Code Vein

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 642 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 451 out of 642
  2. Mixed: 103 out of 642
  3. Negative: 88 out of 642
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  1. CzarSquid
    Feb 20, 2022
    0
    If you ever wanted dark souls with boobs then I have good news. There is no dark souls here
  2. Mannar
    Oct 18, 2019
    3
    Level design is so bad - like a maze runner with enemies around every corner. No weight on impact. Was waiting for this game for over 2 years, omg such a let down. Could not even wait for the end, sold it and want to forget it. Biggest disappointment ever for me.
  3. tzutopia
    Sep 30, 2019
    1
    Boring, repetitive, a lot of money...
    I wouldn't recommend spending money on this game.
  4. FireAdapter3z
    Sep 28, 2019
    4
    Idk what the people rating this as 10 are playing as other than the character creation, this game is super average. The story is mediocre the combat is clunky and there is nothing special about this game. Rating this high just tells bandai that they can keep making mediocre games as long as they put in good customization.
  5. Zeydlitz
    Sep 29, 2019
    0
    Just another poor "Demon's Souls" wanabe. Game badly designed, camera job is insanely bad and no sense for reward. I wish, that there was some kind of refund for such "games"
  6. Blazin23
    Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was like an energy drink started nice but went downhill from there and cost lots of $
  7. julianm
    Oct 17, 2019
    3
    the combat system is really bad. Don't make you feel in a battle like ds o sekiro, if it's a clone of them, i think the could put more effort in clone it competely.
  8. YoBenson
    Sep 28, 2019
    0
    Troppo facile! Se ti piace solo creare il personaggio consiglio di scaricarsi la demo.
  9. saasdasffsad
    Sep 27, 2019
    0
    Эта работа слишком ужасна.
    Полный насилия, некачественных движений и некачественных карт
    Это фатальные ошибки, которые не могут быть исправлены обновлением, и сделает эту игру 0 очками.
  10. Ulfrik88
    Sep 27, 2019
    3
    Es para mi lo mismo que con god eater un concepto al cual le meten personajes anime y es un juego con buen lavado de cara pero en sustancia queda a deber
  11. Unexplainable
    Jan 29, 2020
    0
    PC gaming feels like a bad port from consoles. Small rooms for boss fights. Huge hitboxes. The remaining locations are tunnel. Fighting curve. You play from cinematics to cinematics.
  12. Trueharry57
    Sep 30, 2019
    0
    I did not enjoy it the fights were not fun and I did not really like the story at all. I am happy people enjoyed it though.
  13. Jb567
    Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was really bad. The combat and graphics do not feel like they belong in this generation.
  14. Trev45
    Oct 2, 2019
    0
    It should have been good I love souls games and ones like them but vein had 1 awful level you know which one guys and an atrocious camera I just could not recommend
  15. Freedom57
    Oct 1, 2019
    0
    The character creator is great but everything else has been done much better in other games.
  16. Bht
    Oct 1, 2019
    0
    1st thing fan service and sexism are different. The fact you can create your own character is proof this is not sexist. But does that make it a good game.... no not really it may have been fun if I did not buy for full price.
  17. RubinAganim
    Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Just a **** dark souls clone that fails in every souls aspect. Nothing much to say about.
  18. Sweets21
    Sep 27, 2019
    0
    It existed and hurt me by its sexism. The combat is ok and the character creator is great but a game like this in 2019 is sad. I prefered the surge 2
  19. hiro642564
    Sep 27, 2019
    0
    it terrible
    It existed and hurt me by its sexism. The combat is ok and the character creator is great but a game like this in 2019 is sad. I prefered the surge 2
  20. LordDragon1
    Oct 13, 2019
    0
    Das Spiel will ein Dark souls sein aber kommt an die Atmosphäre, Qualität oder an den Spiel Spaß nicht minimal ran.
    -Gebiete Linear. Unkreativ und Lieblos -Von Anfang bis Ende nur die gleichen Gegner
    -Sounds und Musik sind schlecht und wiederholen sich ständig
    -Lässt sich nicht so flüssig spielen wie Souls, Bloodborne oder Sekiro und wirkt sehr träge
  21. TheGayGuy
    Oct 21, 2019
    0
    literal soft hentai game that sexualizes Female characters but leaves Male character not sexualized at all with Female characters having skimpy clothes while nothing of that for Male characters that look like literal tooth picks, if you're going to sexualize one gender mind aswell do the same the other gender, sexist and hypocritical.
  22. Dwideshrude1
    Dec 8, 2019
    1
    This game had me playing it until the very end. Although I was hooked, could I reccomend it? Not sure. Some of the level design is very lazy, copy and paste, everything looks the same. Some boss battles are just poorly balanced for all builds, and clearly needed more time in the oven. New game plus with enhanced enemies really brings out the glaring flaws in the combat system when facingThis game had me playing it until the very end. Although I was hooked, could I reccomend it? Not sure. Some of the level design is very lazy, copy and paste, everything looks the same. Some boss battles are just poorly balanced for all builds, and clearly needed more time in the oven. New game plus with enhanced enemies really brings out the glaring flaws in the combat system when facing bosses. Sometimes, they will be way too easy, not even dealing 1 bit of damage. Other times, a big weapon swing will kill you in 1 hit outside of your hitbox, with no chance of a dodge, along with your partner, meaning no revive. After many hours, I KNOW the makers of this game could do better with some aspects of this game. Interested to see what else they can do given more resources. I'd like to see more assets, and less recycling in the level design, along with better balancing with more QA tests. Also,… Expand
  23. swordxsmash
    Dec 15, 2019
    4
    The game isnt bad, albit mediocre. But things go down hill after you access an area in the game (Cathedral of sacred Blood) the levels are more linear and annoying, mazes. The story just doesnt grip you at all, there is no hook that can capture a players attention. 60$ for this game is a steal, game re uses many assets, bosses arent memorable (Except the last 3). Weaponry and armorThe game isnt bad, albit mediocre. But things go down hill after you access an area in the game (Cathedral of sacred Blood) the levels are more linear and annoying, mazes. The story just doesnt grip you at all, there is no hook that can capture a players attention. 60$ for this game is a steal, game re uses many assets, bosses arent memorable (Except the last 3). Weaponry and armor (Bloodvails) arent that many and the blood vials just doesnt encourage fasion or a sense of style for the character. No, you must wear a bloodvail, most of them look edgy and gothic too. If the game was atleast 30-40$, i wouldnt be criticising the game this much. The NPCs tho, maybe thats my opinion, but most of them arent memorable. Theyre not unique or special, just your generic anime characters. Its not that hard or bad to use a different style that can have some sort of a memorable attention garbing NPC. At times, the game forces the NPC tagging along mechanic, i see it as an easy mode for those who arent familiar with the souls game, but placing millions of enemy waves in one position for you to face alone is indeed hard, but you arent forced to tag along an NPC, so ill give that a pass. Over-all, its not that much of a bad experience, but it left a sour taste in my mouth because this is not atleast a 50% souls game. Its entirly different, it has a mini-map, it has hints and a direction for you to head (quite opposite to Dark Souls).… Expand
  24. kynkim
    Jul 17, 2020
    0
    After a game crash, I lost all the progress I played for the past two hours, including the walkthrough in two maps and two boss battles. I am pretty sure I activated all the mistles (checkpoints) on my way. It is puzzling to me that no data were saved.
  25. bobbodu2873e1
    Jul 27, 2020
    3
    So far the worst "souls like" I've played. The combat is unbelievably clunky and unresponsive, even more so than the Surge or LotF. The bosses are extremely cheap, their moves and hit boxes are just all over the place. Take Guilded Hunter for example, the fight is an embodiment of playing Tekken with your 7yo relative, however much you try to actually play the game normally and do anySo far the worst "souls like" I've played. The combat is unbelievably clunky and unresponsive, even more so than the Surge or LotF. The bosses are extremely cheap, their moves and hit boxes are just all over the place. Take Guilded Hunter for example, the fight is an embodiment of playing Tekken with your 7yo relative, however much you try to actually play the game normally and do any moves and combos you will always succumb to the simple endless XXXXX button mashing. Or Uninvited Executioner or whatever her name is (I swear at least half the game's bosses are blue women in bikinis), you will definitely get hit by her "slow" debuff. You cannot avoid it because it is literally caused by all her attacks, and the debuff renders you basically immovable, well just why the hell? In every single other souls like game you can avoid debuffs with knowledge and reaction and there is not a single enemy I can recall that just mindlessly barrages you with endless spamming attacks non stop until you and your party are dead. And besides, the fact that in Code Vein your companions do half the work anyway, just drains any feeling of actual accomplishment of beating any of the bosses. The story parts and side stories are so flatly presented and edgy over the top, that I cant help but skip most of them, it really feels like an MMORPG where you just spam a button to skip all dialogue, it doesn't help that your character is fully mute again... I doubtfully waited for this to come down in price but now I'm regretting even the 20€ I finally paid for it, its just a cheaply thrown together souls clone and the "awesome" character creation is a scam as well, there is only like 7 different outfits total so like what.? I've completed all Fromsoft soulsborne games at least 3+ times each and completed every other soulslike game I've heard about thus far, and Code Vein is so far the most disapointing of them all.… Expand
  26. Red-Eyes
    Mar 22, 2021
    4
    When I learned there was a weeb souls-like I was sold. The mixed reviews threw me off a little but the combination of two of my ultimate passions should’ve been enough to keep me going.
    The anime part is alright actually. Waifus pop up left and right as NPCs, my highlight goes to Io, like… damn! The guys are awesome too with their super baddass designs.
    The customization is one of Code    When I learned there was a weeb souls-like I was sold. The mixed reviews threw me off a little but the combination of two of my ultimate passions should’ve been enough to keep me going.
    The anime part is alright actually. Waifus pop up left and right as NPCs, my highlight goes to Io, like… damn! The guys are awesome too with their super baddass designs.

    The customization is one of Code Vein’s most celebrated features and although the body types and clothes options are very lacking, one can easily waste hours on the face and the accessories. What I like the most about the customization is the possibility of being able to change your character anytime, and you can save up to 10 profiles so you can load them if you wanna go back; this is an amazing feature that should be the norm in every game.
    However the true value of a game is in its gameplay, even more so for a soulslike, and here is where Code Vein drops the ball…

    Starting up with the core of a soulslike: the combat. It sucks! Parry timing is so inconsistent that I’ve ignored it since level 3 or something and the backstab only works when it feels like it. The heavy attack is not worthy it and I only used it as a wake-up. The enemies doesn’t help either because their animation never proper convey what they are doing and every thin enemy has the cheap teleport or charge attack to cover distances in the blink of an eye; one miss judgement and they combo you to 25% hp, and since this costs more or less like 3 heals (the maximum heals you get is 10) the player has no incentive other than abuse the same strategy over and over in order to conserve health.

    As a result I exploited the **** out of the game using the most common build you can think of: the Ultra Greatsword. Pressing forward + light attack launches the lunge, the range is not great but it sends vast majority of enemies to the ground then you can charge the heavy attack as a wake up; either that or abusing the light attacks staggers. These strategies trivialize most levels and given how broken the game is I’m pretty sure there are some Caster, Hammers or whatever builds exploits too.
    Changing builds comes from the game signature mechanic: the Blood Codes. Instead of carefully leveling up the stats of your character to make your build, Code Vein has those presets classes that you can equip on the fly. Do you wanna use big weapons? Equip the Berserker code. On the mood for a Dark Magic caster build? Go with Harmonia… so on, so forth. There are like 40 different codes, so I’m pretty sure most builds are covered regardless of how creative one could be if it was a souls traditional level up system. Overall, I think the Blood Code is a neat idea however I prefer being responsible for building my character instead of “renting” ones. Also, since your equipment is heavily dependent of the code, there should be a way to save the code with the equipment attached so you can quick load them; instead everytime you have to manually select your weapons, armor, passive and active skills (Gifts).

    The enemies are overall generic one-trick ponies and 90% of them are variations of a fat strong sponge or a thin agile warrior; you see the enemy for the first time and you can pretty much describe each of its attacks beforehand. The bosses suck in the same proportion, most of them are variations of Velstadt (from Dark Souls 2): big warrior, generic armor wielding a big ass generic weapon; as a result most encounters are forgettable. When you remember them it’s due to some bull**** mechanic like Butterfly of Delirium flying away from you and applying insta-poison or unavoidable AoE magic attacks (looking at you Virgin Born), speaking of which: everytime the game tries and AoE magic it sucks, the hitbox is super random and the animation is awful and don’t convey well enough what is happening.

    But the worst thing by far about Code Vein is the level design. It is just unbelievable! It feels like it was purposely built to piss of the player. Every stage is a bunch of narrow corridors cobbled together with an abundant use of copy-paste leaving no landmarks and nothing that stands out. The awful graphics don’t help and you’re likely to be completely lost, remember the Prims Stones form Dark Souls? Well you gonna need them (Chemical Light) more than ever here. I really can’t remember a level design as awful as in Code Vein, if you think I’m exaggerating go watch some Cathedral (worst stage of all times) level gameplay.

    All in all, Code Vein is a bad game. I only finished it because the game is pretty easy (except for two or three bull**** bosses) and wanted to justify my purchase. There are so many things to improve that would be better to start the project from scratch. Which Bandai Namco surely will not do since the fan service was enough to alienate the dumb anime audience thus I’m pretty sure the sequence will be just more of the same, in other words: garbage.    … Expand
  27. drlowdon
    Mar 19, 2023
    4
    Code Vein is an action RPG that is HEAVILY influenced by the Dark Souls games, unfortunately it is a pale imitation in virtually every way. The combat is unsatisfying, the environments are dull cut and paste labyrinths and you seem to just fight the same enemy types over and over again. A few hours was all I could take of this game.
  28. Inhanzt
    Feb 1, 2021
    4
    Everything about this game is kinda bad, but not terrible. Bosses are spammy flailing annoyances, maps are samey and uninteresting, and difficulty is very uneven. But combat is often okay, exploration is fun enough, and having a permanent buddy helps. What really killed it for me was the story. It's uninteresting and pervasive.
  29. jintei
    May 31, 2021
    3
    Boy I have so much to talk about this game. Too bad it's a negative review.

    Starting off, this is a Soulsborne-like game, a pretty cheap rip-off if you allow me. But this is not a problem, since BanNamco actually owns the rights for reproducing every Dark Souls title, so they're able to develop this kind of game legally. Unlike any Soulsborne, the plot isn't deep and implicit. It's    Boy I have so much to talk about this game. Too bad it's a negative review.

    Starting off, this is a Soulsborne-like game, a pretty cheap rip-off if you allow me. But this is not a problem, since BanNamco actually owns the rights for reproducing every Dark Souls title, so they're able to develop this kind of game legally.

    Unlike any Soulsborne, the plot isn't deep and implicit. It's rather shallow and generic. Most of its bits are presented to the player through fully spoken dialogue and cutscenes, something I like a lot. Unfortunately, it doesn't add much to the game's experience as this story is poorly written and features too many details and too little character development.

    Speaking of characters, most of them are pretty much forgettable. To me, Mia and Jack are the only partners you'll may have a good time playing along, since these two are the most balanced and "cool" to play with. Mia is an excellent ranged supporter while Jack slashes enemies that are giving you trouble. Jack also frequently uses an AoE dispersal gift that pushes all surrounding Lost away, granting you some space. Mia has a similar way of hitting a few enemies by making use of her barrage gift, which helps you advancing safely.

    About its gameplay, this will perhaps get you frustrated. Not only clunky as hell, the camera is too rigid and this, along with utterly slow gift triggering and item activation times, will be the reason for your demise most of the time.

    Not being enough, common enemies and bosses take advantage from three flawed mechanics in order to overwhelm you. First, most of them can (and will) stagger you a lot. Even light attacks are able to stagger the player character easily, even with high balance stat and related gifts active. Second, if dealing with multiple enemies, most of them will target you PRIMARLY, even when your partner deals the first blow. Aggro in this game makes no sense at all, enemies will literally drain your HP, aiming to force your partner into sharing a portion of his/her HP, then aggroing them for an easy, mostly granted kill that will leave you by yourself. This leads us to the third and final topic on broken enemy mechanics, that is "spamming". They'll rely on unreasonably fast sequential close range attacks, mixed with long range AoE skills, to destroy you, making this game solo unfriendly (difficult to play alone).

    Some reviews are saying this game is too easy in comparison with Soulsborne games. On your first playthrough, this is true for most Successors, but initial bosses and the later ones are simply mad, bloodthirsty demons. If you decide to torture yourself further, the game gives you the choice to raise the difficulty after finishing your run. Funny thing is it also gives you the option to lower it anytime you want, as to make up for its pathetic difficulty scaling.

    Exploring, to me, was a minor issue. Maps are uninspired and some will take a lot of time to complete. I spent 4 hours on my first run into the Cathedral of Sacred Blood, the largest map on this game. But this alone isn't much of a big deal. Enemies aren't well distributed and most of the time you'll be fighting nothing, just roaming around pulling levers and opening doors.

    But Code Vein also has some positive aspects to it. The blood code and gift system allows you to quickly change your playstyle on the fly and the softened stat scaling allows for easier adaptation from players that aren't used to this kind of game. You may set four passive gifts and up to eight active ones, giving you rather fast access to several ways of overpowering your opponents. The fewer equip options (two weapons and one blood veil, a.k.a. bloodsucking vests) also gives you more the time to prepare your strategies accordingly.

    Speaking of blood veils, these along with your weapons, drain a small portion of the enemies' blood, which are then used by you for gift activation. There are four main types of blood veils, differing on the draining mechanism and player role. Some are best for supporting while others are well-suited for tanking and a few will balance your gameplay with good overall defense and mobility.

    To summarize it, Code Vein features rather fun and useful gameplay mechanics, but its qualities are soon overshadowed by its flaws.

    Good aspects:

    - Swappable stat and skill sets (called "Blood Codes")
    - Few equip options, good equipment variety
    - Partners always available
    - Exchange system (allows you to trade in valuables to get special consumables and equipment)
    - Very good japanese voice cast

    Bad aspects:

    - Generic plot
    - Irrelevant characters
    - Clunky gameplay
    - Spamming bosses
    - Broken aggro system (enemies always focus first on you)
    - Unbalanced difficulty enhancing for new game plus
    - Repetitive, uninspired maps    … Expand
  30. Trv13
    Feb 2, 2022
    0
    Vuoto inutilmente complicato lentezza nei comandi raccapricciante.... Abbandonato dopo un ora
  31. SlayerTeatraleC
    May 15, 2020
    2
    То,что это игра souls-like её не оправдывает.Если вы фанат и скажите,что это неsouls-like,поздравляю,вы зарыли яму больше меня
    Как я уже и написал,это souls-like с аниме и уёбищный графон(я думал миадзаки делает ебалу в этом вопросе,но нашлись его ученики,превзошедшие учителя).
    Сама игра выглядит как кусок недоработки,как-будто я зашёл на creator gm и наставляю здание и вообще архетекуру    То,что это игра souls-like её не оправдывает.Если вы фанат и скажите,что это неsouls-like,поздравляю,вы зарыли яму больше меня
    Как я уже и написал,это souls-like с аниме и уёбищный графон(я думал миадзаки делает ебалу в этом вопросе,но нашлись его ученики,превзошедшие учителя).
    Сама игра выглядит как кусок недоработки,как-будто я зашёл на creator gm и наставляю здание и вообще архетекуру просто так,шобы было.Спиженное замыливание при движение из ds2 это не спасает,а усугубляет.
    Story-line или lore-фикция,там это присуствует для пояснения ЗАЧЕМ ты пиздишься,а не РАДИ ЧЕГО,поверьте,дальше,по игре,это будет очевидно
    Интерфейс в стиле Forest или Rust-самое ебанутое что можно добавить,так они ещё и это спиздили ради улегчение(есть такое слово?не ебу)СВОЕЙ работы
    Намешивание 2 и 3д привели к тому,что контраст цветов не как не может нормально быть в балансе(постоянный пересвет,на гг цвет только один-два,не взависимости от локации,и т.д.
    Про геймплейные моменты затрагивать смысла нет,можно просто это назвать копиркой,но можно назвать её хорошой или плохой можно.Как вы поняли по оценке и посылу-я выбираю 2 вариант
    Цена-не заслуженно такая,за такого вида недоделки-шлака не превышают 2к рублей
    Плюсов я не нашёл.Либо копирка,либо плохо,либо супер-спорно(как к примеру:постоянные напарники)
    И ЭТО ОЦЕНКА,БЛЯТЬ НЕ ИЗ-ЗА ТОГО ЧТО ЭТО АНИМЭ,А ИЗ-ЗА ТОГО,ЧТО ЭТО ХУЙНЯ ВЫШЕ ЧИТАЕМ
    нахуй код вейн дум вечен ауе    … Expand
  32. Jean90
    Nov 21, 2021
    4
    Not a fun game for players who don't enjoy games like Dark Souls. It's unfortunate because the character creation, story, and graphics were all enjoyable. Dying from mobs over and over again? No thanks.
  33. MickeyFinn
    Jun 24, 2022
    3
    Bought it on sale and i regret not buying some new indie instead. The game has a vague Bloodborneish scent but that's about it. The usual bad soulslike, artificial difficulty without the gameplay options. Numerous issues, clumsy combat mechanics, bad leveldesign. Scammish namedropping, manga, vampires dark souls, without any relevance for the gameplay. A few more passive slots wouldve madeBought it on sale and i regret not buying some new indie instead. The game has a vague Bloodborneish scent but that's about it. The usual bad soulslike, artificial difficulty without the gameplay options. Numerous issues, clumsy combat mechanics, bad leveldesign. Scammish namedropping, manga, vampires dark souls, without any relevance for the gameplay. A few more passive slots wouldve made the game a lot more enjoyable. Back to school, boyz. To be forgotten… Expand
  34. JrDouble
    Jul 17, 2023
    3
    Code Vein is one of the most boring, bland, and uninteresting games I have ever played. The gameplay feels disconnected and the combat is simple and lifeless. The enemies and boss battles are dull and have poor telegraphing. Mechanically and story-wise this game is mediocre and underwhelming.

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 69
  3. Negative: 2 out of 69
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Dec 2, 2019
    80
    Code Vein brings a few interesting additions to the recognizable souls-like formula. It's stylish, anime-like and has some cool moves & classes, and lets you bring an AI friend to keep you from feeling lonely while being really useful in combat. Well, most of the time. If you are itching for some quality souls-like experience, try this - it could be just what you were looking for.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 25, 2019
    65
    Code Vein has its heart in the right place but I really wouldn’t want to spend my time playing stuff that have been already done better somewhere else. If a potential sequel finds its own identity, it would be an interesting addition to the genre. [13/2019, p.58]
  3. JeuxActu
    Oct 24, 2019
    50
    CODE VEIN is a vast disappointment, miles away from any of From Software's games, and the only thing to save is the blood code system which allows lots of freedom in the character customization.
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