"Legacy of Kain" Reaver redesign

Hellmouth

[on Artstation]

Redesigning the iconic weapon from one of my favourite (and defunct...) game series, Legacy of Kain!

“The Reaver” is referred to as a holy weapon (symbol?) of the Ancient Vampires numerous, so with that in mind, the official design seems a bit… out of place, thus providing me with the direction to take my redesign in!

So what I did was give it a more ornate (referencing Aztec murals, among other things), all bronze look, appropriate for an ancient weapon (+added benefit of never deteriorating), with mosaic inlays, and the symbol of Defiance’s Spirit Forge on the skull’s forehead.

The blade was based on this dagger I came across online, bearing a similar cutout to the one I’ve designed here. It’s by no means a practical weapon, but it’s fantasy live a little geez

Let me know what you think!

lotet

 I feel like the snake shape of the blade in such an iconic shape, I would try to keep it If I where you.

Hellmouth

But I did keep it... in a manner of speaking I'm joking I get where you're coming from. The cut-out design just struck me as the perfect match for what we're led to believe is a "ceremonial" weapon?

lotet

Hellmouth said:

But I did keep it... in a manner of speaking I'm joking I get where you're coming from. The cut-out design just struck me as the perfect match for what we're led to believe is a "ceremonial" weapon?

hehe yeah, I get what you mean, its honestly quite clever, and  its there..technically =P
I still feel like you kind of lost the feel of the original one though.

Drawmaevedraw

Redesigning things as beloved as this is a tough project for sure!!
(your sword ref link didnt work for me so i apologize in advance, I dont know what sword you used as ref) If you look up Flame-bladed swords or a kris sword (which were both ceremonial and combative) you can see some cool ways to maybe incorporate the wiggly blade in the overall silhouette. Another nice aspect of the older one's design is that the guard- the way it swings up -is reminiscent of vampire wings. That would be an easy change that would really help the silhouette overall.

If you are set on keeping the new wiggly blade within the larger cutout, maybe play with your thins to thicks more.

I'm also not entirely sure that the material comes across as bronze to me.  The metal is super hot on both sides of the larger part of the blade, which takes focus away from all the work you did with the skull.  I would look up how artists render bronze as well as some real life bronze swords. Bronze is toughie to paint for sure, I don't think I'll ever get the hang of it haha...