The Legacy of Kain series ironically has quite the legacy behind it. Soul Reaver, Blood Omen, and of course Defiance helped cement it as one of gaming’s most beloved vampire-themed RPG series. At this point, it would take some serious effort to tarnish that reputation. So let me introduce you to the newest entry: Legacy of Kain: Ascendance. Rather than the usual third person action RPG formula fans would expect, this one takes a sharp turn into 2D side scrolling Metroidvania territory. We’re off to a fantastic start already, right?

Don’t worry. It gets worse.

This area is SpOoOoOoKy.

I have a lot of love for Metroidvanias. Ori and the Blind Forest, Ender Lilies, and of course the games the genre shamelessly borrowed its name from. So what’s the problem? Ascendance has absolutely no consistency in its gameplay balance.

When you’re playing as Kain, or newcomer Elaleth, you can bulldoze through just about every enemy the game throws at you. There’s barely any challenge for most of these sections, which quickly drains the fun out of combat. Then the game violently swings in the opposite direction when you play as Raziel. Here, enemies can overwhelm you with embarrassing ease, and killing vampires becomes its own special kind of annoyance. If you don’t immediately jump over and burn them within about a second, they pop right back up with full health like you accomplished absolutely nothing.

Let’s look on the bright side for a moment: visually, Ascendance is better than its gameplay. That is an incredibly low bar to clear, but credit where I can begrudgingly give it. That said, the environments themselves are nothing particularly special, and most of the character designs don’t leave much of an impression either. Honestly, the strongest visual moments come during the in between dialogue scenes.

Which brings me to something the game actually gets right: the voice acting. On that front, Ascendance does a genuinely solid job. Much of the original voice cast returns to reprise their roles, which goes a long way toward making this feel at least somewhat like a proper Legacy of Kain game. New additions fare well too, including the aforementioned Elaleth, played by Elsie Lovelock.

Not going to lie, this is probably my least favourite character design.

Now then, time to address the elephant in the room. Elaleth is revealed to be Kain’s sister, who has apparently been pulling strings in the background this whole time, which more or less steamrolls everything Soul Reaver spent its story establishing. Now, Legacy of Kain certainly wouldn’t be the first series to retroactively tweak its lore. Retcons happen. Sometimes they’re even necessary. Thor: Ragnarok, for example, had to quietly explain away the Infinity Gauntlet situation in the Marvel films. That’s a relatively small adjustment made to patch up a bigger continuity issue.

This is not that. This isn’t changing a detail. This is taking a wrecking ball to a major chunk of the existing narrative, potentially affecting not just Soul Reaver, but multiple games across the entire series. For longtime fans who have spent over twenty years waiting for this story to continue, it doesn’t feel bold or surprising. It feels like being slapped across the face and then asked to thank them for the new lore.

There is so much going on in this scene, it’s hard to break down what you’re actually looking at.

Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Legacy of Kain: Ascendance was provided by the publisher.