If there’s something that you guys probably don’t know yet about me? Then it has to be that I am a big anime aficionado. So obviously when I got the opportunity to play Code Vein? I jumped immediately to the opportunity. Why? Let me tell you! Code Vein is an Anime styled Souls-like. Meaning that you’re going to be playing a brutal yet beautiful game! With amazing animations and huge bosses who wouldn’t fall in love with that kind of combination? Created by Bandai Namco Studios, those who also brought Naruto to us, as well as the Dragon Ball games and even Ace Combat. This being their first Souls-like game, I wonder if they’re going to be able to make it their own? So are you interested in what their take on the action role-playing adventure genre is like? Then be sure to read it in this review of, Code Vein!
What do you do? You play as someone who has lost all their memories. Humanity is nearly entirely extinct and those who are still alive? Are living in protected communities. Since the fall of the queen, revenants are all over the place. These are turned humans that live on blood, but this isn’t, or wasn’t a problem! As there is a replacement food source for the revenants. These are called Blood Beads and grow on trees that are called Bloodsprings. But this wouldn’t be an “end of the world” type of game if there wasn’t yet another calamity threatening civilization as they knew it. These bloodsprings? Are drying up. Making it so that food supplies for the revenants are becoming a rare commodity. Thus they are turning to desperate measures, even targeting the few humans that are still alive… And this is where you come in. Upon waking up amidst burning buildings? Your companion takes you to one of these dried up bloodsprings, and wouldn’t you know it? You apparently have the uncanny ability to reawaken these things!
What we liked!
- Customizability: One of the first things that you’ll come to notice is the fact that the character creation is massive. You can create your own person Anime hero if you want it. You can place hats on top of hats and if you want to create your own kind of horror show? Then you can probably do so as well. Code Vein offers you by far one of the most extensive Character Creation screen that I have ever seen and then some! If you want your left eye to have a different color than your right eye? Then that is in the possibilities! So if you’ve got a wild imagination? Go to it! Me myself? I chose one of the premade ones and tweaked that one a bit.
- Be your own kind of hero: Code Vein doesn’t hide it for you. There is a wide range of combat styles for you to try out. Even more so, it forces you to change combat styles every now and then. Along your journey, you’ll find things called Blood Codes. These blood codes are what you could call upgrades for your combat system. At the start, you’ll have 3 blood codes. A warrior class, Hunter class, and a Mage class. Each having their own basic set of gifts. After a while, you’ll master these gifts. When you master a gift? It will become available for every other blood code that you’ll find. So, you could make your own version of a battle mage. It’s all up to how you want to play. That also means that if you want a certain gift, but it’s not on your favorite blood code? That you will have to change blood codes and put some time in, just so you can gain that gift. And that’s what is so significantly different from others out there. You can literally change your combat style on the fly!
- Really nice package: I’d be lying if I said that the overall graphics of Code Vein weren’t impressive. From huge sprawling city landscapes all the way down to the cramped corridors of caves and subterranean mazes. The effects look flashy and the animations are fluid. Then if we’re gonna have a quick glance over at the soundtrack? This one’s very present as well. Though the changes between combat and noncombat aren’t really subtle? The musical prowess of Code Vein is truly one to enjoy!
Somewhere between
- Anime?: The moment you see the true intro of the game? You’ll be immediately catapulted into that Anime vibe. Fast-paced action, a couple of NANI moments and of course… Big, beautiful and colorful graphics. If you were thinking that I’d be saying bazoombalas? C’mon… Of course, they’re present! Then after that amazing intro, you’ll come into that expansive anime tinted character creation screen. Hyping you even more up. And then… The disappointment. I was hoping for some real anime-styled battles. Like, you know? How you teased in the opening cinematic? Sigh… And it’s not as if I’m asking for the impossible here either. Look at the Dragonball games, look at the upcoming One Piece game? If they can do it, why couldn’t you Code Vein!
- Cliche story: Sadly enough, the story in Code Vein, although superbly told. It just feels bland and boring. Its got everything going for it though! The style, the looks heck even the combat. Yet, when it comes down to the originality of the driving factor beneath its surface? It is just that, average. You are civilization’s only hope because you have the remarkable power to bring back life where life has already left. You can travel to parts of the world where others cannot. Bla Bla bla, copy-paste that to any other “end of the world” type of game and you’ve basically got most, if not all, of them. Why couldn’t they be original or creative? I mean, they are already in an Anime universe, exploit it! Don’t go for a walk in the park type of scenario! That’s been done a million times before you already…
- FPS drops: So, being this gorgeous and just wide open game you would think that the game would run smooth. Right? Well, that’s true… Most of the time. Depending on what’s going on on the screen, you might start to notice that the fluidity of Code Vein starts to teeter a bit. Not game-breaking or anything! But just that tiny amount that just like, tickles the sack. You know? Not enough to annoy you, but still enough to be noticed.
What we disliked
- My kingdom for an AI: I don’t know where this went absolutely tits up, but at times the A.I. would just stop working entirely. They would just stand there, being punched but not reacting at all. Or I could walk just behind them without them even noticing. Worst of all were the enemies that would just kamikaze dive me… Just to roll right off of the map and die. What? Don’t you have a mapping to prevent this kind of stuff? Sure if I’d hit them and they’d stumble over the edge? Sure, that’s just fine. But come on, these guys would just rush forward and… Die. That just felt… Sad. Such an enormous and downright beautiful game, to just get taken down by braindead A.I.
- I think my camera is left on neutral: Hello? Developers? Where can I put my camera intro drive? Because at times this thing just felt as if I was dragging along a corpse. Sweet baby Jesus… Not only does it do its best to be as slow as a snail? But it also just jumps around for no apparent reason. And I would have some understanding for this if it happened due to my own volition. But nope, at random the camera would just decide to be like “Hey, you know what? You’re having a good time and a tough battle? Let me just turn around… Right… There. Boom!” Yeah, that’s something that would just brighten my mood, especially when I was low on health and just DIE because of this. Yeah! I just love to backtrack all the way to pick up what I left behind because I just DIED! Mhm. Do that some more, please! Oh, what? I died again before I got to it? Tough cookies! FIX YOUR DAMN CAMERA!
Conclusion
Code Vein is an amazing game. Though it has its own demons. Demons that can be slain by patches. And patches that I truly do hope that they will create along the way… While not the full Anime experience that I was hoping to get? It still felt like an anime game to me. With an extensive character creation screen and countless of possibilities as to how you play the game, Code Vein will surely be a game to remember as it will grant you tens if not hundreds of hours of fun times if you decide to play through the game multiple times