To be honest, I thought for a long time that Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was the first game that Silicon Knights ever developed. This is quite inaccurate as they actually released three games before that one! I don't know much about this one other than it's a strategy game and was released by SSI.

SSI also published this one and again, I know very little about this one, but (as the name suggests) it seems to be similar to Cyber Empires, but in a fantasy setting instead of sci-fi / futuristic. This game also utilizes the Dungeons & Dragons license and is set in Mystara.

This is the third and final Silicon Knights game to be published by SSI. This one seems to be more of a tactical RPG and out of the SSI games, it's the one I'm the most interested in trying out. I'm definitely a sucker for these types of games :)

And here it is, my first exposure to Silicon Knights. I was highly intrigued by articles and advertisements for this game back in the '90s, but at the time, I didn't have a PlayStation. Once I finally had one, this was one of the first games I picked up. Despite the personal hype I had built up for it, the game did not disappoint. I sunk a ton of time into it and considering I was not well-versed in The Legend of Zelda games (of which this game draws much inspiration), this felt like a completely new experience for me. What stood out to me as a kid was how mature the game felt. I don't just mean in terms of blood and violence, but the storytelling, voice-acting, and cinematic style. Delivering a adult-oriented story really felt like it was a primary objective for the development team and it was something I wasn't used to at the time.

As a kid, I was unable to complete this game as I found it to be rather confusing and difficult in its later stages. I would try to get into it many times over the years, but it wasn't until 2016 that I finally plowed through it. I had remembered quite a bit of the game, especially the earlier segments since I had played them so many times.

The Legacy of Kain series would continue on with a number of games, including a direct sequel to this one, but they all abandoned the style that this game had. The storytelling remained in the sequels, but this one has always felt like an outlier, which sort of makes sense since it's the only one developed by Silicon Knights.

Surprisingly, this game did have a PC release back in the '90s and I was lucky enough to acquire a copy back then. I still have it sitting on my shelf and would love to see it released digitally, but alas, it seems to be in some sort of (ironic?) licensing Hell and it's unlikely it will ever rise out of it.

Nintendo has always had a reputation of being "kiddie" and although Conker's Bad Fur Day should have eliminated any doubts there, the GameCube doubled down on that effort by releasing a number of exclusive M-rated games. One of those games was Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, which is an incredibly unique and amazing horror game.

Much like Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, this game has a very mature story to tell and isn't afraid to bring it to the forefront. It's a psychological horror game, which was almost unheard of at the time on a Nintendo console. And by psychological I mean you have a sanity meter and as things transpire in the game, you can start to unravel and the game will start to mess with you. I seem to recall my GameCube "rebooting" out of nowhere, but in actuality, it was just the game breaking the fourth wall. It was very cool stuff to experience and reminded me of the Psycho Mantis battle in Metal Gear Solid.

Speaking of Metal Gear Solid, did you know Silicon Knights developed (along with Konami) another M-rated GameCube exclusive that was a remake of Metal Gear Solid?

This one was released in 2004 and it pulled in a lot of the elements introduced with Metal Gear Solid 2, but with the story from the original game. Considering only six years had elapsed since the original Metal Gear Solid, it's kinda surprising it had already received a remake. It received solid reviews, but I have not been able to play this one yet. I'm a huge fan of the first Metal Gear Solid, so I will try it one of these days...

Sheesh, talk about a rocky development cycle! This game originally started as a PlayStation game set to be released in 1999. It was finally released in 2008 for Xbox 360.

While most found the game to be forgettable at best, I personally thoroughly enjoyed this game and strongly believe it to be one of the most underrated games of the era and possibly of all time. Yes, I mean that.

The game is sort of a sci-fi meets Norse mythology action RPG. Needless to say, in terms of setting, it's fairly unique. The gameplay is very fast-paced and you zip around beating down baddies with ease. I had a real blast with the combat in this game, even though it was fairly repetitive. But so are the Diablo games and those are some of my all time favorites.

The only downside is the game was supposed to be a trilogy (I think) and as such the story felt incomplete. That's quite unfortunate since given the poor reviews and sales for this game, not to mention the fact that Silicon Knights is no more, there's basically no chance for the sequels to ever see the light of day.

Much like Shiny Entertainment, Silicon Knights went out with a whimper, rather than a bang. Despite utilizing one of the most popular comic book licenses around, this game was universally panned, with many critics stating that the game felt unfinished. Reportedly, this game suffered from rather severe budget cuts that ultimately led to it feeling rushed and unfinished. In November 2012, a full year after its release, Silicon Knights lost their lawsuit against Epic Games and supposedly were told to destroy all remaining copies of the game (among others).

Okay, so this game has some baggage, but is it worth playing at all? Sadly, I can't recommend this one to anyone. I spent a little bit of time with this a few years ago and was completely underwhelmed. The game world is so barren and really does feel like an unfinished game. I still tell myself I'm going to give it another go, but I'm not sure that day will ever come.