Soul Reaver 2 continues the strong storytelling of the first Soul Reaver while adding some new twists.
Soul Reaver 2 contains a mixture of puzzles and action similar to the first Soul Reaver with the exception that you will now spend most of your time fighting against humans, demons and zombies. Sadly, you will not fight against any vampires in this game but given the details of the storyline this deficiency at least makes sense. There are also a number of puzzle shrines you have to solve in order to endow the reaver with abilities that allow you to advance to new areas. Unlike in the first Soul Reaver, these shrines are now obligatory rather than optional and the effects they endow the reaver with are used only for puzzles. Which is a shame because it would have been nice if the light reaver blinded enemies and the fire reaver set them on fire (like it did in Soul Reaver 1).
While the core gameplay is about the same as the original Soul Reaver, there are some differences. The wraithblade returns in this game but now it consumes the soul of the enemy you've killed and every enemy killed by the reaver fills up a gauge. Once maxed out any further damage done by the reaver will harm you as well. There are also some puzzling changes. You can no longer perform dash attacks and your telekinetic attacks must now be manually aimed, which limits their effectiveness in combat situations.
There are also several instances where magical barriers or iron bars block your way until you kill a number of enemies the game throws at you, a mechanic which gets annoying quickly.
Ultimately, Soul Reaver 2 is a worthy continuation to the first Soul Reaver. However, if you want the series to come to a satisfying conclusion, you will have to play the final game in the series, Legacy of Kain: Defiance.