CODE VEIN
In the not too distant future, a mysterious disaster has brought collapse to the world as we know it. Towering skyscrapers, once symbols of prosperity, are now lifeless graves of humanity’s past pierced by the Thorns of Judgment. At the center of the destruction lies a hidden society of Revenants called Vein. This final stronghold is where the remaining few fight to survive, blessed with Gifts of power in exchange for their memories and a thirst for blood. Give into the bloodlust fully and risk becoming one of the Lost, fiendish ghouls devoid of any remaining humanity. Wandering aimlessly in search of blood, the Lost will stop at nothing to satisfy their hunger. Team up and embark on a journey to the ends of hell to unlock your past and escape your living nightmare in CODE VEIN.
Steam User 405
It’s like all those anime with overpowered protagonists. Except you’re not the protagonist.
Code Vein really makes you FEEL like anime.
It’s easy Soulsborne with anime tropes. I mean you immediately know it’s anime when you character starts with amnesia. What’s that? There’s hot springs too? Definitely anime Dark Souls.
I mean if Dark Souls is a world class 5 star burger, Code Vein is a McDouble. I like McDoubles ya know? But, you know, don't expect a culinary awakening.
Let me just say that the game is fun, but it’s not able to stand on par to any of the other souls game. Many have described it as "Dark Souls with anime titties", and I find the description accurate. As a souls-like fan though, I find Code Vein is definitely more in the realm of a casual souls-like. As so, be prepared for it to be not "super" challenging. You could probably beat it in 20-30h casually.
The gameplay is the bread and butter of the game. It's fun and lets you combo ridiculous skills to do stupid damage but in return makes the game way too easy. I say it's easy but since it's a souls like the enemies will still kill you in a couple shots if you're not careful.
The character customization is insane though. In terms of face customization, it's meh. But the amount of accessories you can put on your character... Nuts. Had like pouches all over my character. And being able to save/load different appearances is just great.
Also if after reading all the reviews you still want the game, then dont even bother with the DLC's. It’s the most useless piece of trash that I’ve ever seen added to a game as additional paid content. Please for the love of god don't get the DLC's.
Basically if you're looking for that souls-like itch but not a big challenge with modern anime vampires and hentai waifus, Code Vein is worth trying out.
I rate it two Niohs out of Dark Souls 2
Steam User 171
92 minutes of playing.....
finally ready to exit character creation
It's a good game, but the man who designed the cathedral map should be fired.
Steam User 240
Spent my first hour creating a character, my next hour downloading nude mods and the other 104 getting the 400 medals
Steam User 97
First things first: Get this game on sale. It goes on sale often enough. If you do get the game on sale, get the deluxe edition if its also on sale. It comes with some extra cosmetics, an extra blood code (see details below on what a blood code is), an extra partner, and all the DLC.
TL;DR: I give this game a 9-9.5 / 10. Great game.
This is one of my favorite games. I've played through it a total of 15 times so far, some of which were challenge runs like a level 1 run, a non-upgraded rusty pipe run, and a few no partner runs with different themed builds. I'll go over a some of different aspects of the game and describe what I liked/disliked.
Character creation:
Character creation is surprisingly really good. Starting out, it just seems like theres a bunch of presets for everything, but once you get into it, you can make some really cool characters. I've made Hatsune Miku, Ai Hoshino (from Oshi No Ko), Harley Quinn, Amy Rose, and some other characters.
Pros:
- Color choices are good
- Presets look alright
- Accessories are super fun to play around with to get something that looks perfect
Cons:
- Outfit choices are lacking
Story:
I don't have a whole lot to say about the story since I don't want to spoil it. Its a good story. Some parts had me teary-eyed. The characters are all really fun and have their own stories you can choose to look through when collecting certain items.
Pros:
- Good story
- Fun and likable characters with their own stories
- Theres some good character development throughout the story
Cons:
- Some predictable anime tropes
- You have to find the items related to characters' back stories, which means you can miss some stuff.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is very smooth in my opinion. Movement is smooth with the right builds, like dark souls but faster and more fluid. All the weapons are fun to play with and are all viable options. Every weapon is at least a decent choice. Gifts (spells) are plentiful and feel great to use in combat, especially since you have 8 slots for them.
Pros:
- Movement is great
- Lots of fun spells
- Weapons are great
Cons:
- The controls can take a bit to get used to coming from most other souls-like games
Character building:
The character building is great. You are able to change your build at any point in the game provided you have the correct weapons, blood veils, gifts, and blood codes. The blood codes act as a form of class with its own stat scaling, weight limits, and gifts. You can even unlock the gifts from a blood code to use with other blood codes, which can make for some really fun combinations.
Pros:
- Can change build at any time
- With the right combinations, you can use any gift with any blood code
Cons:
- Stat scaling is somewhat confusing. Gear scaling uses letters and gift scaling uses numbers
- Some buff gifts don't really tell the whole story when it comes to what the exact buffs are
Level design:
The levels are alright. For the most part, the areas are quite linear with how you navigate them. You only backtrack a few times in the game. In terms of the setting of the levels, they lack variety. For the most part you're either in a city or a cave, with some variations and exceptions. One of those exceptions (without spoiling it too much) will make you rage.
Pros:
- Can be easy to navigate for the most part.
- Linear
Cons:
- Lack of variety in setting
- Transitions between levels are obvious
- Enemy placement seems to be designed around having an NPC partner/co-op helper, making solo runs more difficult
Bosses:
Whats a good souls-like without good bosses? The bosses in this game definitely deliver. I had fun with every boss, even if I was upset at times (but who doesn't get upset at times with a souls-like?).
Pros:
- Range in difficulty
- The harder bosses feel great to defeat
Cons:
- The difficulty range isn't linear with the game's progression. Some bosses near the beginning of the game are harder than some bosses later
- Like the enemy placement, bosses seems to be designed around having an NPC partner/co-op helper, making solo runs more difficult
OVERALL SCORE: I give this game a 9-9.5 / 10.
Steam User 215
dark souls with big anime tits
Steam User 72
pretty good game but that stupid dumb cathedral area made me wanna bash my head into a really hot toaster
Steam User 76
Honestly, this is my favourite game I've played for a while, so I may as well do this. I'll try to answer some questions I've seen people ask when they consider getting into it.
Difficulty
- It's not that difficult for a Soulslike, but if you're not used to that style of gameplay you might be in for a bit of a learning curve.
- Most people find that particular bosses are a lot more difficult than others. I beat some of the bosses in one attempt and others took dozens.
- Sometimes you can figure out gift (ability) combos that cheese the boss easily, especially with a partner.
- In terms of exploring, there's one area that's particularly bullshit and the rest are a lot more straightforward.
- Part of the experience is the satisfaction at beating a tough challenge, in my personal opinion. If you don't find it rewarding to try something either repeatedly to learn patterns or from various angles to try different strategies, you might not find this game very rewarding. But you could still probably manage to get through it if you like the other elements.
Gameplay
- It really doesn't feel the same as Dark Souls, besides having the same basic mechanics. You won't get significantly better at Dark Souls after playing this game unless this was your introduction to reflex-based games and you improved your reaction time.
- It's not grindy. In fact, overlevelling can be slightly detrimental (but not as much as some people make it out to be). The main focus is finding a good build with your gifts (abilities) and upgrading your weapon and blood veil (gear) in different ways that fit your playstyle.
- Your core gameplay loop is always the same throughout the game, but there's actually a lot of variation as to how you can play. Rushing in and trying to deplete the enemy's HP within a literal minute versus kiting them with venom - it can feel very different, and it's the most fun if you try every different style, in my opinion.
- The game likes to reward completionists, as it seems, so be sure to explore every area if you want the best ending (and play through the game a few more times if you want all the endings). They don't seem to want you to rush through things.
Plot
- People say it's cliché and meme on it for being "weeb souls", so be warned that it does have a lot of edgy anime tropes. But if you enjoy those, like me, you'll enjoy the plot too.
- I've heard critique that you can pretty much guess the character archetypes as soon as their introductory scenes, but although the characters are indeed somewhat static, they're not too flat as you do uncover hidden sides of them as you discover their backstory through a gameplay mechanic - although, if you're genre-savvy enough, it's true that you may be able to predict them.
- The fanservice is mainly in the visual designs of the characters and not their personalities, if that's something worth considering for you.
- This may not be strictly plot, but the areas are beautiful and the cutscenes are nicely animated. Seriously, it's a better visual experience than some anime I've watched.
Co-op
- Co-op is dogwater. I know it's a Soulslike and not meant to be multiplayer, but please, I just want to chill at the home base with my friends.
- You cannot play with a friend if you haven't unlocked the area on your end (including on NG+). Or if you've already cleared the boss (Depths don't count, making it the only place you can hang out or farm for Marks of Honour).
- There's a hard limit of only two PCs and one NPC companion, so if you have more than one friend who plays this game, you'll have to take turns interacting with each other.
- If you're progressing through the whole game with a friend, beating a boss only counts on the host's side, so you'll have to do each area twice.
Character Creator
- Literally THE best character creator I've ever seen, the eyebrows alone have more options than my future
Overall, I enjoyed this game because it vibed with my personal interests. Maybe if you're a bit like me, you'll enjoy it too.