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The theme of the decline and death of civilization in the gaming industry is not a rare guest. This is the case with projects such as Fallout, The Last of Us, Dying Light, Horizon and many others. However, at the root of all these games, despite their obviously different essence, there is one unifying factor – the decline of civilization in them occurs under the influence of external factors. Whether it is mass infection (Days Gone, The Walking Dead, Deadlight), man-made (Metro, Mutant Year Zero) or natural (Frostpunk, I’m Alive) catastrophes – any of these incidents in the blink of an eye destroys almost all of humanity and places a dark stigma on the existence of those few “lucky” ones who managed to survive this event. And now, against the backdrop of this dejected world, which has rolled back several centuries in its development, there is a progressive weakening and destruction of most social institutions, ideas about humanism, morality and ethics. So, and only this way: some kind of disaster is always presented in video games as a catalyst for further self-destructive attempts of humanity.

However, one rather cult and undeservedly forgotten series approached this topic from an unexpected angle for the industry, but the most logical and obvious for the entire course of human history. Taking as a basis a dark gothic story about vampires, the scriptwriters turned upside down the idea we are all familiar with about the death of civilization, reversing cause and effect.

As many have already, I think, guessed, today we will talk about the series Legacy of Kain and in particular, about its second part, published under the title “Soul Reaver”.

To begin with, it is worth stipulating that Legacy of Kain — the series is quite extensive: it includes five completely different games, both in gameplay (from hack and slash with RPG elements to action adventure) and in mood (at different times LoK rushed from dark fantasy to steampunk, along the way almost getting into gothic horror on minimal wages). However Nosgoth, the game world has always remained a dark, gloomy and inhospitable place. And he reached the quintessence of this darkness, just in time for the events described in "Soul Stealer".

First part of the series, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain tells the story of a fantasy world, the main distinguishing feature of which is Columns (in some versions of the translation – Pillars). Nine columns keep the world in balance and relative prosperity, while protecting Nosgoth from the invasion of demonic creatures once sealed in another dimension. But, naturally, if everything were so simple, there would be nothing to talk about here.

The plot of the first part, in brief, is dedicated to the posthumous wanderings of a brutally murdered nobleman Caina, reborn in the guise of a vampire, experiencing not the brightest days Nosgoth. The main support of the world, its columns, are gradually being destroyed, since the guardians of each of them have fallen into madness, and consequently, all of existence is on the verge of the greatest cataclysm. Cain quickly takes revenge on his offenders, after which he sets about solving a global problem – restoring balance and maintaining the pillars intact. To do this (again, if you don’t go into details), you need to destroy each of the maddened guardians of the pillars, assume their status and psycho-physical connection with each of the pillars, and then make a sacrifice (kill yourself in the name of preserving the notorious harmony, peace and prosperity). At all Blood Omen has two endings depending on the player’s final choice: to commit self-sacrifice or not. But, as mentioned above, if everything were so simple..

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (yes, from this game onwards the subtitle of the original game becomes the title for the series) tells us about what happened to Nosgoth after the fateful decision of a vampire of noble blood, and, as a consequence, from two polar options for the development of events, he chooses refusal as the canon for all subsequent games Caina from the victim. Such a decision should have ruined Nosgoth, and we see some alarming elements from the very first frames of the introductory cut-scene: the once immense columns Nosgoth, which pierced the heavens through and through, now represent only lopsided stumps, fragments of former greatness and monumentality, at the foot of which rises the throne of His Majesty Caina.

You probably thought: “What does all this have to do with it?? He announced the theme of the death of civilization, and here he describes the history of the series on minimal wages!“So, don’t worry, this is necessary to understand the general context, we’re just getting to the point.

Surrounding yourself with lieutenants, loyal minions, Cain rules the degenerate Nosgoth. Seeing that one of the lieutenants, Raziel, surpassed his master by being the first to let go of his wings, the former nobleman inflicts injuries on him and condemns him to eternal torment in Lake of the Dead. However, after the millennium, Raziel was resurrected Elder God, and saw with my own eyes the fruits of a thousand-year reign Caina..

Now we’ve come to the most interesting part, to the heart of the matter. It is precisely this plot device that allows you to see civilization at the moment of the beginning of its fall and the lowest point of its negative development, simultaneously allowing the player to compare Nosgoth, different time periods and draw conclusions.

And the conclusions are disappointing.

First, vampires led by Caina nonukcasinosites.co.uk/400-deposit-bonus/ exterminatedOmost of the people in Nosgoth. In principle, the topic of genocide was raised back in Blood Omen, only then did people, “in the name of prosperity and harmony in the world,” kill almost all vampires. The pitiful remnants of the human race took refuge in the impregnable Citadels, surrounded on all sides by water. As you can see, karma in this universe has rapidly overtaken all of humanity.

The same Citadel. Unfortunately, there are some problems with the overall layouts in Soul Reaver. Due to the short rendering distance, giant buildings, which invariably appear in the game, can only be viewed in their entirety if the developers have provided a cut-scene with a camera flyover in this place. Otherwise, you have to look at the local beauties piece by piece.

Secondly, decadence gave noticeable metastases to local architecture: fascinating, once majestic Gothic buildings, erected with due pomp and pathos, turned into miserable ruins. The reason for this, in addition to the constant wars that he waged Cain, are, again, the vampires themselves, who make up the bulk of the population, and who prefer to settle in damp underground holes and dank caves rather than build something majestic. As a last resort, local bloodsuckers choose the ruins of buildings from the last millennium, but they themselves have almost completely lost their desire for architecture.

In this regard, the most significant example is the lair Nupraptora, which at the time Blood Omen was a majestic castle on top of a rock with a huge skull in the central part of the building, from which a waterfall flowed like a stormy stream.

By the time the main events start Soul Reaver from the lair Nupraptora only pitiful, but quite recognizable ruins remained. The waterfall, like the lake, has dried up completely.

Thirdly, and this is perhaps the most important and fascinating thing – the vampires themselves have changed. And here it’s worth making a small lyrical digression, for those who are not familiar with the series, and in particular with Soul Reaver. Answer yourself the question: what associations arise in your head when you hear the word “vampire”? Surely, it will be a template set of small but deadly fangs, pale skin, bloodshot eyes, a stylish medieval dress and the absence of a reflection in the mirror. And all this is in the series Legacy of Kain, or rather it was, before the resurrection Raziel. Ten centuries of decline and progressive degradation have led vampires to the irrevocable loss of their human form. Now each of the vampire families (headed by the remaining lieutenants, brothers Raziel) lives in its unique environment, and unconditionally adapts to this environment. Today’s vampires are no longer given away by the absence of a reflection in the mirror – they are simply not interested in mirrors, as in other elements of the life of a rational being. They are driven only by a primitive thirst for blood and nothing else. The degenerate vampires of the period of the catastrophic decline of Nosgoth lost almost everything human that was in their appearance, completely forgot any articulate speech and looked more like pathologically sick, mutilated animals.

So, some of them were dug underground and their appearance more resembles something between zombies and orcs: green corpse skin, elongated pointed ears and a crooked waddling gait. These vampires are offspring Melkai, youngest brother Raziel.

Myself Small lives in the depths of man-made catacombs and is a huge, sedentary carcass formed by the merger and absorption of many different bodies. As if to compensate for his vicious weakness, evolution awarded the head of this clan the ability to penetrate through bars. That is, even evolution itself, designed to develop any living organism, adapted to the degenerate essence of the clan. Looking ahead, it is worth saying that the characteristics of each subsequent head of the clan fit neatly into this concept, the concept of nature giving in in the face of universal rapid regression.

Clan Zephona on the contrary, he chose higher habitats, but was by no means like birds. This genus mimicked insects, adopting not only the ability to climb vertical surfaces, but also numerous legs, pseudopods, the ability to weave webs, and also to reproduce through laying eggs and creating cocoons. As a result, the clan’s habitat is hung with cobwebs, mucus and sewage, in which its inhabitants feel simply great.

And if in Smaller we could recognize a pile of twisted and mutilated human bodies, woven into a single shapeless mass, then here Zephon creates the impression of a purebred giant insect.

A similar story happens with Rahab: his offspring, like the head of the family himself, acquired mechanisms of adaptation to the aquatic environment. In the universe LoK, as in many other fantasy worlds, vampires do not tolerate contact with water, but for the Rahab clan this is not a problem, but, on the contrary, a comfort zone. Covered with scales and membranes, growing gills and flippers, these vampires are much more like creatures from mythology G. F. Lovecraft – anthropomorphic monsters, with all the signs of inhabitants of the underwater depths.

And here, just as in previous cases, the head of the clan is the locomotive of this perverted, distorted evolution. Rahab – the quintessence of adaptation to living in a flooded Nosgothic temple, covered with scales from head to toe (or rather, to what was once his legs), he does not crawl out of the water, limiting, like his brothers, his own world to a small “enclosure”. The centuries-old decadent way of life has made the ability simply unnecessary Rahab move on land, which is why its lower limbs are fused together, forming a huge tail. As you might guess, in this lieutenant Caina there is nothing human left except the ability to speak.

After Rahab There is another boss in the game with its own specifics and original habitat, however Dumas (this is the name of the next lieutenant Caina) turns out to be not so organically woven into his own environment with the help of the corresponding abilities of him and his clan (I won’t go into details, I’ll just say that the reason for this was most likely the short development time and the inexorably approaching release date). All in all, Dumas in the context of the topic of this article is taken out of brackets.

And finally, it is also worth mentioning that the so-called spiritual world additionally influences the creation of a feeling of complete decline of the world. Architecture and even the natural landscape in this dimension change color to a paler and lifeless one, and matter itself is surrealistically distorted.

The same place in the material and spectral worlds, respectively. Moving between two worlds radically changes the perception of seemingly familiar places.

In addition, the parallel world is inhabited by various spirits, some of which simply look disgusting and slightly sickly, while others are frightening and ominous. And it seems that this is a purely gameplay feature that allows you to stretch out the timing of the game, while saving on drawing new locations, but what an uncomfortable and at the same time fascinating feeling you experience when passing through, realizing that under the outer layer of Nosgoth a completely different, inside out, frightening life is teeming.»

Technically, in Soul Reaver it is impossible to die completely and irrevocably, but you can roll back to the very beginning of the game in order to get to the place of death on your own two feet, and the spirits of deceased vampires in the spectral world will more than once force you to go on this fascinating journey on foot. The sounds they make when they die are simply heartbreaking.

Let me return to my original point: Soul Reaver shows the most eerie and gloomy picture of the gradual death of civilization, its independent and voluntary extinction without any external influences. Although, hardened fans of the series will probably object to me, they will find in mythology Nosgoth all the most terrible curses and will point them out to me as that very notorious external catalyst for the degeneration of civilization. And formally they will even be right. But the beauty of the story about the confrontation between Raziel and Kain lies precisely in the fact that it can be interpreted in different ways and viewed on completely different planes, for which many thanks to the screenwriter of almost all games in the series, Amy Hennig (yes, the same lady who would later write much more simple and unpretentious, from the point of view of screenwriting, adventures of Nathan Drake).

So, if you remove all the conventions in the form of column guardians Nosgoth, the interdependence of their mental state and the safety of the pillars themselves, as well as turning a blind eye to the most gorgeous, meticulously crafted fantasy setting, with Hyldens, vampires, ghosts and other products of the mythologies of various peoples, then we will see the usual story of racial segregation and genocide with far-reaching consequences, the story of an ordinary man who refused to sacrifice personal safety for the common good, and in the end, the story of a man endlessly intoxicated with power. So intoxicated that he chose to bring down the whole world in general and everyone who was close to him, in particular, into the abyss of progressive degradation, extinction and oblivion. The game itself tells us this, tells us directly. Characters talk about this, like Raziel, Ariel And Elder God, This is very clearly indicated by numerous artistic elements and environmental design (we have discussed some examples above).

In the end, the final Soul Reaver translates everything into a pathetic-epic tone, shifting the emphasis to the themes of predestination, higher design and time paradoxes. And that in itself is not bad at all. The further development of events and the ending of Legacy of Kain: Defiance (and at the moment, one might say the entire series), despite a certain level of understatement and incompleteness, raised the level of intensity of passions to an unprecedented level, at the same time very beautifully closing the main interpersonal conflict of the series. Legacy of Kain after the first part Soul Reaver changed its tune and conveyed a completely different message, which, as we have already mentioned, is a familiar pattern for the series. But it was Soul Reaver that turned out to be one of the darkest and most frightening parts of the huge canvas of the series. Frightening not with classic screamers and creepy monsters (although there are plenty of the latter in the game), but with the uncomfortable and inconvenient truth about us humans ourselves. The plot of the game, upon closer examination, turns into a parable about the usurpation of power, about the influence of this unlimited power on the person who received it, about the cultural and spiritual extinction of huge and once powerful civilizations under the yoke of tales of their own greatness.

Naturally, you can always concentrate only on the external picture with ancient curses, the struggle of the worlds and various otherworldly forces, but, looking at the decline of the ancient era of human history, you will not argue that barbarians and only barbarians are to blame for the collapse of Rome?

Thank you for your attention to this article. I hope the time spent reading it was spent with interest. I will be happy to support the discussion of the material in the comments.