User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 642 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 88 out of 642
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. Nov 20, 2019
    6
    I've always been a huge fan of the Soulsborne series and that's what got me into this game. This game will definitely scratch your itch if that's what you're looking for. But aside from the Soulsborne style gameplay, I feel like the game really lacks a satisfying experience. It just doesn't feel as good to defeat bosses and the general gameplay feels like it lacks the weight that I felt inI've always been a huge fan of the Soulsborne series and that's what got me into this game. This game will definitely scratch your itch if that's what you're looking for. But aside from the Soulsborne style gameplay, I feel like the game really lacks a satisfying experience. It just doesn't feel as good to defeat bosses and the general gameplay feels like it lacks the weight that I felt in Dark Souls. Expand
  2. Jul 4, 2020
    6
    Ok game but areas/ locations feel soulless
    Boss fights are weak
    The customisation in this game is insane. All games should aim to have customisation this deep
    Combat feels like dark souls lite...quite easy
    It seems like this is the sort of game that people who
    Want to get into dark souls series but want a bit of practice first should play
  3. Jul 5, 2023
    6
    Code Vein is an action role-playing game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
  4. Aug 10, 2023
    6
    A mediocre attempt to recreate a soulslike experience.
    Don't get me wrong, this game is solid, it's quite easy and relaxing, but it feels like it doesn't really know what makes the souls games so special, the amount of cutscenes and the emphasis on the story doesn't really fit for this genre, in a way, its a flawed soulslike game, but on its own, it's actually surprisingly enjoyable for
    A mediocre attempt to recreate a soulslike experience.
    Don't get me wrong, this game is solid, it's quite easy and relaxing, but it feels like it doesn't really know what makes the souls games so special, the amount of cutscenes and the emphasis on the story doesn't really fit for this genre, in a way, its a flawed soulslike game, but on its own, it's actually surprisingly enjoyable for the most part.

    The gameplay is good and the exploration is pretty fun, the world looks very beautiful, I like the art-style, the characters look cool and the graphics are pretty nice, most areas look great, the destroyed city with the spikes coming out of the earth, the crystalline cathedral of the sacred blood, the corrupted dark caves, and many more.

    The character customization is fantastic, there are many options to choose from, even though there's a lack of clothing options, since your character is going to wear an armor and a mask most of the time, I do appreciate the amount of different customization options, I just really like creating my own character, and the game did satisfy me on that part.

    As for the progression system, oh well it's honestly so damn confusing, I still don't understand how it works, it doesn't make any sense and most abilities are useless, I ended up leveling up all the time and using a strenght build with a greatsword, didn't really bother with the Blood Codes, and I still decimated everything, even in the endgame areas. The boss fights are actually very simple, no challenge whatsoever, I do like the fact that you can have a sidekick but it makes the game significantly easier, which isn't really a complaint but I wish the boss fights had more variety and a bigger moveset, to balance it out, but unfortunately that's not the case at all.

    Also, it's worth to mention that the hitboxes are terrible, enemies attack in front of them and if you are behind them, chances are you still get hit, even if you are about to attack, because the frames are broken, it's very inconsistent and random.

    Lastly, the level design is very boring, most areas are okay, but some of them suffer from terrible level design, obnoxious platforming and monotonous layout, they're not connected well, and they feel copy-pasted.

    I know, I complained a lot, but at the end of the day, this is still an enjoyable game even with all its flaws. It's worth trying out but don't expect anything more than just a silly unmemorable little adventure, some people might enjoy it even more than I did but it's just nothing to write home about.

    Final Rating: "Above Average" ~ 5.5/10.
    Expand
  5. Aug 23, 2023
    6
    Code Vein is not really my thing. I've played through it, but I don't need to play it again.
  6. Mar 9, 2020
    5
    It started off as such an amazing game but ended up simply frustrating and not fun. A game should not be frustrating. I play games for fun. After the invading executioner boss I had to quit. After many of hours on one boss, looking up strategies and continuously failing fast, I realize the game is just not fun.
  7. Mar 14, 2023
    5
    Yet another Souls-like with plenty of goofy anime/JRPG cheese... A few cool mechanics do little to separate a mediocre, yet mostly solid slasher from the rest of the formulaic pack.

    Loose controls and repetitive action are melded to inconsistent performance and dull level design. The game is far less of an artificially-difficult chore than From's clunkathons, and at least the
    Yet another Souls-like with plenty of goofy anime/JRPG cheese... A few cool mechanics do little to separate a mediocre, yet mostly solid slasher from the rest of the formulaic pack.

    Loose controls and repetitive action are melded to inconsistent performance and dull level design. The game is far less of an artificially-difficult chore than From's clunkathons, and at least the cringe-tastic story and characters are as comprehensible as they are annoying.

    Wait for a sale or save your cash for something more inspired and deserving of your time.
    Expand
  8. Aug 10, 2020
    5
    An interesting Dark Souls clone that does a great job at level design and graphics, but gets everything else mostly wrong.

    The story is better (more mature) than the typical anime-style game (such as God Eater), but still has a far way to go to get to the level of Dark Souls or Bloodborne. The story is basically Dark Souls all over again, but with a lot of explanation and
    An interesting Dark Souls clone that does a great job at level design and graphics, but gets everything else mostly wrong.

    The story is better (more mature) than the typical anime-style game (such as God Eater), but still has a far way to go to get to the level of Dark Souls or Bloodborne. The story is basically Dark Souls all over again, but with a lot of explanation and impact-on-daily-life stuff thrown in. This might be great for someone who thought Dark Souls was too vague or abstract to understand. But if you understood Dark Souls, then Code Vein will seem dumbed-down to you.

    A big aspect of the story is looking at peoples' memories to unlock skills. So just about nothing is left to the imagination. You know exactly how everyone feels, and unfortunately, they all feel about the same. This makes these memory sequences feel repetitive after a while. So take that, along with a bit of power-of-frienship and melodrama and you'll get an idea of what this story is like.

    The level design is actually pretty good. It does its best to emulate Dark Souls and Bloodborne and pulls it off to some extent. I don't like exploration in games, but liked this one due to how similar it was to the good soulsborne games.

    And while exploring those levels, you get some pretty good area graphics. That's important for a game like this since you'll likely be going to the same areas multiple times.

    The character models and customization options are also impressive for this style of game. While you're all basically undead, there's no shortage of pretty characters. At least they give you a good number of scars and evil-looking tattoos to choose from to at least make yourself look partially dead. Clothes options are decent, but you get only one skirt for your female characters. At least they didn't restrict the camera angels, so if interested, you'll get to see that they modeled all parts of the characters equally well.

    And then come the negatives. Combat is just not as good as Dark Souls. It's modeled after Dark Souls, but ends up feeling more hack-and-slashy. Spending too much time trying to learn enemy moves and attacking them at the right moment always ended up being worse than just running straight up to them and flailing away. This is mostly due to just about every enemy having extra-wide-swinging attacks, so you're frequently getting hit even when standing right behind them. So your best option is to hit them frequently, causing them to be staggered/stunned, and then just continue hitting until they're dead. And I rarely ran into a stamina issue. For most non-boss enemies, you'll need less than a full bar of stamina to kill them.

    The normal monsters are easy when fighting them by yourself. And they're even easier when you bring along one of your NPC companions (who you'll have for most of the game). The game seems to realize this, so it sets up about one section per level where hordes of enemies attack you at once. Those are really the only challenging parts of the game to an experienced soulsborne player.

    And then we have the bosses, all of which are worse than every soulsborne boss. I was able to take down the majority of them on the first try - which is unheard of in a soulsborne game. Just hit them from behind until you're out of stamina, run away, and repeat. Their attacks are either forward-facing or are slow and easy to see, so you can easily dodge out of the way. But then there's the traditional hack-and-slash bosses that somehow made it into the game. These bosses are constantly flailing about, making very quick attacks, hitting everything around them, and hitting you from across the room when you get too far away. These fights are all about having a high damage output weapon. You will get hit, but if you can hit faster than they do, then you'll win.

    So very disappointing boss battles from the game without the strategy or learning aspects that you get from soulsborne. But at least compared to standard hack-and-slash games, they were decent.

    I'll talk a bit about the spells and skills. They're mostly worthless and there doesn't appear to be an easy way to make a mage character, like you could in Dark Souls. Physical attacks were always more effective per my testing and it wasn't even worthwhile to use spells to augment my physical attacks, as that took away time I could have been swinging.

    So it's a great effort at making a dark souls like game, and might be just for you if you're looking for something easier and less vague, and don't mind teen-focused stories.
    Expand
  9. Oct 21, 2019
    5
    To me,it’s a mediocre game..I’m not comparing it to other souls game..judging the game I can say the story is good..but the level design of the game is so similar and not something that you remember..but the worst thing which is the reason I’m review this game is combat and the design of the enemy..one of the worst that bandai namco can offer!!It’s so bad that after hours playing it thereTo me,it’s a mediocre game..I’m not comparing it to other souls game..judging the game I can say the story is good..but the level design of the game is so similar and not something that you remember..but the worst thing which is the reason I’m review this game is combat and the design of the enemy..one of the worst that bandai namco can offer!!It’s so bad that after hours playing it there is nothing that makes me want to go back to this game Expand
  10. Sep 30, 2019
    5
    Code Vein can be summarised simply as: mediocre. While the customization options are quite vast & fun to experiment with the game itself however is very monotone, dry looking & very bland at times. Annoyingly this extends to the hub area which feels uninspired, plays constant j-pop rock music just because. all atmosphere the world is trying to establish here is lost somewhat. Enemy &Code Vein can be summarised simply as: mediocre. While the customization options are quite vast & fun to experiment with the game itself however is very monotone, dry looking & very bland at times. Annoyingly this extends to the hub area which feels uninspired, plays constant j-pop rock music just because. all atmosphere the world is trying to establish here is lost somewhat. Enemy & monster designs are serviceable in variety but don’t seem that standout or interesting including bosses.
    Any soulsborne player can identify immediately this is a very weak experience overall from the get go, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before or played with the exception of anime influences, strong character creator and a checkbox class system. If you desire for a rewarding, challenging combat system akin to a fromsoftware title with deep lore, intriguing world building with intersecting paths, secrets & thinking on your feet. Look elsewhere.
    Expand
  11. Oct 28, 2019
    5
    This game feels fine in the first 3 levels, but when you reached Code Vein version of Anor Londo. Game became stressful and boring. Story is childish, I kept skipping. Enemies are very repetitive, also there aren't enough weapon and skill variety, The maze like map is a time waste. I purchased deluxe edition thought I would love this game but now I felt a little bit regret. It is anThis game feels fine in the first 3 levels, but when you reached Code Vein version of Anor Londo. Game became stressful and boring. Story is childish, I kept skipping. Enemies are very repetitive, also there aren't enough weapon and skill variety, The maze like map is a time waste. I purchased deluxe edition thought I would love this game but now I felt a little bit regret. It is an average game, possibly play once and you will never touch it game. I suggest people to wait for half price sales, deluxe edition isn't worth the value as far as I can see right now. Expand
  12. May 2, 2020
    5
    clunky combat, difficulty that yo-yos from cake walk to making you want to smash your controller and back again, absolutely horrible camera that does you zero favors. some people really love the character customization but honestly i couldn't give less of a **** about that nonsense when the game is 90%+ combat, and not good combat at that. Enemy types are largely recycled with extra bellsclunky combat, difficulty that yo-yos from cake walk to making you want to smash your controller and back again, absolutely horrible camera that does you zero favors. some people really love the character customization but honestly i couldn't give less of a **** about that nonsense when the game is 90%+ combat, and not good combat at that. Enemy types are largely recycled with extra bells and whistles. Music is pretty good, characters and story are...passable. Some of the areas are ridiculous (cathedral) and go on too long or too short. Not a terrible game but not great either. Expand
  13. YFA
    Apr 27, 2023
    5
    At first it's fun to play but then it's average. expected more to be honest.
  14. Jun 30, 2022
    5
    I don't know why but I really can't get into this game. It truly lives up to it's "anime dark souls" title. I just can't sense it's originality that much and the gameplay doesn't do much to motivate me to keep playing like how dark souls does. Best thing I can say about this game is how unique and in depth the character creation is. I also just like the designs of the characters in thisI don't know why but I really can't get into this game. It truly lives up to it's "anime dark souls" title. I just can't sense it's originality that much and the gameplay doesn't do much to motivate me to keep playing like how dark souls does. Best thing I can say about this game is how unique and in depth the character creation is. I also just like the designs of the characters in this game in general. Especially io (yes I am horny). Expand
  15. Mar 19, 2023
    5
    An alright game with some good combat, great bosses/enemies and alright level design. The things holding it back are its garbage story, bad and overly confusing progression system, and some of it's level design is incredibly weak. It also simply doesn't have enough unique enemy types to last its overly long completion time. This game would have been twice as good if it were half as long
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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.
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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.
  29. 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
  30. Sep 30, 2019
    1
    Boring, repetitive, a lot of money...
    I wouldn't recommend spending money on this game.
  31. 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
  32. 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"
  33. Feb 20, 2022
    0
    If you ever wanted dark souls with boobs then I have good news. There is no dark souls here
  34. 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
  35. 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.
  36. 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
  37. 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.
  38. Sep 28, 2019
    0
    Troppo facile! Se ti piace solo creare il personaggio consiglio di scaricarsi la demo.
  39. 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.
  40. Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was like an energy drink started nice but went downhill from there and cost lots of $
  41. Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was really bad. The combat and graphics do not feel like they belong in this generation.
  42. Oct 1, 2019
    0
    The character creator is great but everything else has been done much better in other games.
  43. 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.
  44. 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.
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Just a **** dark souls clone that fails in every souls aspect. Nothing much to say about.
  48. Feb 2, 2022
    0
    Vuoto inutilmente complicato lentezza nei comandi raccapricciante.... Abbandonato dopo un ora
  49. 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.
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 69
  2. Negative: 2 out of 69
  1. 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.
  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. 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.