If you enjoy a complex storytelling experience, and don't mind some flawed action elements, you won't be disappointed.
If you enjoy a story with layers of deceit and intrigue, where even as you are compelled to play, you wonder if you're really doing what will lead to the result you desire, then this game will really appeal to you, and will keep you guessing even beyond the very end, as all great to-be-continued games do.
Despite this story being decidedly at the expense of gameplay, that isn't to say that the gameplay is bad, by any standards. The combat and navigation starts out feeling clunky, but once one gets used to the way things move, it actually grows on a player, and becomes quite natural. The enemy AI also increases in deviousness and tactical ability at just the right intervals to keep you constantly working on the precision of your technique, while a well-executed checkpoint system keeps you from feeling robbed when you are killed before a major area, yet also keeps enough distance between checkpoints that one feels that they've earned their newfound safety.
You play as the renegade demon/angel/vampire Raziel, whose backstory begs to be read properly in a separate resource from this review. He is bound to a wraith-like incarnation of an ancient blade called the Soul Reaver. It gives our protagonist (though he's hardly a hero, for the record) the ability to illuminate his way, blind giant eyes in dungeons, and otherwise manipulate the environment.
If the game could have lasted a bit longer, both in content and in replay value, this would have been even better. The combat animations and timing could also use a bit of polish, but the oft-lauded perfect camera is no myth: this game is one of the most pleasing games I've yet had the opportunity to navigate visually. The graphics are dated in 2008, obviously, but they also show just how well-designed this game was. The detailed architecture and energy effects particularly demand attention, as does the intensely and honestly perfect sound. When a game makes you shudder with fear when you make a loud footstep on a new surface, you know that the sense of mood is being properly coerced out of the player without resorting to visual or musical tension, though this game has those in spades as well, and has few, if any, visual shocks.
Overall, the game is excellent and deserves a playthrough if you are an intellectual, philosophically-inclined, and discerning connoiseur of gaming gems.
~ XM