Legacy of Kain Can't Survive Without Amy Hennig

Video game developer Crystal Dynamics recently hinted at plans to revive the Legacy of Kain franchise, but that cannot be done without Amy Hennig.

Fans of the Legacy of Kain series have been cautiously rejoicing after developer Crystal Dynamics seemingly hinted at plans to revive the long-dormant video game franchise. While there haven't been too many titles released since Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the developer should know by now that many of the key qualities that came from the beloved vampire epic came from writer and game director Amy Hennig. Without her, any reboot or sequel has little hope for success.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was not Hennig's brainchild. She worked on the game as part of the design team along with Seth Carus at Crystal Dynamics. Shifter, however, was. The game was initially unrelated to Blood Omen and was inspired by John Milton's novel Paradise Lost and Biblical mythology. The fallen angel figure, forced to confront his former brethren, ultimately became Raziel, the playable protagonist in what became Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The antagonist he faced became Blood Omen's Kain.

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Blood Omen already had a compelling story full of intrigue and unseen movers, driven by quality writing and powerful performances, but the Shakespearean dialogue and themes of free will arguably only really shone thanks to Soul Reaver and its sequels. Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 took the franchise in a new direction by capturing the gothic atmosphere and fantasy elements of Nosgoth.

More importantly, it built on Kain's story and added far more complexity to his character than Blood Omen did. He was no longer a fallen nobleman bent on revenge; he was now a hero of the vampires, a tyrant king and the last corrupted guardian of the Pillars of Nosgoth, carving a path through destiny itself in the hope that he could restore balance without ending the vampire race.

That was how the Soul Reaver games and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, portrayed him -- or rather that's how Hennig shaped him as director and writer of those games. Without her, the Legacy of Kain series would be lost. That much was apparent after she left for Naughty Dog, but there was even one big sign of that before.

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Building on the success of the Soul Reaver games, Crystal Dynamics -- with a new team that did not include Hennig -- developed Blood Omen 2, which took place in an alternate timeline created by the events of the second Soul Reaver game. Players took control of a younger Kain in a steampunk-like Nosgoth as he faced the Hylden Lord. It was a commercial success and was far from a terrible game, but critics and gamers agreed it was inferior to the other installments in the Legacy of Kain series.

On top of various technical issues, fans of the franchise have consistently criticized its portrayal of Kain and other characters, the prevalence of tired tropes, and the narrative inconsistency when viewed as part of the larger series. Hennig herself attempted to correct these by altering the nature of the mysterious Dark Entity and combining it with the Sarafan Lord of Blood Omen 2.

Without its connection to the Legacy of Kain series Hennig had shaped by then, it's doubtful Blood Omen 2 would have succeeded at all upon release. Crystal Dynamics knew it, which is why after the game director left for Naughty Dog after Defiance's release, the franchise saw no more sequels -- though not for lack of trying.

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Legacy of Kain: Defiance brought Raziel's story to an apparent conclusion and seemed to point Kain's tale in the direction of a happy ending. However, from there, Crystal Dynamics had nowhere to go without Hennig. That's what appeared to happen with Ritual Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics' unannounced Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy, which, much like Blood Omen 2, would have allowed players to take control of a younger Kain and the elder iteration.

Details concerning the game's story are unknown, but assets from the project hint at a confrontation with Hylden forces once again, as well as the introduction of demons from the Demon Realm, which may have driven the Hylden rulers' machinations. Since a script was never completed, the precise roles of the younger and elder Kains were never really decided, but what little information is available show its direction was uncertain. If completed, the game likely to would have made the same mistakes as Blood Omen 2.

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Whatever the reasons were for Dark Prophecy's cancelation, it seems from the outside that Crystal Dynamics was unable to build anything matching Hennig's work years later. In fact, there was an attempt to bring the franchise back in a new way, but that too failed.

Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was intended to be a soft reboot of the series set thousands of years in the future and retconning aspects of the established mythos. The game would have introduced two new protagonists: Gein, a vampire, and Asher, a human, whose souls are bound together. Assets and even gameplay are available to see around the Internet, showcasing a reimagined Nosgoth and hinting at an entirely new story.

Like Dark Prophecy, the reason for its cancelation is unknown. Still, one significant part of Dead Sun did see the light of day. That was the poorly-received free-to-play multiplayer game, Nosgoth, which allowed players to battle each other as either vampire hunters or vampires, failing to capture any of the elements that made the Legacy of Kain games appealing to its fanbase.

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It would be naive to think Amy Hennig, talented as she is, is the only person capable of heading a successful Legacy of Kain game. It's also important to acknowledge the rest of the Crystal Dynamics team, who helped bring Nosgoth to life. However, it's clear enough that Hennig has been the only person so far who understands what kept fans coming back to the games and held their interest. It was the epic dialogue, moral quandaries, gothic atmosphere, and philosophizing the captured fans rather than the vampires themselves physically facing off against demonic entities.

Without Hennig, Crystal Dynamics and Embracer Group need to think hard about what a decent revival for the franchise means. Fans might want a sequel, but that may not be the best direction to go in without Hennig. Ultimately, it might be better just to either remake the existing games, create a smaller story set within Nosgoth or, failing all else, leave it alone entirely.

Narayan Liu (/Nəraɪʌn Lɪʊ/ in IPA) is a contributing features and news writer, and junior editor at CBR. From Hong Kong, currently based in Sweden. Nowadays Narayan writes about films, TV shows, comic books and video games, or about anything related to The Witcher. He does this while studying language, culture, and communication at Linnaeus University. You can follow him on his blog (narayanliu.wordpress.com), on Twitter (@Narayan_Liu) or contact him directly at Narayan(dot)Liu(at)gmail.com.