The last breath of Legacy of Kain brand under the wings of Square Enix. Nosgoth was to be something special
As part of our Necro Gaming series, we have already discussed the never-released Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun project. Now, it's time to tackle yet another attempt by Square Enix to revive the brand: the multiplayer Nosgoth.
In one of the previous articles, we looked at Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, which is the sixth installment of the Legacy of Kain series, by the Climax Studios team. Parallel to this game, another project was being developed.
That was Nosgoth, which was initially intended to be a multiplayer mode for "Dead Sun." However, when the latter was canceled, the entry created by the Psyonix team grew into a fully independent venture. Although the discussed project ultimately didn't see the light of day, it managed to go much further than Climax Studios' game. Let's find out how far.
Nosgoth torn by conflict
Compared to other games in the Legacy of Kain series, in Nosgoth the storyline would rather play a secondary role. Nonetheless, the devs tried to tell an interesting story set in a dark fantasy universe, well known to fans of Kain and Raziel.
After the execution of Raziel and the use of the Chronoplast, the vampire Kain seemingly abandoned his empire, leading to the outbreak of a civil war among the clans of bloodsuckers. By capitalizing on this situation, people started to slowly gain strength, rebuilding their civilization. The uprising would be so successful for the people that they would eventually go on the offensive, conquering more regions of the titular land.
The growing threat would eventually be noticed by the vampires, who, wanting to deal with it, would come to an agreement and, under a common banner, would go to fight against their rebellious slaves. Of course, during the fun, we ended up right in the middle of this great war.
Free portion of blood
Nosgoth was supposed to be distributed in a free-to-play model with microtransactions. The Psyonix team planned to deliver a multiplayer action game, which should be treated as a spin-off of the Legacy of Kain series.
The pillar of the gameplay would be multiplayer battles involving humans and vampires. What's interesting, the game would allow us to switch sides in the conflict. It would make sense since bloodsuckers and humans differ greatly, and switching from one side of the barricade to the other would let us experience the strengths and weaknesses of both factions.
A vampire is a man to another vampire
The biggest differences between humans and vampires would relate to their fighting style. Bloodsuckers would specialize in close combat, while humans would make use of long-range weapons. We would have access to a diverse range of character classes on both sides of the barricade.
While people would send a scout with a bow, an alchemist throwing projectiles, or a hunter armed with a crossbow into battle, vampires would deploy a silently operating reaver, a powerful tyrant, or a flying sentinel attacking from the air. It would be wise to stick to one profession, as throughout subsequent playthroughs, a particular class will gather experience points, unlocking access to better equipment and skills.
Regarding the weaknesses of humans and vampires, close combat with the latter would make them relatively easy targets. Humans, on the other hand, would have restricted ammunition supplies that they would need to restock at special stations. On the flip side, only vampires could fly, climb objects, or pounce on people with their fangs and claws.
So as you can see, choosing a side in the conflict wouldn't be obvious... at least in theory. In practice, it turned out that the local vampires were giving people a real taste of the Middle Ages, making the victory achieved by the latter quite an accomplishment.
Real blood war
Two gameplay modes would make it into Nosgoth. The first is a standard Deathmatch where humans and vampires would eliminate each other, aiming to earn as many points as possible. The team that first reached the required threshold for victory would win, or the team with a higher number of points at the end of the countdown would be declared the winner.
The second game mode would be Flashpoint, where humans are tasked with capturing control points on the map, while vampires attempt to stop them at all costs. The issue would be complicated by a countdown forcing people to hurry; if the vampires managed to hold the points for a certain time, they would be the winners.
Nosgoth Timeline
In May 2013, we first heard unofficially about the development of a project called Nosgoth. The official announcement had to wait until September. When fans of the brand found out that Square Enix planned to move into the field of free-to-play multiplayer games, they didn't hide their disappointment. After all, everyone was probably expecting another dark adventure designed for a single player.
Nonetheless, the devs and the publisher didn't give up, allowing selected players to test their creation as part of closed alpha tests, which took place at the end of 2013. Just over a year later, in January 2015, open beta tests of Nosgoth started, in which anyone interested could participate.
These tests showed that Nosgoth has no chances of success. Industry media rated this project quite poorly, criticizing it for its modest content or problems with gameplay balance. Its rather symbolic association with the Legacy of Kain brand and the technical issues that troubled it were also important. On the other hand, the game had some potential, as its graphic design and dynamic gameplay looked great.
However, Square Enix didn't believe in the success of this project. In April 2016, a Japanese publisher announced that the Nosgoth servers would be shut down on May 31, 2016. The official game forums, however, were closed on June 14th of the same year. In this way, traces of the existence of this game were erased.
What happened next?
After the cancellation of Nosgoth, Square Enix didn't address the topic of reviving the Legacy of Kain brand any further. We had to wait for its return to the world of the living until December 2024 and the release of the collection Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
Nonetheless, the studio behind this project, Psyonix, still had its biggest success ahead of it. The game Rocket League, developed by them, was released on PC and PS4 in 2015 and later on other platforms, becoming a global commercial hit.
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