[ Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds ]

Chakan and Sirens

article by Ben Lincoln

 

[ Note: see A Discussion With Jon Miller for another perspective on this matter. - Ben Lincoln, 2013 ]

Some time after Blood Omen 2 was released, it was discovered that it had been significantly influenced by two unfinished projects that its lead artist (Steve Ross) had also worked on.

I made the first discovery when I was researching a "lost world" unrelated to the Kain series (or so I thought) - Chakan, the Dreamcast title which would have been a sequel to the old Sega Genesis game. Its intended publisher - AndNow - has a variety of concept art for the game hosted on its site.

Depicted in this artwork for Chakan are quite a few elements which are familiar. In addition to the general similarity of themes:

In addition, a preview of Chakan described its plot arc as "[evolving] from a fantasy story to a pure science-fiction setting" - just like Blood Omen 2.

Some time later, IGN forum member Embla discovered an even older unreleased Steve Ross project - Sirens. A 1997-era PlanetQuake page (no longer online) was dedicated to a proof-of-concept that Ross and Joshua Gordon had created using the engine from the original Quake. This page included screenshots and concept art which are similar to both Chakan and Blood Omen 2. It also described part of the planned storyline:

The City has existed since the beginning of time. Once it was a place of transcendent beauty and purity governed by five beings known as the Aeris. Then, many centuries ago, a catastrophic plague ripped through The City. This scourge cleaved each Aeris into two separate entities: A Siren, a being of light and song, and a Daemon, a dark, vile creature.

The Daemons soon overwhelmed the Sirens beginning a long reign of brutality and horror. They stripped away the Sirens' souls turning them into pitiful empty creatures who wander aimlessly through The City. The Daemons imprisoned the Siren souls in Soul Worlds; strange domains existing beyond space and time.

With no one left to challenge their power the Daemons began to feed on The City's population. They did not feed on the flesh of their victims, but on their souls, their life force. Through centuries of dark rule The City was transformed from a place of peace and serenity into a cruel, hard, twisted place. A place of horror, death and decay.

Besides the obvious similarity to the Vampire/Hylden back story for Blood Omen 2, the screenshots include several more aspects that would eventually be used in that game:

With both Sirens and Chakan under scrutiny, some familiar patterns emerge:

The striking similarities between these projects and Blood Omen 2 led many Kain fans to believe that Blood Omen 2 was some sort of re-branded Chakan (and potentially that Chakan had itself begun life as Sirens). At the time of the Chakan discovery, Chris Bruno of Crystal Dynamics was kind enough to mention it to Steve Ross. His response was:

Yeah, some of the themes are the same simply because they came from the same artist (me). As for the symbol I had completely forgotten about it being on one of the Chakan Sketches. I did about 20-30 full color concepts in 2 weeks and it was all kind of a blur

There has not been an official statement from Eidos on this subject. It is certainly possible that they purchased the rights from AndNow and had Crystal Dynamics rework the concept into a Kain game. It is also possible that AndNow itself had hired Ross (and Gordon?) to transform Sirens into Chakan - its story and setting would have been a good match for one of the countless worlds Chakan was doomed to redeem. There are strong arguments both for and against:

The lack of a concrete statement from Eidos or Crystal Dynamics makes it unlikely that the full story will ever be completely revealed. However, it seems fair to state that Blood Omen 2 was at the very least heavily influenced by Chakan and Sirens.

Whatever the case, I have to respectfully disagree with the Kain fans who were angry about the use of this material in Blood Omen 2. The main reason is that as a fan of bringing deleted material into the light, I would much rather see good concepts and artwork used than left on the cutting room floor. I'll probably never have a chance to play the Sirens proof of concept or see what exactly AndNow had in the works, and having that material in a game I own is the next best thing.

I also have always felt that Blood Omen 2 was unfairly maligned by many long-term fans of the Kain series - some of whom went on to use the "re-labelled Chakan" argument as a further justification that it simply didn't belong with the other games. While it is certainly a departure in many ways from the rest of the series, I felt that it was worked into the story very well by the Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance teams. Although I'm sure some of them initially were frustrated to have to account for things like Janos and the Hylden, the result was excellent. Of all the games that came after Soul Reaver, Blood Omen 2 is the most true to the "bosses as puzzles" style of gameplay (with the notable exception of Turel in Defiance), and in general it is a great example of an action/adventure game that's fun to play through.

Note: Un-watermarked images below are from the Chakan and Sirens websites, preserved for historical purposes.

 
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[ Chakan ]
Chakan
[ Chakan ]
Chakan
[ Animations ]
Animations
[ Animations ]
Animations
[ Animation concept art from Blood Omen 2 ]
Animation concept art from Blood Omen 2
[ A Glyph Knight crossed with an Eternal Prison guard? He has the
A Glyph Knight crossed with an Eternal Prison guard? He has the "broken ankh" on his belt buckle.
[ Chakan ]
Chakan
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[ A futuristic Meridian? ]
A futuristic Meridian?
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[ This harpy clearly influenced the original six-wing design for Janos ]
This harpy clearly influenced the original six-wing design for Janos
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[ Another depiction of the Meridian-esque future city ]
Another depiction of the Meridian-esque future city
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
[ From the animation demo video ]
From the animation demo video
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[ Chakan ]
Chakan
[ Another occurrence of the
Another occurrence of the "broken ankh"
[ The proto-Umah wormrider ]
The proto-Umah wormrider
[ The proto-Umah wormrider ]
The proto-Umah wormrider
[ A memento mori of the game's origins? (courtesy of Savage) ]
A memento mori of the game's origins? (courtesy of Savage)
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[ A Hylden City-esque mural ]
A Hylden City-esque mural
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[ Packaged bodies like this appear frequently in Blood Omen 2 ]
Packaged bodies like this appear frequently in Blood Omen 2
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[ Sirens statuettes ]
Sirens statuettes
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