The Legacy of Kain series has a beloved fan following. One collective coven, if you will, all in service of the vampire Kain. Those who have been waiting for a new story in the franchise won’t have to wait much longer. A new prequel graphic novel titled Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise, is set before the games and is releasing this fall.
The graphic novel is coming to Kickstarter and should be available by the first games 25th anniversary in November. Legacy of Kain is a dark fantasy story that follows the vampires Kain and Raziel. The Dead Shall Rise is set before the events of the first game Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and dives into Raziel’s past as a human Sarafan warrior. It’ll feature how he became a vampire lieutenant under Kain and will introduce new characters never before seen in the games.
The official cover shows Kain on the right, human Raziel in the center, and wraith Raziel in the back. Reddit posters believe one new mentioned character is the women on the left and one is convinced they may be half-hylden.
The novel is being written by Joshua Viola (True Believbers, It Came From the Multiplex) and Angie Hodapp (Unioverse, Shadow Atlas), and features interior art by Juan Samu (Star Wars, Godzilla), letters by Jeremiah Lambert (Masters of the Universe, Transformers), covers by Dave Rapoza (Destiny, Magic: The Gathering) and Aaron Lovett (Monster Train, Inkbound), with additional art by Jonny Bush (Rob Zombie, Ghost) and Ninja Jo (Star Wars, Stranger Things). Brent Friedman (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Call of Duty) is providing narrative guidance for the story. The team at Crystal Dynamics is overseeing the creative direction and input for the story and is adding never-before-seen ideas and elements from Soul Reaver lore. The graphic novel will feature concept art by Daniel Cabuco, who worked on concept art for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 and was the Art Director for Legacy of Kain: Defiance.
This will be the first official new Soul Reaver narrative in more than two decades. The last Soul Reaver game to be released was Legacy of Kain: Defiance in 2003. You can sign up to see when the graphic novel Kickstarter goes live and everyone who does so will get a free digital image from officially approved Crystal Dynamics Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver archives when the project launches.
Fans are posting on Reddit talking about how they’ve been wanting a new game in the Soul Reaver series. There have been five games released so far, and if the graphic novel does well, it could mean a potential new game or remaster in the future.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise is the first book to be published by Bit Bot Media in partnership with publisher and developer of the series Crystal Dynamics.
