Doors

"Locked. What a love of doors these pathetic humans have."

―Kain^[src]

Doors, also known as Gates, Barriers or Doorways, were a recurring feature of the Legacy of Kain series seen in every title and frequently used to separate different areas. Doors were a simple barrier, often opened and breached through simple actions, although some required unlocking or opening through the use of Switches or other mechanisms.

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BO1-Mausoleum-Buttons-DoorOpen — Open and closed passive doorways in *Blood Omen* which are activated by nearby Switches

Doors are interactable objects seen in every installment of the series , providing a simple removable barrier between different areas. Doors were seen throughout the series and were present in some way in every title - although truly interactable doors were only present from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver onward.

Doorways were first encountered in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and could be seen from the opening in "Welcome to Hell" as Kain entered Ziegsturhl and made his way to the tavern. However, Many doors in Blood Omen were presented as open doorways and did not require interaction - Kain could simply walk through them to access the new area. From the beginning of "Seeking Revenge", Kain would encounter additional sub-types of doors that were initially closed and required the usage of nearby Switches and other interactable mechanisms, the appropriate timing, the use of certain abilities, or particular conditions to be met before they would open and allow him passage.^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Blood Omen/1]}^{[Blood Omen strategy guide]}

Door-normal2 — Raziel opening a door in *Soul Reaver*

For the transition to 3D in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver doors became true interactable objects for the first time, now requiring the use of the action button to make Raziel physically push them open. Raziel could encounter regular doors from the end of Underworld (chapter) as he made his way to the outer entrance of the Sanctuary of the Clans. As with Blood Omen, several other doorways could be seen which required other conditions to be met to open them - all needed the interaction of the Material Realm to function and would be immovable in the Spectral Realm - although other mechanisms required the use of Switches or particular abilities or objects. Certain doors marked with a blue sun-like symbol led to special Warp gates.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver/2]}^{[Soul Reaver manual (US)]}^{[Soul Reaver manual (UK)]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

Doors returned in Soul Reaver 2 where they were treated much the same as in Soul Reaver with Raziel needing to push them open with the action button and were encountered from the first chapter. A number of doors required conditions to be satisfied to open them, with several requiring the use of Switches, appropriate objects or Wraith Blade enhancements to be held.^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Soul Reaver 2/1]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 manual]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)]}

BO2-DoorGlow — Kain stands before a glowing *Blood Omen 2* door

Doors were also featured in Blood Omen 2 where they were seen from the first chapter and were again opened physically by the protagonist when unlocked. A number of doors would be encountered when locked, however other mechanisms were present that could be used to open locked doors, such as various Switches and the use of the Glyph magic network. As with other interactable objects in Blood Omen 2, doors that could be opened would glow a white color when Kain was within range.^{[Blood Omen 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2/1]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (US)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (UK)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 strategy guide]}

Doors returned in much the same capacity in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. As before they were featured regularly from the outset and could be physically opened by a push from the protagonist, but a number of doors required further activation or unlocking such as by carrying certain objects or upgrades, or even by defeating the enemies present.^[Defiance]^[Defiance/1]^{[Defiance manual]}^{[Defiance strategy guide]}

Types of Doors and Barriers[]

Broadly speaking, doors and the like could be classified into several related categories - Doors were an opaque physical barrier that was specifically intended to be opened to allow passage beyond, Gates were similar but could be seen through in some manner and occasionally passed through, even if entry was not the specific purpose; while Barriers were obstructions that were either specifically designed to prevent encroachment or delay progress, although they generally could be opened and crossed by the protagonists like doors and gates when employing the appropriate powers. Other Obstacles acted like barriers but were more naturalistic or co-incidental in their placement, often requiring some kind of movement or destruction to pass them. A Number of special classes of doors, barriers and the like existed and could be opened through various methods. In addition a number of Locking Mechanisms were seen throughout the series, which kept a door or barrier closed until the correct action was carried out or the correct item employed.^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2]}^[Defiance]

Many varieties of doors and locking mechanisms were seen throughout the series, some of which notably overlap:

Mooncave — A closed Moon gate in *Blood Omen*

In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain Levers and other Switches could open locked doors (including Wall buttons and Floor buttons). Special classes of doors included Permeable barriers - which were permeable to Mist Form - and Moon gates - which opened only on a Full moon. Other obstructions such as Standing stones, Ugly statues and Trees acted as barriers until Kain possessed either the Spiked Mace or the Axes to break through them. Some object such as Chairs and Boulders could obstruct progression and thus act like barriers, but these could usually be pushed out of the way when Kain was at the appropriate strength level.^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Blood Omen manual (Windows)]}^{[Blood Omen strategy guide]}

SR1-Chronoplast-Chrono15-Lower-WarpDoor — A warp gate door in *Soul Reaver*

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, ordinary doors could only be opened in the Material Realm and could not be moved in the Spectral Realm. Switches and Constrict objects could be used to open doors by interacting with them or using the Constricting ability respectively. Notably several doors in Soul Reaver were marked with a blue circular design and these led to warp gates - which allowed great distances to be crossed instantaneously by directly linking with another such gate. Special classes of barrier included Permeable barriers and gates - which could be phased through in the Spectral Realm - and Sealed doors - which required the Wraith Blade to open. Other obstructions included Telekinetic breakables - which would shatter upon contact with Telekinetic force projectiles - Force fields - which would drop when a specific task was completed - and Blocks which could be pushed or moved using telekinesis.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver manual (US)]}^{[Soul Reaver manual (UK)]}^{[Soul Reaver strategy guide (Prima)]}

SR2-Door-Portcullis — A door protected b a portcullis in *Soul Reaver 2*

In Soul Reaver 2 doors were again only available in the Material Realm, with switches, gates, blocks and sealed doors returning with similar functionality as before (although now items like Emblem keys could be used to open specific "Emblem door" variant sealed doors). Levers returned to enable doors to be opened physically, Light crystals allowed doors marked with special crystals to be opened with the Light Reaver, and the Engraved stone could be used in conjunction with the Light Reaver to turn a solid wall into a permeable gate. Special classes of barrier included Combat barriers and portcullises - which prevented access until specific enemies were defeated in combat - and Cracked doors which could be blown apart by the Air Reaver. Other obstructions and barriers - specifically those marked with 'sun' symbols - could be cleared with the presence of rays of Sunlight or the Sun Disk.^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 manual]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)]}

Blood Omen 2 doors could usually be opened with interaction or specific actions, and on occasion doors would be locked until a specific task was completed, most often combinations of Switches and Wheels were used to open doors. Much of the mechanics revolved around Glyph magic and was often used to provide power to switches or to open doors directly, with related items such as Glyph batteries and junction switches also being used. On occasion it was even possible to blast through barriers or walls with overloaded glyph batteries or Explosive devices. Other barriers included Blocks, as well as Ward gates - which prevented Vampires from passing and required power to be cut to pass.^{[Blood Omen 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (US)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (UK)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 strategy guide]}

Def-BlessedBarriers — A Blessed Barrier in *Defiance*

In Legacy of Kain: Defiance doors, combat barriers, gates and sealed doors returned with similar functionality to Soul Reaver 2 (although gates could once again be passed through using Mist and sealed doors now opened with fragments of the Balance Emblem and various other quest items). Doors could also be opened by the activation of Orbs, Telekinetic switches or Rotatable and movable objects; or on occasion by the movement of Blocks. Other special barriers included Breakables or Telekinetic breakables, which could be smashed through with regular attacks or telekinesis and Blessed barriers, which were dispelled by the Balance Reaver enhancement. Portcullises and fallen rubble were also used on occasion to prevent entry through certain doors. Different types of warp gate were also seen that linked to distant gates allowing instantaneous travel between the two.^[Defiance]^{[Defiance manual]}^{[Defiance strategy guide]}

Behind the scenes[]

Doors were used throughout the series to break up areas. Blood Omen regularly used doorways to mask loading, with many doorways effectively teleporting the player to a different map area - often giving the impression that internal areas appeared larger than external ones.^{[Blood Omen]} This effect was notably lessened in Soul Reaver with each door opened playing a short cutscene of Raziel pushing them open - these did not necessarily mask loading times however as nearby areas were in fact streamed as Raziel approached.^{[Soul Reaver]} This trend of cutscenes and streaming loading continued into Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2 and Defiance.^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2]}^[Defiance]

The exact placement of doors was apparently something that was adjusted throughout the development of certain titles, with the beta versions of Soul Reaver in particular showing a number of doors that are moved, and doors that are present in beta but removed in the retail and vice versa.^[1]^{[Soul Reaver]}

Notes[]

Doors are physically present in all of the titles in the series, however their lack of interaction and reliance upon switch mechanisms in Blood Omen arguably discounts them from counting as a true gameplay mechanic in that title - and they are accordingly not mentioned in either of the Blood Omen manuals; and only given brief mentions in the walkthrough section of the official guide.^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Blood Omen manual (Windows)]}^{[Blood Omen strategy guide]}
In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and later titles doors are definitively identified as such in manuals and guides, where they are generally classified among basic "contextual objects" or sections dealing with "using objects" or "manipulating objects" and are usually listed along with switches as the main examples of this category.^{[Soul Reaver manual (US)]}^{[Soul Reaver manual (UK)]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 manual]}^{[Soul Reaver 2 strategy guide (Prima)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (US)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (UK)]}^{[Defiance manual]}^{[Defiance strategy guide]} Doors are also repeatedly mentioned in dialogue and stage directions of scripts although occasionally certain door types are alternatively titled as "gates" and "barriers"; however no definitive guideline between them is given and there is much potential overlap between the types, with the differences arguably due to the appearance of the particular variants and association with real world variants and not necessarily other similar obstructions in universe - for example Permeable barriers are particularly referred to as "gates" in series terminology, however other doorways that resemble real world gates can be referred to as such despite not able to be passed through, not being able to be seen through or having more in common with regular doors.^{[Blood Omen]}^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2]}^[Defiance]
In Blood Omen 2, as with other interactable objects, doors glow white when they can be directly opened. It is doubtful that this is anything more than a visual aid to the players and probably cannot be seen by the characters.^{[Blood Omen 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (US)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 manual (UK)]}^{[Blood Omen 2 strategy guide]}
In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Kain remarks upon the Humans love of doors while exploring the Sarafan Stronghold in Nosgoth's early history, perhaps suggesting that doors tend to be associated with humans.^[Defiance]^[Defiance/1] Although Kain's empire later in history would indeed have fewer doors than amount seen in building such as the Stronghold or regular human settlements of the time, it was not without its fair share of doors and many could be seen throughout Nosgoth in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.^{[Soul Reaver]} By comparison, the ancient Vampire Citadel had almost no doors, while the Hylden City had many.^[Defiance]^{[Blood Omen 2/11]}
Although the opening of doors generally use a standard cutscene there are a number of variants on the exact manner of the door opening, with different cutscene used across games, for different characters and for a number of differing situations including pushed doors, pulled doors, double doors and locked doors.^{[Soul Reaver]}^{[Soul Reaver 2]}^{[Blood Omen 2]}^[Defiance] There are even subtle variations (usually within larger scripted cutscenes) according to the exact circumstances of the situation - notable examples include Raziel rushing through the doors to return to Janos at the end of Soul Reaver 2 and Raziel's differing approaches to the door in the swamp in differing eras in Soul Reaver 2.^{[Soul Reaver 2/9]}