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SR2-AirForgeDemo-Cutscene13

Raziel enters the main Air Forge chamber in the demo

The Air Forge Demo was a promotional prerelease version of Soul Reaver 2 that centered around an early version of the Air Forge.

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Role and Contents

The Air Forge Demo was released as a part of various official PlayStation 2 Magazines demo discs in mid-late 2001. It was originally featured as a playable demo in the "Jampack" summer 2001 edition of Playstation Underground before being reissued for the holiday edition in winter 2001; for the Official U.S. Playstation Magazine in October 2001 (issue #49) and April 2002 (issue #55); as well as the U.K. Official Playstation 2 Magazine in October 2001 (issue #12).[1]

Focusing on and isolated to the main altar and surrounding areas of the Air Forge The demo itself has quite a few different features than the final version of Soul Reaver 2. It includes a cinematic opening not seen anywhere else with Raziel swinging his wraithblade around, a soul flying by and creating the number "2" behind the game´s logo.[2][3]

Air_Forge_Demo_Playthrough_-_Soul_Reaver_2

Air Forge Demo Playthrough - Soul Reaver 2

The demo starts with a slideshow shortly retelling the ending of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and the course of Soul Reaver 2, followed by a hint on what to do in the demo and control scheme. Then the game loads and starts with a cutscene, which zooms in on different parts of Raziel's body from various angles and finishes up with Raziel´s right eye squinting. The player then can proceed to open the door with the Reaver. One of the most obvious changes is the skybox containing a blue moon and the presence of two Sarafan warriors in the main chamber.[2][3]

Raziel starts in the square room just before the main chamber and just past the tunnel where the spirit beacon is in the retail version. Everything prior to this area has been blocked off and is not present in the demo. Only the blue heart path is available, as all other paths are sealed and inaccessible. Once Raziel obtains the heart and brings it to the restrained corpse, the stone gargoyle eats the soul, starts blowing wind and the demo ends.[2][3]

Differences from the retail version

File:Soul Reaver 2 - Air Forge Demo Intro
Main article: Air Forge (SR2)
  • The demo starts in the room just before the main chamber just beyond the spirit beacon in the final version,
  • There are two Sarafan warrior pikemen in the hub area with the snake statue,
  • Mice are seen on the ground in the first area,
  • Raziel´s health coil only appears after the first door is opened,
  • A large moon is seen in the sky throughout all of the Air Forge,
  • Thralls guard all elemental fonts instead of the shades,
  • Crossed swords serve as an indication of being engaged in combat,
  • During combat, Raziel produces the same audio cue as in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver,
  • The Reaver is very weak and it requires several slashes to finish an enemy,
  • The Reaver does the charging up move before inflicting the final blow to the enemy,
  • Souls fly for a second before being devoured by the Reaver,
  • Raziel´s health drops quickly when hit by enemies and it take more souls to refill Raziel's health coil.
  • There is a golden-blue compass,


The Debug menu and Ring menu

The Air forge demo also features a number of behind the scenes background and menu items which are different from the release version:

  • The Debug menu contains all seven Reaver enhancements, although those not present in the retail version feature only placeholder effects when used.
  • The Debug menu includes projected shadow option for Raziel.
  • The Debug menu also enables the use of the widescreen.
  • The Debug menu contains list of all the areas, but none of them can be loaded.
  • There is no map in the Ring menu.
  • The US version of the demo can be hacked to enable the display of the full Ring menu which features a number of developmental and placeholder symbols, presumably standing in for the Pillar Glyphs - the symbols themselves cannot be activated and do not serve any function.

Notes

Air_Forge_Demo_Debug_Showcase

Air Forge Demo Debug Showcase

  • At least two different versions of the demo disc were made available to different locations, and distributed by their respective localized versions of the Official Playstation/Playstation 2 magazine. In the UK/Europe the demo was released as part of the Official Playstation 2 magazine series and was numbered as issue 12 (October 2001) whilst in the US the disc was released as part of the Official U.S. Playstation magazine series and was numbered as issue 49/55 (October 2001/April 2002) or Playstation Underground in the "Jampack" Summer or Holiday editions (July 2001 or December 2001).[1] The respective versions of Soul Reaver 2 do not differ significantly with virtually identical gameplay and features in most places - the US version does appear to use a slightly earlier build and some minor differences are seen in effects and other information - notably the full Ring menu can be enabled in that version.[2][4][5][6][3]
  • several other demo discs feature non-interactive trailers entirely created from footage of the Air Forge demo. These demos include several "kiosk demos" ("demo disc 2.2" or "kiosk disc 2.2") apparently intended for store or show units and Playstation Underground 5.1 (released late 2001).[1] Many of the Soul Reaver 2 prerelease screenshots also originate in the Air Forge demo.
  • Early versions of the Ring menu exist in the Air Forge demo with a large amount of developmental and placeholder symbols for the ring menu entries, which were eventually updated or discarded before the retail versions.[4][5][6][3]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Template:Icon-TLW The Library - Playstation 2 at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Template:Icon-SR2 Soul Reaver 2 Air Forge demo
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Template:Icon-TLW The Air Forge Demo at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Template:Icon-TLW The Debug Menu at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
  5. 5.0 5.1 Template:Icon-TLW The Pillar Glyphs at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Template:Icon-TLW The Full Ring Menu at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
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