The long-standing Legacy of Kain series finally hits paydirt with one of the best stories in the series. Crystal Dynamics gets right to the heart of all matters in this episode.

Legacy of Kain: Defiance is the fifth game in a series of highly story-focused games that technically fall under the category of action.
In Defiance, control alternates between the series' two protagonists, Kain and Raziel in the world of Nosgoth.
The story to Defiance is extremely well done. It picks up shortly after the events of LoK: Soul Reaver 2. Raziel has managed to pospone his fate, and Kain still lurks around in the shadows, trying to discover ways to restore balance to the world of Nosgoth.
In a departure for the series, the game takes a more action-based approach to combat and gameplay. You no longer have to toss enemies into lakes or fire to kill them (though that’s still an option in many places), but instead what you get is more enemy variety and much tougher battles. Kain and Raziel’s skills are largely interchangeable, with both playing the same. Except Kain is stronger and Raziel is faster. Both, once fully experienced, can pull off insane combos.
As the other games of the series, Defiance has puzzles as well, some more grueling than others. But all rather cleverly designed.
The Legacy of Kain series has some of the highest quality voice acting around. The entire cast brings all of the characters to life, from the protagonists to the ever-embittered Vorador, melencholy Janos, devious Moebius, even the vampire hunters and undead.
The graphics in this game are the best in the series so far. The characters are all well designed and the use of Gothic backgrounds suits the game well.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance delivers what it promised, the continuation of the series that answers more questions then it proposes, a refined combat system and replay value. This game will be sure to twist and make that brain think through it's depth-full storyline.

Sounds 10/10
Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 9/10
Atmosphere 10/10

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My favorite game when i was kid, and still i love it <3
to bad they dont make more legacy of kain :(
i recommend it 100%

I'm not into lengthy reviews explaining graphics, gameplay and whatnot.

I'm just going to tell you one thing - this game is the Shakespeare of video games. You will love every moment of it.

Suffice to say, I don't think I've ever laughed, clapped, and cried at any resolution in a game before in one single sitting.

Defiance is the exception.

Return to Nosgoth as the legendary vampire Kain and the fallen wraith Raziel as they struggle to defy the machinations of fate itself.

Pros:
-Resolution to one of the most shakespearean tales told in gaming.
-Alternate between Kain and Raziel throughout missions, each armed with different tools to progress in one area where another may not.
-Combat provides engaging mechanics to keep one interested
-Puzzles, albeit somewhat less intensive than that of the Soul Reaver series.
-Good gamepad adaptation compared to previous installments.
-Vae Victis!

Cons:
-Camera angle is more remniscent of Devil May Cry games and not that of the previous installments, leading to some frustration especially if one is using a keyboard.
-Combat encounters can be rather repetitive at times, despite the intriguing mechanics provided.
-Graphical glitches can be somewhat apparent on more recent Nvidia cards, such as Raziel's wing membranes and Kain's cape physics breaking at certain points in the game.
-If running multiple cores, one may need to manually lower the priority to 1, as some cutscenes have the capacity to freeze and have the script misfire to play them.

Do I recommend this? Hell. Yes. I recommend the entire series if you haven't played it yet.

Sadly the last game in the series. Once again I recommend getting Xpadder so you can properly bind a modern gamepad to play this.

The game itself is a step down exploration wise from Blood Omen, Soul Reaver, and Soul Reaver 2, and has a lot more in common with Blood Omen 2's linear traversal (removing any sort of exploration beyond secrets).

Story wise it's just as good as Soul Reaver 2 and the first Blood Omen.

Sadly this is the last game in the series, as Eidos never got around to making another one. Its lead writer went to NaughtyDogg to make Uncharted and The Last of Us, and most of the creative team disappeare.d

Few failed attempts at making sequels later we are left with nothin but a multiplayer game lacking any sort of story.

This is a sad end for one of my favorite game series. And I still suggest anyone check them out.

If you're not interested in playing a series that hasn't had an update in 12 years, at least check out the story here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faO5nlYJr8Y&index=2&list=PLIPen5ELwb51_♥♥♥♥ByrP2hZN0ZlLxcvP

It is the sole reason I still claim Vampires are badass.

Short and simple review.

Great game. Truly a masterpiece. Must-have classic. Story-driven and atmospheric.

P.S: For those who are having issues/crashes, here's a fix:
1)Run the game.
2)Open Task Manager.

For Windows 7 or older:
3)Go to the Processes tab. (Second tab from left to right)
4)Find and right click the defiance.exe process.

For Windows 8/10:
3)Go to the Details tab. (Second tab from right to left)
4)Find and right click the defiance.exe process.

5)From the menu, click Set Affinity.
6)A window will pop up, showing a list. In the list you'll have the following: <All Processors>, CPU 0, CPU 1, CPU 2, etc. (depending on the amount of cores your CPU has, you'll see that many in the list. Note that the first core is counted as CPU 0, so if you see, for example, from CPU 0 to CPU 7, those are your 8 cores.)
7)From this list, uncheck everything but CPU 0. This will set the process to use only 1 core from your CPU.
8)Now you can tab back into the game and play. Enjoy!

NOTE: You will have to repeat this every time you relaunch the game, as it's not a permanent change. This should however fix crashes/graphical issues/cutscene stuttering. I did notice a micro-stutter after the intro going into the first cinematic, but aside from that every other cinematic will run fine.

Another fix you can apply to the game (fixes some graphical issues for Windows 10):
1)Go to the game's installation folder. (Should be in your Steam\steamapps\common\legacy_kain_defiance, or in whichever folder you installed the game in)
2)Right click the defiance.exe.
3)Go to Properties, then to the Compatibility tab.
4)Check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" box, and then select Windows XP Service Pack 2.

NOTE: This is a permanent change, as in no need to redo it, unlike the previous fix.

This game has gotten a lot of negative press over its life; because of that I'll start with the bad things. The camera will be the bane of your life. Anyone who has played the past installments to this fantastic series will know that the camera worked fine, no need to change it. However, some bright spark decided otherwise. Also, having played this game on console in the past, I found the keyboard controls quite frustrating.

However, bad stuff aside, I would still recommend this game for anyone who is a fan of the FANTASTIC story to this game series. Once again the writers have excelled themselves, and managed to tie up many of the loose ends.

Vampires/10

Pros:
Amazing story, voice acting, characters, etc.
Fairly fun, if repetive, gameplay
Lots of cool moves I used once and then immediantly forgot about

Cons:
The camera is a spiteful, vindictive entity and I feel personally harassed by its awfulness
That one bit with the platforming in the courtyard

Is it worth playing?
Yeah, if you're invested in the story and hate yourself enough to play a (somewhat) fixed camera game with emphasis on platforming. Playing on a keyboard is less fun than playing on a gamepad.

Still, the story is amazing.

One of the best games I've ever played.