Kain walks through Nosgoth with the certainty of a vampire who fully intends to take it all back.

On gut feeling, no criterion, Blood Omen 2 only edges ahead of 14% of games. That is very low. And yet one line holds and tells another story: attachment, ahead of 67% of titles, above the middle, on very few votes so treat it as provisional. The rest of the profile caves in. Art style ahead of 5% of games, controller feel ahead of 8%, fun ahead of 13%. There is the real tension. Nobody picks it on instinct, nobody finds it beautiful or pleasant to play, but those who lived it kept something. That is the classic profile of a game loved for its world rather than for what it does in your hands.

Next to the action adventure games of its era, and especially next to Soul Reaver in the same series, Blood Omen 2 paid for a stiffer execution and a 2002 3D look that ages badly against criteria built around today's aesthetics. The writing and the world hold up. The technical layer does not.

So, who is it for? For you if you love Nosgoth, its dark mythology and its gothic tragedy narration. Much less so if you want responsive combat or a game that has aged well.