Characters who need to be revived: Kain

Older gaming series are being revisited with increasing regularity these days, with the depths of nostalgia being trawled for anything that can be revamped and sold on to a new generation. Frankly, we’re not against this – we like seeing some old games come back for a fresh new run, and it’s good to see old characters having another chance for glory. But it’s not perfect: there are characters who really should have a new game of their exploits made, though it looks like they’ve just been forgotten. One of this bunch of gaming’s lost is the vampire bastard, Kain.

Kain made his first appearance in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain as an arrogant sod of a nobleman; refused service in a country tavern he decides to go for a stroll in the fresh, wild air. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that he is suddenly murdered by a gang of blokes. From there, some things happen, words are said and blah de blah – basically, he becomes a vampire, and he embraces this role with gusto.

Rather than being a humble, poster-child-for-emo, tragi-hero like Raziel (of the Soul Reaver titles) ended up being, Kain was just a bit of a git. The ending of the first game allowed two choices – save the world by sacrificing yourself, or damn it and become king of this dying realm. Canonically, Kain opted for the latter. This is the kind of attitude we need to see back in PlayStation gaming – I’m tired of goody-goody heroes, wise-cracking ‘play by their own rules but still do everything for America’ good guys and especially tired of the option being up to the player when it comes to the morality of their character. We need more bastards. We need Kain back.

Plus it would mean enjoying the vocal talents of Simon Templeman once more. He is simply wonderful, after all.