Regarding the delay, the developer said it had “listened to what you had to say” and made the decision to “better meet fan expectations and deliver the best possible experience for players.” It will offer more updates “when the time comes,” but for now, anyone who pre-ordered the title will be fully refunded.

Announced last September, Deus Ex Remastered touted upscaled textures, better controller support, a revamped UI, dynamic shadows, a new lighting system, and more. It received a mixed response from fans who criticized the lighting for ruining the atmosphere and the character models for looking vastly different from the originals.

Of course, Aspyr is no stranger to controversial remasters – see Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection – but it’s delivered some standout efforts as well, like Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered. How it plans to improve Deus Ex Remastered remains to be seen, so stay tuned for more updates.

Seminal shooter RPG puts players into the shoes of protagonist JC Denton in the year 2052 and a world that has become incredibly dangerous and chaotic thanks to terrorism, drugs, diseases, pollution, and megacorporations running peoples’ lives. When it originally came out, Deus Ex was known for the level of freedom it gave players in how they could take on just about any mission throughout the game.

Deus Ex Remastered will feature a number of upgrades to the visuals. While it isn’t a full-fledged ground-up remake, the remastered release will have new lighting, dynamic shadows, particle systems, and upscaled textures. Along with this, there will also be a new control scheme that supports controllers, with a redesigned UI that makes use of radial menus that can be better navigated with a controller.

The release of the Enhanced Edition has proven that, with all of its bugs ironed out through decades of community-supported development, fan patches, Neverwinter Nights 2 is still a fantastic RPG that’s well worth playing.

Jumping into Neverwinter Nights 2 today, it doesn’t exactly make the strongest first impression. It kicks things off with some of the most generic plot beats and motivation you can imagine. The village of West Harbor, where your character grew up and has lived all their life, gets invaded. After having fought off the invasion, the protagonist is tasked with finding a mysterious silver shard in a nearby swamp and bringing it to the eponymous city of Neverwinter. Much of the plot after this revolves around having to deal with various factions trying to capture you in an attempt to get their hands on the shard you are carrying. To deal with this, you befriend several NPCs who join your party.

Neverwinter Nights 2’s story gets quite interesting once you actually reach the titular city, since there are all kinds of political machinations happening all over the place in an effort to either kill you for your shard, or to convince you to pick a specific side against the others. Your allies also add quite a bit to the experience, since they each tend to have their own thoughts, motivations, and alignments. Conversations with party members often tend to be some of the most memorable moments in the game, since these conversations can often get quite deep about the main story and the role your character plays in it.

When it comes to gameplay, Neverwinter Nights 2 makes use of a real-time with pause system; when a fight breaks out, all of your characters can be commanded to attack different enemies or cast spells, with all of these actions playing out in real time. When things get too hectic, however, you can freely pause the game to reassess your strategy, and even issue new commands. The combat system is based on a detailed, rules-heavy framework that was robust enough to give players plenty of options for character creation and development.

"Your allies also add quite a bit to the experience, since they each tend to have their own thoughts, motivations, and alignments."

While modern RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 are praised for the level of freedom they offer players, Neverwinter Nights 2 shows that even earlier games provided a surprising amount of player agency. Throughout general gameplay, players have a wide range of options to shape their character’s development, from tweaking stats to figuring out new and more interesting equipment. The game even provides all the tools you might need to come up with unique solutions to problems.

With all of this freedom, however, comes a big price: the underlying mechanics that power Neverwinter Nights 2 can get too complicated at times. The sheer number of options you get when it’s time to level up often feels daunting, be it new class options like a new way of striking multiple foes for a Monk, leveling up your skills that allow you to do things like sneak or understand languages, or even just picking a feat that might let you wear heavier armour without its drawbacks. Things can often get overwhelming, especially for players who aren’t already familiar with the game’s complex mechanics and systems.

Since Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition also packs in the game’s expansions together, we also get to experience a story that can easily contend for being one of the best we’ve ever seen in gaming through the Mask of the Betrayer expansion.

"The sheer number of options you get when it’s time to level up often feels daunting."

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer tells an incredible story, transporting us to the far-off continent of Rashemen. What makes Mask of the Betrayer especially wonderful, aside from the fact that it has a downright gripping story that revolves around ancient conspiracies, and your role in the overall world, is the fact that it also has some of the most imaginative places to explore. Rashemen is a strange continent, you see, and the land doesn’t so much obey the laws of physics as it bends or ignores them entirely. Throughout the expansion, we get to visit and explore dreamscapes along with more standard fantasy-styled locations.

Mask of the Betrayer is also still easy to pick up and play without having played the base game since, aside from having the same protagonist, the story is its own self-contained thing that doesn’t really bring up the base game’s events much. In fact, players can choose to finish the base game and carry over the same protagonist to Mask of the Betrayer, or they can instead choose to make a fresh character that gets instantly boosted to level 18, along with giving you all the gear that would be appropriate for the level.

"Neverwinter Nights 2 still holds up quite well today, and while the Enhanced Edition has fixed many bugs, the camera and UI still feel outdated."

Mask of the Betrayer is joined by two other expansions: Storm of Zehir and Mysteries of Westgate. While both of these are still fun, they are quite a bit less ambitious than Mask of the Betrayer. Storm of Zehir is largely a dungeon crawler that allows players to flex more of their combat prowess, while Mysteries of Westgate is a layered and thought provoking story that revolves around a low-stakes three-way gang war in the city of Westgate.

Neverwinter Nights 2 still holds up quite well today, and while the Enhanced Edition has fixed many bugs, the camera and UI still feel outdated. The visuals might still feel dated by modern standards – the original is almost two decades old at this point – but the higher-resolution textures, smooth framerate and a general lack of bugs go a long way into making the game feel excellent. The base game and Mask of the Betrayer both have excellent stories that draw plenty of parallels with real-world historic events, fantastic character development for the protagonist, their allies, and even the antagonistic forces and factions, and just about every character is written in a believable way.

It certainly helps that all of this is held together by a gameplay system that is widely regarded as being one of the best tabletop RPG rulesets of all time thanks to the sheer number of gameplay options that, while overwhelming at times, gives players an insane level of freedom.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Chief among the remaster’s bonus additions will, of course, be the four Lost Levels that will allow players to explore areas that were cut from the original Soul Reaver. Beyond that, however, you can also expect a new Lore Reader, which will feature new maps “poetic descriptions of places and events” that have been created in collaboration with the Legacy of Kain Fandom leaders, key community members, and Crystal Dynamics artists. Each map will also allow players to toggle between its pure and corrupted versions.

The remaster will also feature a Galleries section, which will include new and classic HD renders, enhanced versions of the original games’ FMV cinematics, concept art for players to peruse, and the original credits, demo videos, and outtakes. There’s also a Dark Chronicles section, which will tout a “a concise, text-based version of both games’ scripts in their entirety.”

Finally, the soundtracks of both original games will also be included. In addition to the original duology’s music, you can also expect a couple of new compositions, including the likes of “Priestess Encounter” and “Spirit Forge”.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered is due out for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on December 10.

Specifically, Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered will include four Lost Levels, which are areas that didn’t make it into the original game, but have been restored through the joint efforts of Crystal Dynamics, Aspyr, and key community members.

“Each provides a glimpse into alternative visions of the original Soul Reaver. You can explore the Lost Levels as Raziel, although you may find missing textures or areas that feel under construction,” explains Aspyr’s associate brand manager Matthew Ray. “Think of the Lost Levels as an interactive museum, an accessible copy of historic artifacts, preserved in their original state.”

The four Lost Levels on offer will take players to the human citadel of Undercity, which “features an extensive subterranean area that would have become accessible after Raziel’s second battle with Kain”; Smokestack, the massive fortress of Raziel’s brother Turel, where players would have acquired telekinetic traversal abilities; Retreat, Kain’s personal lair nestled in the mountains; and Forges that would have allowed Raziel to imbue the Reaver with sunlight, water, stone, sound, and spirit energy with “environmental sources scattered throughout the game world”.

On top of that, additional bonus content in the remaster will include new maps, a lore reader, new music tracks, and more. Read more on that through here.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered launches on December 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

To hype up its imminent launch, developer Aspyr has showcased a new trailer, showcasing glimpses of its story, characters, and of course, the visual upgrades the remaster will offer over the original releases, both of which are now over two decades old.

Raziel’s journey to exact vengeance against his former vampiric master with the use of new Elder God power holds a special place in the hearts of many to this day, which means anticipation surrounding the duology’s remastered release is high – higher even than Embracer Group expected, based on pre-orders – so this trailer should hopefully tide you over until launch. Check it out below.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered are due out for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on December 10.

During the company’s interim report for Q2 fiscal year 2025 (covering the period ending September 30th), CEO Lars Wingefors said, “For the Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered, coming ready in December, that is performing on pre-ordering basis much stronger than expectations so far.”

This is good news for franchise fans waiting for a sequel, revival, remake, remaster, or really anything over the years. The remaster does more than just visually improve the two titles. It overhauls the appearance of several bosses, like Melchiah, Rahab, Dumah, and Kain. New features like the Map and Compass (which can be turned off) to help guide players have also been added alongside a collection tracker to keep track of health and energy upgrades.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered launches on December 10th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC at $29.99.

On the PlayStation Blog, Aspyr’s associated brand manager Matthew Ray broke down each boss’s improvements. Melchiah sports more realistic and gory skeletal mapping alongside a texture overhaul. Zephon’s face has been repainted, providing more clarity. Meanwhile, Rahab has a more vampiric look and red glow to go with the remodeled head.

Finally, Dumah is much dirtier-looking, with mold and blood across his armor. Kain’s models have also been re-designed, sporting increased polygons. The look is closer to the full-motion video scenes while ensuring parity across both games.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered launches on December 10th. It will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, retailing for $29.99. Stay tuned for more details ahead of its launch.

Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr Media have announced Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered, which brings both of the former’s acclaimed action-adventure titles together in a single package while enhancing them with updated visuals. What other changes we can expect to see remains to be seen, but fans who have been desperate for the Legacy of Kain series to return will be elated at this announcement. Check out the trailer below for a glimpse of what the remaster will have in store. 

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered’s launch is not too far away from now either. The remastered title will release on December 10, and has been confirmed for PS5 and PS4. 

The listing was promptly taken down, but you can view its contents below, courtesy of @Wario64 on Twitter. As per the listing, the remaster is being handled by Aspyr Media, and will include, as its name suggests, both Soul Reaver titles. Billed as a celebration of Soul Reaver’s 25th anniversary, the remaster will allow players to play both games either with enhanced visuals or in their original form. It is expected to launch on December 10. 

Screenshots and a trailer were also leaked courtesy of the listing. You can check them out below. Presumably, an official announcement will be following not long from now- likely at the State of Play presentation scheduled for later today. Stay tuned for further updates.