Legacy of Kain fans have been crying out for a new game for decades, yet all we seem to get is sub-par “remasters”, and, well, this. Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is easily the worst game in the beloved franchise, and does nothing to further the story or satisfy fan cravings.
For a start, it doesn’t follow the original series canon, instead riffing off the poorly-received comic book The Dead Shall Rise, which retconned the existing lore to introduce Elaleth, Raziel’s ridiculously capable sister who slots into the established canon like a house brick slides into a strawberry daiquiri.
The Legacy of Kain series, particularly Blood Omen and the Soul Reaver trilogy are touchstones of gaming, delivering some of the best dialogue, delivery, and action in gaming history. There’s a reason they’re so vaunted, even if opinions on Raziel fluctuate throughout the fanbase (I love him, but mostly that’s down to Michael Bell’s legendary line delivery).
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance features nothing close to the level of writing normally associated with the franchise. Instead we get Michael Bell and Simon Templeman doing their best despite the script and their advanced years, alongside an insufferable turn from Elaleth using her best “Overconfident Female Protagonist” voice, which makes her come across as snarky and cocky. Hell, as you fight through the opening salvo of enemies and Elaleth gets her wings, one of the armoured knights literally yells “They fly now!?”. That right there should tell you everything you need to know about the level of writing and how they are positioning Elaleth.
It wouldn’t be so bad if there was a decent game to hang it on, but there isn’t. Combat is laughably basic, as you prod and swipe at enemies with single attacks. You can jump and glide and climb, but the level design is so pedestrian that you might as well just walk from left to right. On normal difficulty the challenge is so uneven it’s frustrating, as some enemies just walk into your sword and others (see: most ranged enemies) bounce you around like a basketball.
You drink blood to heal, and will unlock a variety of attacks as you alternate between Elaleth and Raziel, first when he was still a part of the Sarafan and later as a vampire. But even this is heavily retconned thanks to this pointless timeline, and the masterstroke that was Raziel going back in time and killing his human self is replaced by a clumsy revenge story because Raziel killed his sister’s vampire lover. There are brief sojourns as Kain, who feels like an incredibly welcome addition, even if it’s the gaming equivalent of spotting someone you know at a boring party.
The pixel art on display is also poor. In this day and age we’ve come to expect a certain flare even from pixel art, with games like The Last Faith and the upcoming Replaced showing what dedicated artists can do. The animation and backdrops on offer here are so basic and devoid of personality that they combine with the dull combat and exploration to deliver a short, unsatisfying slog.
Case in point, Elaleth can “fly”, sort of. By tapping A you can rise up or by holding it you can glide. But sometimes the inputs just don’t register, and it’s such a slow and clunky process that I came to genuinely hate it a bit. Ultimately Legacy of Kain: Ascendance feels like a 30-year-old game that hasn’t even had a visual upgrade before being re-released. That it was made in 2025 is shocking.
From uneven difficulty, disproportionately-powered protagonists (seriously, the switch from Elaleth and her checkpoints spaced three-feet apart and two-shot kills to mortal Raziel and his glass jaw is insane), shoddy graphics, dull combat and uninspired writing, there’s almost nothing to redeem Legacy of Kain: Ascendance other than the fact that it’s short, and it’s really nice to hear Michael Bell and Simon Templeman again. Even diehard series fans can safely miss this one.
