Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

About Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996) is Silicon Knights' top-down vampire action-adventure for Crystal Dynamics, in which the murdered nobleman Kain feeds on Nosgoth's living while hunting the corrupt Circle of Nine.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in Depth

Seen from above, Kain crosses the land of Nosgoth and its dungeons, fighting with swords, a mace, axes and the two-handed Soul Reaver, solving puzzles and avoiding hazards. His blood meter drains over time and faster when he is hurt, so he must wound humans and animals and drink their red blood. Blue blood from ghostly foes restores the magic he spends on spells and shapeshifting, while undead black blood harms him and the green blood of demons and mutants poisons him. Spells come as tarot cards, from light to mind control and lightning, and he can become a bat to fly between checkpoints, a wolf, a cloud of mist that passes through gates or a human. Blood fountains, vials and rune pyramids raise his abilities, 100 secrets are hidden, and a day and night cycle makes him stronger at night and opens some doors under a full moon.

Kain is ambushed and killed, and the necromancer Mortanius raises him as a vampire. To avenge himself and find a cure, he must kill the nine sorcerer-guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth, driven mad after one of them, Ariel, was murdered. Along the way he meets the elder vampire Vorador and fights the Legions of the Nemesis, and learns that he is himself the last guardian, so that the "cure" is his own death. The player chooses whether he sacrifices himself or dooms the world.

Making Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

It began as The Pillars of Nosgoth, proposed around 1993 by Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack and art director Ken McCulloch. Crystal Dynamics producer Lyle Hall saw it as "a Zelda-style take on a vampire action RPG" and helped persuade his company to choose the PlayStation over the 3DO and Saturn, with Amy Hennig as design manager. Dyack wanted "a game which adults would want to play", drawing on vampire myth, Shakespeare, Unforgiven, the Necroscope novels and The Wheel of Time. Development took three and a half years, Silicon Knights doubled its staff, and Crystal Dynamics sent employees to Canada for over six months. Simon Templeman voiced Kain, with Tony Jay as Mortanius.

Released in November 1996, it averaged 83% on GameRankings; critics praised its story, voice acting and scope but criticised long loading times and dark graphics, and EGM named it Role-Playing Game of the Year. A 2011 court filing showed at least 320,082 sales. A dispute over the rights left Crystal Dynamics with the series, and it made Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver without Silicon Knights.