In a city devastated by the Lost, only a Revenant could stand the punishment and face the dangers to bring things back to line. That Revenant is the main character, customizable to the way you see it, and with familiar cycle of death and rebirth, you must finish Operation Queenslayer and kill the Queen, the one that caused everything…?
Information
Name: CODE VEIN
Developed by: Shift Studios, part of BN
Published by: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Type: Singleplayer, Co-op, Anime artstyle, Action RPG, Soulslike RPG
Released: 2019/09/26
Played on PC, with English Voices
As a Soulslike RPG, Code Vein is a nice and easier (but not easy) experience that will get you started in the Soulslike RPG genre. It retains its genre’s aspects (character builds, dying is part of the experience, etc), while adding new ones, including an anime aesthetic, and most of its tropes.
Almost like a checkbox list, it has all the parts that multiple Dark Souls games had, including icy tundras, flame landscapes and the like. The location of its world is a semi-open world, where you go through multiple locked down arenas, inside the region called ‘Vein’, which may or may not be NYC. Or SanFran. It’s definitely America for all intents and purposes.
In addition to the anime aesthetic, the game includes an anime character creator, that while limited, will still make you break the refund limit just by using it. And of course, a cast of NPC and companions that will follow you and make the experience a bit more tolerable. A big component of the game are the bosses that have great designs too.
However, it wears its Dark Souls influences too close to heart, with the Cathedral of the Sacred Blood, being the worst map I’ve experienced in any game at this point, and the designated Ornstein and Smough dual boss battle, but it’s much easier because you go with your companion, unless you want to go solo.
The not-vampire aesthetic is rather strange, but it’s something I don’t mind, since it both takes and not takes itself seriously. In a game with anime faces, cloning, the Lost and a few other monsters, having a not-vampire aesthetic is the least of the worries. However, the plot itself…
The plot is very confusing, likely because of its development hell, since it was announced in 2017/04 and had a tentative release of 2018/09 but it was only released in the following year. There are large gaps of the plot missing and some characters are just used very sparingly, robbing them of any possible character development. Even worse, the DLCs took months to ship and they are only rooms with new bosses to face, nothing like a story expansion like how DLC for Dark Souls 1 was.
The biggest twist of this game is that it’s connected to God Eater, as one scene next to the end shows an Aragami (a godlike creature from the God Eater franchise) and that the revenants were made to face them, but it went wrong.
Conclusion
Anime Souls, Weeb Souls, whatever you wanna call it, it’s still a fun game. It might be an easier take on the Soulslike RPG formula (due to a companion being with you all times) so DS veterans might dislike it, but you should keep an open mind and give it a shot.
Overall score/recommendation
Score: 8/10
Recommended? Yes, but get in a sale.