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[cormack12]

Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...r-turns-20-lets-remember-why-it-was-brilliant

Back in 2012, Hennig talked Soul Reaver secrets in a post on the PlayStation blog. Initially, Hennig revealed, Soul Reaver wasn't supposed to be a sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, rather a new IP called Shifter that was loosely inspired by Paradise lost.

"The protagonist was essentially a fallen angel of death, a reaper of souls hunted by his former brethren, and now driven to expose and destroy the false god they all served," Hennig said.

Hennig and the development team pared back on some secondary features during the making of Soul Reaver, including a plan to include shape-shifting as well as plane-shifting. The biggest challenge, "hands-down", was getting the data-streaming working to allow the game to have a seamless, interconnected world with no load events.

"I think we were one of the first developers to tackle this problem (along with Naughty Dog, on Crash Bandicoot)," Hennig said.

But the "ultimate challenge", Hennig said, was schedule and scope - a common challenge in video game development.

"Conceived as an open-world, Zelda-esque 3D adventure game, Soul Reaver was incredibly ambitious," Hennig said.
...
Eidos wanted the game in less than two [years]. In the end, we shipped Soul Reaver in under 2.5 years, but not without some unfortunate 11th-hour cuts which still pain me today.
...
To hit the August 1999 release date, the developers had to cut the last few levels of the game, and end on a cliffhanger to set up Soul Reaver 2.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

As Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver turns 20, let's remember why it was brilliant

Article by Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor of Eurogamer (link at the bottom of the OP) Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver turned 20 years old on the 16th August 2019. Crystal Dynamics' influential PSone, PC and, later, Dreamcast classic was one of the best single-player adventure games on Sony's...

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[D7im]

That game had the best storytelling ever