After decades in stasis, Legacy of Kain will soon return with an all-new graphic novel. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - The Dead Shall Rise, a prequel spanning two eras of the enigmatic protagonist Raziel’s tainted past, is en route from Bit Bot Media in collaboration with series developer Crystal Dynamics.A Kickstarter funding campaign launched today- and it’s already far surpassed its $25,000 fundraising goal.
We don’t have a launch date just yet, but some tantalizing information has surfaced. The Dead Shall Rise depicts Raziel’s original life, as a human who becomes a terrifying vampire-hunting Sarafan warrior. Just as critically, it also covers his dramatically ironic postmortem transformation into a vampiric lieutenant under the franchise’s titular co-star, Kain.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - The Dead Shall Rise is being co-written by Josh Viola and Angie Hodapp. I recently spoke with Viola via email about Bit Bot Media’s revival of this beloved series. As a lifelong Legacy of Kain fan, I had some burning questions about the upcoming book.
“There are lots of significant gaps in Raziel’s past because it spans such long periods of time,” Viola says. “We’ve seen hints and heard about parts of it, but there are tons of details yet to be revealed. We’ve had a glimpse of Raziel as a Sarafan, where he comes off as a one-dimensional antagonist, so it was fun to flesh out his character and explain why he was so nasty.
“This allowed us to dive deep into his character and give insight into the events that shaped him, both as a Sarafan and as a vampire. His life essentially resets at that point, and he begins to rediscover himself.”
That rediscovery occurs for a second time, as seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, when Raziel’s thousand-year service is abruptly terminated and he is plunged into Nosgoth’s underworld. There, he transforms into a soul-eating wraith - but that’s the Raziel players know so well. Both his Sarafan centuries and his millennium in service to Kain are rich with hitherto-untapped storytelling opportunities.
The Dead Shall Rise, in true Legacy of Kain fashion, is not just about Raziel, but his deep and complicated connection to Kain. Yet there’s another character who serves as a central figure here, someone new to the canon. She’s touted in promotional material as a “mysterious vampire”, and I pressed Viola for a bit more about her.
“I can’t reveal too much, but she is directly connected to several key elements in the lore,” he tells me. “Her presence provides insight not only into her own character but also into Kain and Raziel. She’s not here to compete with them but to complement them. She brings her own significance and has a meaningful role in the story.”
Intriguingly, Crystal Dynamics has supplied the writers with creative tidbits from unreleased Soul Reaver lore. Viola communicates with the team on a daily basis as work on The Dead Shall Rise continues. “This project has been intense (in a good way),” he says, “and their active involvement has been invaluable. The whole team has been amazing, and the experience has been highly collaborative. I don’t want it to end.”
As exciting as this all sounds, I do wish we could trulyhearThe Dead Shall Rise. Legacy of Kain’s voice acting has set the bar for excellence astonishingly high; Michael Bell’s Raziel and Simon Templeman’s Kain are equally superb performances. While I knew Viola wasn’t going to have an answer as to whether we might one day see a voiced adaptation, I couldn’t help but mention my eagerness for such a thing.
“Let’s keep that hope alive,” he agrees. “Who knows what the future might hold?”
I also wanted to know more about what brought Josh Viola into Legacy of Kain fandom in the first place. He describes starting off with nigh endless replays of the PC demo for the first Soul Reaver, and snagging the full game on Sega Dreamcast a few months down the road. The rest, as they say, was history.
“The storytelling was incredible, and like many fans, that opening cinematic was what really drew me in. When Soul Reaver 2 came out, it felt magical, as Nosgoth became a sort of constant presence in my life. I even created artwork for a fictional Soul Reaver 3 game for a college project in 2002, not knowing that I’d later contribute to a sequel of sorts.
“It’s quite the full circle moment. My passion continued with Blood Omen 2, which often surprises LoK fans because it’s not as well-regarded, but for me, during a challenging period in my life, it was the perfect escape. The game’s atmosphere really resonated with me.”
I confess, his mention of Blood Omen 2 did surprise me. It’s the black sheep of the series, but then, there are far worse fates than being the black sheep of a five-game series this strong. If all goes well, The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - The Dead Shall Rise will help to fill a Nosgoth-sized void in the hearts of millions who have clamored for a sixth game.
But will we ever see one? I couldn’t help but ask Josh Viola to convey my wishes to Crystal Dynamics. Surely, I’d be the first to ever tell them, right?
“I doubt they’ve heardanythingabout fans wanting a new game,” Viola knowingly winks in reply. “But I’ll let them know.”
