Legacy of Kain: Defiance

Take control of two powerful and highly evolved vampires: Kain, an all-powerful demigod, and Raziel, a demonic angel of death. Each equipped with a legendary sword, Kain & Raziel must battle through a world loaded with conflict and intrigue as they attempt to unravel their destinies and defeat the dark forces that seek to condemn...

Legacy of Kain: Defiance is a action, adventure and vampire game developed and published by Crystal Dynamics.
Released on December 06th 2012 is available in English only on Windows.

It has received 1,082 reviews of which 922 were positive and 160 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.1 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 0.97€ on Steam and has a 86% discount.

The Steam community has classified Legacy of Kain: Defiance into these genres:

Action Adventure Vampire Story Rich Dark Fantasy Singleplayer Hack and Slash Classic Fantasy Third Person Gothic Atmospheric Action-Adventure Retro

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Legacy of Kain: Defiance through various videos and screenshots.

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Requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS *:Windows XP/ Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor:1.8Ghz processor
Memory:1 GB RAM
Graphics:3D graphics compatible with DirectX 9
DirectX®:9.0b
Hard Drive:2 GB HD space

Reviews

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Dec. 2024

Replaying this game now in 2024 has been a sobering experience. EDIT: I pushed passed the issues mentioned in the review and actually finished my replay. I still hold firm to the serious issues with the auto-camera, and way too much combat. But that aside, if you can endure the issues, the game is as great as I remembered it. Not an ideal ending to the series, since it's not a proper ending, but probably as best as we can get considering the situation that we might never get any other game. Now, back to the actual review. While the story/dialogue and writing is decent in Defiance, and the reveals to the plot significant, it's not really to the level of Soul Reaver 2; which I'm now convinced it thoroughly surpasses this one. But what drags this game considerably is the gameplay. They got rid of the amazing puzzles from Soul Reaver 1 and 2, which I admit were decently challenging, and I assume company leadership decided that's a no-go for the audience of 2003, when this came out? So they wanted to streamline and make the game accessible to the most mainstream audience. Which I can appreciate, since I'd love for this series to have garnered a bigger audience since it deserved it. The only issue is they replaced all of the decent puzzles with just a few of the most superficial ones; and a lot of combat. And I mean a lot. It's constant, unrelenting how much shit they throw at you; it almost feels it's just to keep you busy and prolong the game length. While the combat is again more streamlined and feels better for the first hour of gameplay it quickly devolves into the same repetitive pattern and you really get tired of it. It might be flashier and feels better than in SR1/2, but the amount of it more than negates that little improvement. They also made various other changes to the base game that are just annoying. No longer do you simply phase into the spectral real upon dying in the physical one. No, you suffer a reload and it moves you back to the last checkpoint. This might be due to some technical limitation, but they had no issue like this in SR1/2. It's just an annoying change, that it feels like was made at some point and they didn't bother improving it. They also effectively killed almost any exploration the previous games had. SR2 did a bit of funneling of the player, but this is just ridiculous. The auto-camera almost takes you by the throat and shows you where you need to go. But the most absolutely harebrained excruciating of a change they introduced in Defiance is the awful auto-camera that constantly reorients itself according to where you are on screen. Absolutely dreadful implementation. It wasn't ideal in the original Soul Reaver 1, and the remastered version got rid of it. They didn't do it in Soul Reaver 2, and that was amazing. Hands down the version implementation in the series. But here in Defiance they brought it back in the most awful way possible. I find it hard to describe how awful to the experience the auto-camera is, but I will attempt to with a few examples. And these are quite constant, in the most annoying of places. They affect both combat and puzzles/platforming. While it is mildly annoying in combat, since you sometimes lose orientation, target the wrong enemy, and this further exacerbates the stun-locking nature of some of the attacks they do; it is nowhere close to how this impacts platforming especially. The game every so often requires you to jump onto platforms, grab ledges, not fall off platforms, etc. And the camera orientation often either changes mid movement or is positioned in such a way that you cannot judge distance properly, cannot jump off at the last moment you need to in order to be able to grab some ledge. Absolutely infuriating of a shitty camera system. I remember being very annoying even back in 2003, but at this point it has killed my current run of it, since I didn't want to wait for a potential remastered version, like we received for SR1/2. But in this state I cannot fathom grinding through endless repetitive shitty combat encounters, to then be jerked around with platforming annoyances, only to get at the good story. I can just watch a youtube playthrough or just the cinematic parts for that. I did not expect my run to end during Chapter 5, but I won't do this to myself. I'll hopefully retry with a remastered version, if they will ever get to it. Otherwise I'm out. Soul Reaver 1 and 2 were masterful, fun and challenging in the right ways. This is not. I hope that if they do tackle a remaster they do something about the amount of combat. And about the auto-camera. I still cannot believe this shipped with that shitty of an implementation. Score just based on story: 9/10. overall score: 7/10, due to the grindy endless combat and the awful auto-camera that screws with you both in combat and especially in platforming. And also the loss of any solid exploration the previous games had.

Sept. 2024

This game is really nice!. The gameplay is amazing. i only played about 53 mins of it as of this review. its a really like 2003 ish style game. i love vampires and i love old games so this fits!. thanks to my friend who told me about this. :3

Aug. 2024

played through on steam deck what a good game very good story excellent voice acting when are we going to get a remake of this masterpiece trilogy

Aug. 2024

One of the masterpieces of the series. Yes it has its quirks like the camera view, but it didn't too long to getting use to it. Brilliant game! Hope there will he remake of the series!

July 2024

A Timeless Classic Revived! Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5) I recently revisited "Legacy of Kain: Defiance," and I must say, it still holds up as one of the best action-adventure games I've ever played. The narrative is rich and engaging, weaving a tapestry of lore that has captivated me since the first installment of the series. The character development of Kain and Raziel is profound, adding layers of complexity to their rivalry and their intertwined destinies. The gameplay is a fantastic blend of action and puzzle-solving. The combat feels fluid, with a satisfying range of abilities that allows for dynamic combat strategies. I loved switching between Kain and Raziel, as each character brings unique skills and perspectives that keep the gameplay fresh. The game’s environments are beautifully designed, immersing you in the dark, gothic aesthetic that the series is known for. The voice acting is top-notch, with powerful performances that truly bring the story to life. The soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful, perfectly complementing the atmosphere and elevating the overall experience. What I appreciate most is the way "Defiance" ties up many narrative threads from earlier games while still leaving room for exploration and speculation. It’s a compelling conclusion to an epic saga. For fans of action games and immersive storytelling, "Legacy of Kain: Defiance" is not to be missed. It’s a perfect blend of nostalgia and quality gameplay that stands the test of time. Grab it on Steam and dive back into Nosgoth; you won’t regret it! -The blood of the Ancients flows through my veins, and I will not be denied my birthright.

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