Review: Legacy of Kain – Ascendance

I have a soft spot for Metroidvania games. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is, for me, an immortal gaming classic and I play through it regularly whenever it appears on a new format. I was really looking forward to Crystal Dynamics’ attempt to bring the Legacy of Kain world to my favorite genre (while waiting for the next 2D Castlevania, Belmont’s Curse which is due out later this year). Aside from various remasters of the original games in the Kain series, it has been over two decades since Nosgoth actually sent us on a brand-new adventure. The fact that the developers chose to make a retro-inspired 2D action platformer in pixel art is not inherently a negative; I love 2D Castlevania and, as mentioned, I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in that series. But instead of a grand, atmospheric return, Legacy of Kain: Ascendance feels like a relic of a bygone era—and I mean retro in all the wrong ways.

The decision to outsource development to the British one-man studio FreakZone Games to keep the budget down unfortunately shines through. The game stumbles on the most fundamental part: the joy of playing. Instead of tight and fluid action, you are met with unengaging gameplay mechanics that mostly consist of monotonically hammering a single attack button. The controls are generally clunky, and the game’s centerpiece in combat—a parry system—is laughably unreliable with a reaction window of less than half a second.

Unfortunately, the whole thing reminds me quite a bit of the recently released God of War: Sons of Sparta, which also felt like a big “meh” with its repetitive button mashing in an attempt to create a 2.5D spin-off. But where Kratos’ adventure at least had some production value and level design, Ascendance offers an unexpectedly dull, generic, and soulless experience. It is a design that often causes you to jump straight to your death, as it is impossible to know what lies ahead or below. The fact that the developers also rely on incredibly cheap environmental hazards—such as vampires dying instantly from touching water, or losing massive amounts of health from small torches—only builds unnecessary frustration.

The story is a chapter in itself. Throwing in a completely new character in the form of Raziel’s human sister Elaleth and making her the driving force behind the original series’ most classic events also grates quite a bit. It feels more like questionable fan fiction than the dark, complex quality we have come to expect from the franchise.

The voice acting, however, is perfectly fine and the best thing about this game. It is certainly nostalgic to once again hear legends like Simon Templeman as Kain and Michael Bell as Raziel. At the same time, you cannot ignore that over 20 years have passed; the voices have naturally aged, and Bell simply doesn’t sound like the young, fanatical Sarafan knight he is expected to portray here. The music by Celldweller is at least a major plus that elevates the atmosphere.

In the end, Ascendance leaves a stale taste in the mouth. It becomes like an outdated retro game you do not want to remember, a game that wants to trade on its name but fails to deliver either the Legacy of Kain feel or even an entertaining gameplay experience. We Metroidvania fans simply have to keep waiting for the “original,” the next 2D Castlevania, to get our dose of gothic, well-executed platforming action. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to get this genre right?

Crystal Dynamics provided a review code for this test. Material providers have no editorial influence on our reviews.