THIS is how you properly REMASTER a game

[@tylerheckler29]

One of the greatest series of all time is fucking BACK BABY!LET'S GOOOOOO!

[@Solid--Snake]

back in the 90's, most of the gaming industry barely even thought of Brazil, but legacy of kain came here with an official brazillian portuguese dub. amazing game, one of the best of it's generation

[@Schwenakasven]

Which games were pretty famous aswell in Brazil ? It sounds really nice that it is famous in brazil love it when cultures can share the Happyness about games.

[@Solid--Snake]

@Schwenakasven in the 90's the ps1 was massively popular here, we loved soul reaver but also a lot of squaresoft releases and other turn based rpgs, like legend of dragoon and breath of fire. currently we are basically addicted to souls likes hahaha

[@brunomantovaneli6076]

​@Schwenakasven from the top of my mind, I can think about Top Gear series, Metal Slug, DKC and of course International Superstar Soccer

[@Gustavo3Lost]

Soul Reaver and Max Payne 1 dubbed, shit was amazing

[@idiosyncraticRyugu]

The stream was so dope, the fact that the director even showed up in the stream was such an added bonus :3

[@rad_rex]

Wanna watch the whole thing. Does Josh have vods channel or might i have to go to twitch?

[@marcelluslongus1202]

@@rad_rex go and try Josh Strife Replays 😉

[@darksaiyan2006]

@@rad_rex There is the Josh Strife Replays channel! And SoulReaver is on it.

[@eruantien9932]

"As I'm getting older, I don't see a game telling me it has hundreds of hours of content as a positive any more" Yeah. I agree; I used to talk about games and the cinema in terms of cost per hour experienced, but in the last ten years or so I've found more and more that what I care for is a strong story that tells itself within a few hours.10 hours, 20 hours? I have work, I have other hobbies - I can't spend all my time on a single thing.

[@ooooswain]

Yeah I can't even tell you the last open world game I actually finished. I've probably quit every single one of them in the past 8 years. I've been playing a lot or ps2 recently and it's a breath of fresh air. The average game length is 10-15 hours. 20 is a long ps2 game. They actually hold my interest, I beat them, they're super fun, I don't get burnt out bored and quit.

[@Exozik]

@@ooooswain Also open world mean the developers had less time on everything so it is a good game at large instead of been great at smaller scale. And this does matter when you are someone who played video game since you were a small kid. I don't have time for something that is just good, it needs to be great.

[@baitposter]

This also very well highlights why Warframe 1999 feels so, so much better than the rest of the game, because it's a short and very tight cinematic experience under new team leadership, while most of Warframe is a grinding slog

[@gdobrocsi]

I'm 37 but I still like long well written story experiences instead of some one afternoon 6-8h "story". I put into the two OwlCat Pathfinders a combined 2571 hours, plus 763h of BG3 too. If that single thing is good I'm all for it! :D

[@marcelluslongus1202]

For me, cost per hour is only a good idea IF you are playing a f2p game, have decided to spend money on it and want to keep an eye on your spending at the same time.

[@Lokanth]

So they actually had these behind the scenes outtakes of the VAs in the studio as hidden bonus content in Soul Reaver 2. I used to watch them all the time, over and over as a kid. I love this remaster SO SO much ❤

[@larshoffmann2594]

The voice acting for Legacy of Kains belongs to the best ever made - to this day. Even the German dubbed version is stellar.

[@rayman17420]

I still remember how awesome it was when i first learned that you could take weapons off tbe walls and use them in battle. It was just so next level to me, that and the various ways you could kill certain enemies. Like throwing some in water or into sunlight. Definitely one of my favorite series of all time. Like you said, i hope this foes really well so they start making more games for the franchise. Im 100% picking this bad boy up.

[@nanachimakenshi2512]

The remaster was so good that it kept the "Torch" glitch from the PS1. The glitch is when you go to the spectral realm, there is a chance that a torch that is on the wall will move to the floor but still appear to be attached to the wall instead of lying down on the floor.

[@Wampa842]

Raina Audron (who worked on the remaster and created The Ancient's Den) was in chat and said that they used the same engine and code from 1999 in the remaster.

[@wisnoskij]

That does not sound like a good thing.

[@rainbowprism6242]

I did not see it as glitch per se. You are moving to another realm and things change perspective there. And as was told by Elder God, time flows differently as well.

[@jslaughter95]

Haha I noticed that!

[@jslaughter95]

@@wisnoskijwhy? The entire point of remakes is to make them for nostalgia, recreating bugs in a remaster/remake shows an IMMENSE love of the game, and there is beauty in imperfection, something the AAA games industry seems to have forgotten about

[@dendo20p]

Tony Jay's voice acting is so legendary. Rip

[@Grandmastergav86]

SPOILER, I love the moment where Kain and Raziel "unite" against the Elder God and the former witnesses it's true form. Those exchanges are my favourite in the series. Such great voice acting.

[@brandonn161]

One of the biggest LoK youtuber worked on this remaster. So happy when I found that out. Well deserved!

[@Ohhsoodead]

I can't believe I never even considered that an exorbitantly long game with an insane amount of content is no longer a positive. It literally never crossed my mind until you mentioned it. The amount of games I have started and then just dropped 20-30 hours in because I realised the same monotonous gameplay loop is actually not enjoyable is A LOT. I recently played a game called NEVA, which took me 5.5 hours to complete 100% (very highly recommend if you love visual novel games), and it was such an enjoyable experience simply because it didn't drag me along for 10s of hours for no reason exploring an empty world and killing pointless enemies along the way, forcing me to do some kind of crafting system and collect random materials I probably never used to begin with. Very enlightening video, thanks mate.

[@jslaughter95]

People tend to get caught up in wanting to be part of a game world they like for 10’s of hours, hundreds of hours etc, that it becomes easy to forget that something can still be short, but have way more value because it’s well made

[@derekcline950]

​@jslaughter95 we also have dozens of big budget games released a year, hundreds of indies per year and a literal backlog of 50 years to go through. I'd take 50 hours of mediocre gameplay 20 years ago, when I had nothing to play. Now, I am saddened by my unplayed Steam library

[@danilooliveira6580]

I don't mind if the game is big, but I need the game to keep surprising me. I actually dropped Ghost of Tsushima in the second zone because I realized the game showed me everything it had to offer, and the story wasn't any more interesting. so I felt like I had no reason to keep playing it. compare it with for example Sekiro, where when you feel like you mastered the mechanics the game throws a wrench at you and gives you new challenges, and with it, new mechanics, the game does it like 3 or 4 times throughout the game, and when you finish you didn't even see everything the game had to offer, and the game is HUGE.

[@Ashtarte3D]

Long games can still have a place if it never feels like the game is wasting your time. Baldur's Gate 3 averages 100 hours for a first playthrough but you rarely see anyone complain about that because it is all earned. Same goes for The Witcher 3 or the Persona series. Meanwhile Assassin's Creed Odyssey was 30 hours too long and FF7 Rebirth dragged one for at least a dozen hours longer than it needed to. More games need to realize that scope creep is a thing and have to pull back. I would rather have 5 outstanding 10 hour experiences like Space Marine 2 than one of all the bloated "AAA" detritus these days that want to be 50+ hours long.

[@ChiBrianXIII]

This makes me so happy knowing one of my childhood games was given the love it deserves. I’m def gonna end up grabbing the tomb raider collection on steam since it’s only 14.99.

[@lookbach]

12:00 as a dad. I need shorter games. A 90 hours game would take me months. I play sometimes a couple of hours in a day, some days 0 hours. I just have no free time, and the time I have is often prioritised to spend with my wife.

[@radagonsoreseal3457]

Raina did a fantastic job helping out with this remaster honestly without her help I feel it wouldn’t have been as great.

[@DFBW044SP047II]

Well, this would have flown completely under my radar. Now I am happy that I subscribed to this channel. Bought it immediately. Thx Josh. Thx Visa.

[@succubuzz]

The chills i felt when they started talking in that lost media, i am so excited to replay these games!

[@F4ngel]

Oh man, hearing Tony Jay's voice unlocked feelings of soul reaver I've forgotten. I don't remember anything from the game but the voices..er voice actors. This might drag me away from poe2 for a bit. Possible spoiler below for anyone that cares. Kain was basically 90s marvel cinematic universe Thanos but he didn't want to get rid of half, he wanted ALL gone and he succeeded.

[@EasyChairGames]

I'm SO glad to see this game is getting a ton of love. I do hope this will give them reason to do the third as well. While not the best of them it does tie up the games (at least as well as they can or probably ever will be)

[@alejandrolievano5573]

Thanks for this clip. I was so interested in this remake and was about to pirate it to play it. After seing this video I knew I HAD to buy it to show support for people who really get it. Hope this can revive the franchise

[@danieln6700]

Seeing the voice actors is so cool. The VA in this game was really good.

[@Cynndora]

Dark Messiah always comes to mind for good tutorial level teaches you to interact with the environment, sneak up on enemies, kick them off ledges, and then finally to use your sword while they're on the ground for an instant kill the very first enemy teaches you to play dirty which is exactly how you want to go about combat for the rest of the game, we aint here for honourable combat

[@Kreyowitz]

I was so surprised and delighted to see that not only was all the old concept art and even FAN ART was in the game, but the cut forges and levels from 1, in a PLAYABLE walkable space in both spectral and material realms. This is the best remaster I've ever seen. I'm so happy it's for one of my favorite games, and I'll finally be able to play 2 without constant crashes.

[@AverageAlGuitar]

First time in a long time that I preordered a game. Absolutely blown away. The graphics have been changed just enough to make them look tidy, but still retain the feel of the original. Even things like the drawn distance has been left in, which adds to the atmosphere (one of the things I wasn’t keen on about the Medievil remake, although I thought that was great). You feel like the team who put this together genuinely love the series, and it’s great that they reached out and really wanted your opinion. Absolutely love this game, and it’s well worth the £20 asking price.

[@lens_hunter]

I remember sitting down and playing Soul Reaver with my brother back in early high school. The first time I tossed an enemy up onto a spike sticking out of a shield that was hanging up on a wall, I knew it was going to be a great thing.

[@stevenlockhart9255]

Hit the nail on the head with the part about length. New games are 2-5 minutes of gameplay, screen transition to 30-90 second cutscene, 2-5 minutes of gameplay, 2-5 minutes of cutscenes. I do not want to watch a movie. I’m so sick of games trying to tell me a story instead of letting me play.

[@vincentprice713]

I love this franchise so much. I hope they start making new ones.

[@Davesoft]

Valve have made a good QA business out of the philosophy that the first hour is 99% of any game's success.

[@Kritigri]

So cool! The cut content reminds me of how Insomniac would include a secret "Insomniac Museum" level in old Ratchet & Clank games with unfinished concepts and cut content for people to go and explore. I've never played the Soul Reaver games but I'll honestly give it a look, because the care with which these have been remastered looks top tier.

[@Youtubegrt]

Thanks for loving the few remaining people who love to make games

[@guyonyoutube501]

10:08 I think that's how every working adult over 30 feels. I really appreciate shorter, more focused experiences. I don't want to explore a huge map, do dozens of pointless side quests and find hundreds of pieces of junk in every single game I play.

[@ares395]

I found out about Sour Reaver from Josh. Some time later I've heard about some game that had the title kind of similar and got sad because it was Soul Reaver. Imagine my surprise when some time later I find out this gem got remastered. So good. As a goth guy, Josh has my thanks for introducing me to something cool that I didn't know, that's vampire related. Woah Spartan Total Warrior mentioned. This game is so good and so niche.

[@BillWood2791]

All of those studio outtakes were available on the Original Soul Reaver 2 in the extra feature section of the disc.

[@JamesBuggemo]

“We start with stuff like this:” Hard cut to low effort Sapporo commercial. Thanks KZbin, your comic timing was on point today.👌

[@charlie_nax]

when a remaster for a beloved game is so good i simply can't avoid a bias, like, i got a gamebreaking glitch on day 1 in soul reaver 1, OoB+Save kills the save, i think the problem has to do with how the game was originally programmed to load chunks and simply getting somewhere too fast for it to load, so i was like "y know, its okay, ill just start again and have a blast"... like, i know a glitch that corrupts the save is kind of a big deal, but im sorry im biased, i still having a blast playing it, specially how the controls have been tweaked to handle the camera better is enough to me to say, this is made with love, the sole fact of it existing is enough for me, i hope it gets fixed but im happy still

[@Farmeryeti]

I will always take a 10 hour game I'd want to play through twice than a 20 hour game than I barely want to finish once.

[@RADIOSUICIDIO]

It's a great and much needed update for a couple of beloved games from a long dormant franchise. But in terms of technical and aesthetical enhancements, the ShadowMan release by Nightdive is far more accomplished example of how to revive a ps1/n64 era 3rd person game.

[@tsalVlog]

So I know one of the folks that worked on the music for these games .. I had no idea there was a remaster for these!

[@scottycheesecake]

Kain refused the sacrifice I have picked this up, the devs did such a great job I feel the need to support them.

[@lionheart4424]

Fantastic video about Soul Reaver. It's incredible how the acting and dialogue from the game can still stand at the same level or even above some AAA games of today. I am so happy we got these remaster straight from fans, clearly.

[@AzraelAlpha]

The writing alone is leagues beyond the AAA slop we get these days

[@homiesoprano]

Love this remaster! I never could beat the first game when I was a kid, until yesterday! Working on 2 now.

[@elrabin]

Megaman X is also an absolute master class in 1st stage tutorials as well as establishing levels of power. Egoraptors video on it is awesome if you've not seen it

[@langlest]

I really hope they remaster BO2 & Defiance soon, this is probably my favourite game series of all time

[@robd9413]

and once they've remastered all of the original bits then finish the story.

[@laharlffxi]

If i remember correctly this video was apart of the original soul reaver 2. you could access it using a cheat code. I remember beating the game and they were like here have this code for extra goodies. and it's one of the reasons soul reaver and legacy kain means so much to me, and i'm glad it's having a resurgence. I hope that we finally get to see a conclusion to defiance.

[@Gamer8585]

I am so happy to hear that they did so well with this remaster. I was so scarred they were going to screw it up, and I can't wait to try it out. The only thing on my wish list would be a full reconstruction of the original cut final third of the game. Make it a New Game+ option. You beat the game and then get the opportunity to play through it again with all of the originally planned levels, reaver forges, glyphs, VO, etc. I assume that would be far too much work for the time and budget they had, but its the only outstanding thing I can think of to make the game even better.

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Ordinarily, I WOULD argue about the new graphics making for a less faithful presentation to the original with it being really bright, but....they let you have the original graphics. The one complaint I had against this is just gone because they didn't get rid of the old style. PS1 remasters like this and Croc NEED these options.

[@matthewgagnon9426]

I was so worried by the early footage shown of this remaster, but it seems like they took a lot of the criticism well and actually actioned on the complaints properly.

[@Soul-Burn]

The amount of hours played is part of the game *price* for me. The reward is *enjoyable hours*. For me a game is better when the ratio of "enjoyable hours" to "price plus hours played" is better.

[@Temuldjin]

I feel like the first 2 level ( the intro and Mumbo's Mountain ) in Banjo Kazooie are also good examples of level design/tutorial.

[@cirederfsamot2730]

For great first levels/tutorials, Crash Bandicoot ! Excellent first few levels that let you discover everything you need to beat the game.

[@highmarshalkenneth3284]

I was thinking of buying this but now I will defiantly will buy this.

[@Donolohe]

I feel like I tend to agree with a huge asterisk. I do enjoy a shorter game every now and then *but* I do also want a title that I can play for hundreds of hours in the background while I'm hopping between games. I do admire the games that can explain themselves in a quick and satisfying burst *but* I do play plenty of titles that physically cannot do that (mostly strategy games, which are almost always better if they have a whole-ass tutorial campaign if not at least a couple of early missions).

[@DerpHerper]

Big agree about games that just do their thing and then end. Strong recommend Death's Door in that respect. Possibly one of the best paced/timed games I've ever played.

[@Zipa7]

As soon as I heard the voice of Tony Jay I was taken back, Josh is right, these truly are two of the best games ever created.

[@quintrapnell3605]

That footage of the cast doing the lines was included in the last game I think because I’ve already seen it.

[@jasonmunguia4272]

So glad you are getting approached by such great games. Love the channel, love the content and I can't wait to play this game.

[@derisgaming9773]

The only thing that annoys me about these remasters is that Blood Omen wasn't remastered first. So that you could get the background Story of Nosgoth and the Pillars before moving into Soul Reaver. I played the shit out of BO 1 & 2, SR 1 & 2 and Defiance as a Kid/Teen. would love to see the whole lot remastered.

[@jdoggydogg]

At least they put BO 1 and 2 on PSN to go with the remaster. So, the option to play them is there if people want to.

[@NeuMaster9]

I absolutely agree with this sentiment.It's as if people sometimes forget BO1,2 and Defiance even exist and just harp on and on about SR. Like bro,how are you gonna enjoy SR1 and 2's story properly without getting the appropriate backstory from the previous games. I myself was introduced to this series in 2023 and while both SR games can be enjoyed on their own,playing the other games just makes it so much more satisfying especially when later games tie up certain plot threads or introduce certain plot twists that recontextualize events from the earlier games. SPOILER BELOW FOR BO1 AND SR2 Like in SR2 when Raziel meets Moebius and Malek at the Sarafan fortress,a female voice can be heard crying out to Malek for help. Those who played BO1 will easily recognize this cry of help as being from the intro sequence of BO1 and finally understand why Malek couldn't reach the Circle of Nine in time.

[@shiluk84]

Thank you Josh. Went to steam and added the remaster on my wishist. This is as much of a high praise i can get

[@AzraelAlpha]

Wasn't it released on December 10th, though?

[@hazukichanx408]

Wait, so... if the development team actually _listen_ to their QA staff, you're telling me it results in a better game? Mind blown! Edit: Oh and also, we get to see Michael Bell, Tony Jay and the rest of the awesome cast, doing their thing? Fricking sold!

[@DavidKent94]

Got the platinum last night for SR1, now currently going through the second game. Every week I would check the PSN store just to see if there was a chance they would add the original to the store, was so happy to see the remaster show up, preordered the game on my next pay lol

[@Zulgore115]

Just bought it on Steam can't wait to play through it. I never got too back in the day when I had a Playstation.

[@StonedHunter]

I've been SO excited for this and seeing how happy Josh is makes me all the more eager to play!

[@joshuatheawesome9440]

I didn't even know about this remaster before I saw this video, now I've got it downloading on GOG. Super excited to play it!

[@Cromeman82]

Picked up and payed for in full. Thank you. Always love a good old game

[@mastokbreedtbg1398]

37yrs old.. I haven't been this hyped for any game remake ever. This is one of my favourite games of all time. I CAN'T WAIT 😅😅

[@edattacks]

In the voice of Josh: Absolutely phenomenal.

[@eddy1986]

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!!! i want this!!! sooo baaad!!! Thanks for bringing this to my attention!!!!

[@ALUCARDAN2]

Just got it on Friday, will finish exams and play it.

[@Lord_Phoenix95]

I found out they released it the other day and it was an instant buy. I loved Soul Reaver as a kid and I'm glad I get a chance to replay it. I can't wait to play it.

[@xblackdemonx3183]

RIP Tony Jay. One of the best voices in the industry

[@Volkovic7013]

I think the lost media (outtakes) was included in SR2 originally...or maybe SR1. Def remember as a kid watching this. You know...before youtube

[@miguelferrazcosta]

The only thing I would ask to be added to the game is adding to option to disable the day/night cycle, that sometimes is annoying on open areas. :D

[@woogha]

My only gripe is a handful of silly nitpicks. Namely the reflection of the save points from SR2 in the remastered graphics. It's not mirrored, it's backwards. It reflects the blank side. I'm such a pedant. 99.999/100.

[@AzraelAlpha]

I'm glad to have broken my own rules and pre-ordered this remake.

[@CaptainShiny5000]

I actually never played Soul Reaver 1 cause back in the days I didn't know that it had a PC port. But I played Soul Reaver 2 and it actually was among my all time favorites at the time.

[@pg6244]

I started playing Soul Reaver 2 and fell through the map. This was in the sun puzzle room. I hope that is the only time that something like this happens. Never had that happen on my ps2 version.

[@BBJones93]

Josh said "This is moral." and quickly an advert cut to a ginger breadman shouting WOOH! Ok then.

[@snacktime2497]

I forgot to buy this one while it was on sale. After watching this video, I'm just going to buy it at full price because they deserve every penny.

[@stephenbarron3345]

He loves the story this much and hasnt played through Defiance? If he has managed to be spoiler free all these years man is in for a ride.

[@XShrike0]

My main concern with continuing anything with Kain or Raziel, is having the same voice actors. They embodies these characters.

[@ThoughtPoliceYouTubeDivision]

game was real ART and the lore is ssuperb

[@theguyonyoutube4826]

Oh hey, an actual game studio, rare, cool.

[@NostraDavid2]

15:30 Drakan! So few people even know of that game! It's a terrible example of a good introduction to game mechanics (it's a COOL introduction, just not a good one, if you catch my drift). I learned, about 20 years after it released, that you could do combos with the movement keys (including jump) and your attack button. 20 YEARS! that was NOT a good introduction.

[@terryandjoe]

Awesome. Thank you.

[@Lexipumpkin783]

This remaster is sooo good there is 0 reason for me to ever emulate the game again.

[@keepdeathonhold]

I literally added it to my wishlist, I would buy it but I’m strapped for cash.

[@SmogginMog]

It's like a remaster, if the river Thames could remaster games.

[@atlantiswolf]

On the topic of stacking mechanics, I wonder how Josh views the way most RTS games have historically introduced their gameplay to players. What are some good and bad examples of them because I feel like RTS is one of those genres that is hard to do proper justice to.

[@DaSnip3rVip3R]

We need a Nightmare Creatures remaster next ! Omg that would be the one !

[@TheOneandOnlyCSG]

I finished Valhalla like 4 times, Its one of my all time favorite games

[@facetankhank]

Goddamn I hope this invigorates the franchise and they make something new

[@danieln6700]

Those out takes etc are cool. Loved soul reaver. Ima have to check this one out. Great when remasters are well made and enhance the game from stuff like this.

[@DuriQ69]

Would love to Sacrifice remaster

[@Volkovic7013]

I remember unlocking the cut reavers with Game Shark

[@Mali8029]

Yeees babyyyy! Will purchase today, didn't even know it came out, thank you Josh :D

[@gorobot7873]

I have a different reason for enjoying the first level, mostly because I didn't have a memory card in the PS growing up.

[@CatFish107]

Even better deal: get it on evercade! Also, agreed on the hundreds of hours thing. That's kind of the opposite of what I'm looking for. How about a game that's entirely in a language I don’t speak or read, but is 100% playable instantly, with maybe 8 levels maximum? Esp. Ra De psi, or the Aleste collection on switch! Simple controls, very replayable, pick up and play.

[@nanach6276]

I remember I came home with it when I was 13 and it went straight in the bin since I wasn't 15 yet XD

[@ThoughtPoliceYouTubeDivision]

Fahrenheit hass one of the best tutorials

[@Enclave.]

I pre-ordered the hell out of this, no regrets.

[@Kaiserhawk]

I really enjoyed the remaster, my only real issue with it is that some of the boss visual reinterpretations are a bit odd, although thats mostly Rahab