More combat, less puzzles, still great
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 is the 4th game in the franchise, and it's a bit weird timeline-wise. It takes place between Blood Omen 1 and Soul Reaver 1, but in an alternate timeline where changes to the past were made in Soul Reaver 2. Atmosphere-wise it also feels kinda clashing with the previous games, and it's more linear.
Fans of the series consider this game one of the worse ones, but honestly, it probably has the best combat system. Unlike previous games with endlessly respawning enemies who only serve as obstacles, here enemies don't respawn, and when you drink their blood, you gain XP which can level up your health. Combat feels more reactive with more moves and not too stiff for an older game. It still has puzzles, but simpler, and focuses more on the combat and boss fights.
However, this game had some questionable choices. Firstly, the weapons are breakable. If you block an attack of have your attack blocked, it slowly damages the weapon, and eventually it'll break, and weaponless melee attacks deal less damage. And if you save and reload a checkpoint, your equipped weapon will be gone, and you must either find one somewhere or defeat an enemy. Lastly, cutscenes are unskippable, which can be annoying if your game crashed or you must exit before finding a save point. Mine crashed several times, unfortunately.
Despite its flaws, Blood Omen 2 is still a great game, and if you enjoy the Legacy of Kain franchise you'd still have fun. Simon Templeman delivers an amazing performance as Kain, even despite the fact that Kain feels more arrogant and condescending here compared to him in BO1 and Soul Reaver games.