabling the design of some really clever puzzles and other gameplay elements.

There’s some control quirks with Soul Reaver, but it can be played with analogue controls if you’ve updated the firmware of your Evercade VS or Alpha. And that’s definitely a preferable way to play.

That said, even if you’re playing on the Evercade handheld exclusively, both of the Legacy of Kain titles here are definitely worth your time, and it’s cool to have both a 2D and a 3D take on the world of Nosgoth, and its surprisingly deep mythology.

You can buy Legacy of Kain Collection from Amazon.

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