The original Legacy of Kain games were released in the few years before and the few years after the turn of the millennium on consoles such as the PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, and PC. They were gothic epics that could be classified as action-adventure or action role-playing games. They were generally well received, and in 2024, Legacy of Kain 2: Soul Reaver received a remaster. Now, in 2026, we have a remaster of Legacy of Kain: Defiance releasing, and a completely new game Legacy of Kain: Ascendance. The latter is a 2D action-platformer full of combat and blood that uses a pixel art style. It is rich in lore, comprises twelve chapters, and has the player switching between the characters Elaleth, Raziel, and Kain.
A legacy of lore
The classic games in the Legacy of Kain franchise really sucked players into the gothic world of Nosgoth. The lore in those games revolves around the rise of the vampire Kain and the story of his vengeful lieutenant, Raziel. In Legacy of Kain: Ascendance similar care is taken with the story, and early on you play as a new character named Elaleth, Raziel’s sister, who is guided by the half-human, half-hylden Ky’set’syk. Elaleth has bat-like wings for flying, as well as a sword which can inflict deep wounds and decapitations.
I found the sections where you play as Elaleth to be the most fun, as being able to fly is useful. Plus, Ky’set’syk is a great ‘guide’ character. In the early stages, a lot of story and lore is introduced to the player, and it is definitely useful to learn about or recount the lore of the previous games. I’m not a massive fan of the classic games, and don’t know the lore by memory, yet I enjoyed the story in Legacy of Kain: Ascendance.
Blood and undead creatures
The game is split into chapters, broken into smaller sections within each chapter where the player takes control of one of the three playable characters. Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is primarily an action platformer. Progression is linear, so don’t let the 2D-platformer style trick you into expecting the game to be a metroidvania. The player writes through waves of enemies until they are all defeated, and then the player is allowed to progress. Enemies will run and jump all around you, and it is easy to get overwhelmed. You have to manage the enemies on screen and make sure that your life-bar doesn’t fall too low if you have a perilous section still ahead of you.
The enemy diversity is quite high, and the player will fight enemies from bat-like monstrosities to archers, swordsmen, knife throwers, and all manner of undead creatures. The game is a bloodbath. Each slash you make with your weapon that makes contact with an enemy will cause blood to squirt out into the game world. A unique gameplay feature is that when you’ve dispatched an enemy, you have the option of pressing a button to suck their blood and regain health.
Pixel perfection
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance uses pixel art for gameplay, which I am a fan of as I find hand-drawn styles often look like flash games rather than 16-bit SNES or Megadrive games, which I think the pixel art games are more reminiscent of. Even the blood that pours out of enemies is in a pixel art style. I did find the physics a little bit floaty, which makes the game seem less polished in comparison with platformers that have ‘weight’ in their jumps. However, overall, the art and control of the game are high quality, and decapitating hordes of the undead from a 2D perspective has never been more fun.
The sound design is also great and what you’d expect from a Crystal Dynamics game. It continues the legacy of the classics from the series. Voice acting is included which brings each character to life, sounding appropriate and never out of place. In the main menu, there is a codex that contains documents that you find in-game (and can read later). This adds to the lore and world-building. There’s also a statistics section that will tell you precisely how many kills you’ve made as well as how many corpses you’ve drunk blood from. Incidentally, the game also has difficulty levels. I went with Easy, and never had major problems cutting my way through hordes of undead.
Conclusion
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is a linear 2D action platformer that is fun to play through, but some will call it a missed opportunity. The simple slash-em-up gameplay is addictive, but it is all a bit mindless. The addition of puzzles or exploration would have made the game a better experience. Redeemably, the variety of enemies is high, and the presence of blood fountains whenever you slice an enemy makes for a visceral experience. The game is quite short, and you’ll blow through the chapters quickly. If you’re a fan of the Legacy of Kain series, then this game adds to the lore that you are familiar with and makes it a must-play. Elaleth is a highlight, the most fun out of the three playable characters in the game, and discovering her story is worth the price of admission for fans of the series.
Legacy Of Kain: Ascendance is out now on Switch 2, Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
