Overview
Chronologically, Blood Omen 2 is the most direct sequel to 1996's Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, continuing the story of a younger Kain. Its development period overlapped with Soul Reaver 2's, and it again had Kain as the playable character. Often not considered to be true cannon by many fans because of this, despite that fact the game answers many questions of Kain's rise to power and as is series tradition asks many more to be answered in future games.
Story
Two centuries after the events of Blood Omen, Kain had built a vampire army, and led them south to conquer Nosgoth. However, outside of Meridian - Nosgoth's capital city - Kain's army was defeated by another. The Sarafan Lord, a mysterious and powerful warlord, had revived the long-defunct Sarafan order to battle the vampires. Kain was beaten in combat by the Sarafan Lord and left for dead.
Kain survived - just barely. Another two centuries passed before he awoke from his injury-induced coma, but although he had kept his life, he had lost the Soul Reaver. With the help of the vampires who had protected him during his recovery, Kain set about reclaiming the sword, continuing his ascent to power, and taking his revenge on the Sarafan Lord. Along the way, he would learn about the Hylden - the race cryptically mentioned by Kain in Soul Reaver 2 - and fight traitorous vampires who had sided with the Sarafan for personal gain.
A common misconception about Blood Omen 2's story is that it has a lot of plot holes but in fact everything in this game is a result of Kain and Raziel's efforts in Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance. In those games, Kain changes the course of history and Blood Omen 2 is a result of those actions.
Gameplay
In Blood Omen 2, Dark Gifts were the supernatural abilities possessed by vampires. They developed in every vampire as the vampire grew older, although they manifested differently for each individual. One vampire could have Dark Gifts that another had not gained, or the same gift could vary in power depending on which vampire used it.
Kain absorbing his victim's veins.Vampires were not necessarily limited to the gifts they gained through their aging. As Umah told Kain, should he defeat another vampire in battle, he could "absorb their veins and thus gain new abilities". Kain woke from his two hundred years of unconsciousness with only two Dark Gifts: 'Mist' and 'Fury'. As he traveled in and around Meridian, he gained more using the method Umah suggested. A notable difference in this game is that Kain actually doesn't use Soul Reaver for the majority of the game, thus having to rely a lot more on his dark gift and his guile.
The gameplay this time is way more focused on sword combat with a few simple puzzle-solving sections in between and it's the first game in the series to add stealth. Kain can use his claws or pick up any weapon to beat down his enemies. The game features some really gory finishers, like using the hilt of the sword to smash an enemy's face. Being a vampire, Kain needs to feed on blood and he does that quite often. Players can use Kain's telekinetic abilities to suck out streams of blood from their victims to satisfy his hunger.
PC System Requirements
- 450 MHz CPU
- 128 MB RAM
- 16 MB video card RAM
- 8X CD-ROM drive
- DirectX 8.1
- 1650 MB available hard disk space
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