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. Prrgangsta
    Jan 8, 2020
    7
    Finally picked up a copy and all I can say is it is a good game. I love the anime style and the combat feels pretty good to me. It isn't as difficult as Dark Souls or Bloodeborne but it would be a decent start for those that want to try their hand at those style of games. Character customization is really deep and intricate, probably one of the best in gaming I have seen. My problem withFinally picked up a copy and all I can say is it is a good game. I love the anime style and the combat feels pretty good to me. It isn't as difficult as Dark Souls or Bloodeborne but it would be a decent start for those that want to try their hand at those style of games. Character customization is really deep and intricate, probably one of the best in gaming I have seen. My problem with the game though is my created character has no personality to add to this game's story. It is a personal sin to have a story driven game with character creation and then that character becomes more a background character than a main protagonist. Louis feels more like a main character. When there are conversations during cutscenes my character just stands there looking interested and nodding his head. Let me have a chance to interact during a cutscene so my character can feel like a member of the group and at least have a personality. My other issue is the story is TOO anime. What do I mean? You know those shounen anime where they say friendship is important? Well get ready to hear a lot of "my friends are important", "we're officially friends", and "I'm always there for my friends". I personally am not a fan of this even in anime. No one talks like this except in anime and maybe at parties when your friend has too much to drink.… Expand
  2. Wifflum
    Oct 4, 2019
    8
    Cons:
    Multiplayer is outright crippled by lag. You will have to dodge ahead of time, every time. The degree of this is random based on the host, but it is always, always there. You cannot play multiplayer the same way you do single player, unless you are hosting. Period.
    English dub is horrendous in some instances, namely with player characters. Compared to the Japanese it is frankly--    Cons:
    Multiplayer is outright crippled by lag. You will have to dodge ahead of time, every time. The degree of this is random based on the host, but it is always, always there. You cannot play multiplayer the same way you do single player, unless you are hosting. Period.

    English dub is horrendous in some instances, namely with player characters. Compared to the Japanese it is frankly-- very bad. Things you hear from NPCs are meaningless and fall flat, and things you hear from player characters can be annoying enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Almost all lines sound fake. There is also poor translation at times; for example, when you die with a certain partner she will simply give a casual "Hello" in Japanese (or Ohaiyo), but the subtitles for this read "Morning, sunshine" and will make you reflexively try to cut her head off, after a particularly painful death. It will teach you to listen to the actual Japanese voice acting, though-- and not just react to the text.

    Intentionally frustrating level design in some areas: Exploration is a task that actually requires skill, in this game. This can be a good thing, but you can expect not to have this skill developed, or anticipate a need of it. This will frustrate you until you adapt. The cathedral level is especially bad for this-- but this is not exactly intentionally frustrating; it's more of a forced skill development-- navigation. What is intentionally frustrating, are a specific monster type that rushes forward and knocks you back. This is all it does-- it's a little pinball, essentially. The first time you encounter this is specifically at a point where you are on a small walkway, and the intention is to knock you off of the edge without warning. The next time you encounter this enemy, it will be around a corner and hidden. There are no other enemies to fight here; it is pure traversal. The intent to frustrate the player is even more apparent-- here, because this instance of the enemy will slow your movement for about 20 seconds if it hits you enough. Again, this purely a traversal section-- so the only effect this slow will have on you is to drag out travel time. On top of that, after slogging around with slow on you, having nothing to do except walk, the floor will fall out from under you without warning in the section that immediately follows. HOWEVER-- These are the only intentionally frustrating sections in the game, so this isn't as bad as it sounds. It's not actually a theme of the game.

    Multiplayer again: People will call for help in ridiculous circumstances. If you set the game up so that you will join any area where people are calling for help (to help lower level people, of course) you will join matches where a level 80 player is massacring everything in a level 10 section. Why he wanted to drag someone along through that is unfathomable, because he sent out a distress signal while feeling nothing on the same plane of existence as distress, but this is something that people do regularly. Also, if you send out a distress signal, you can expect that a good portion of the time, the other person will come in and combo the boss in a way that there is no challenge whatsoever. Lower level multiplayer is horrifically bad, but higher level stuff is alright.

    END OF CONS SECTION

    Pros--
    Literally every other thing you could imagine.

    Combat is fantastic. Dodges are very quick, attacks are quick, and the number of abilities to use in combat stretches to the horizon.

    Progression is incredibly intricate: a metric ton of abilities, passives, and gear to choose from-- and you can switch out your build on the fly, whenever you want. You can go from caster, to two-handed hammer berserker, to stealth assassin ninja-- in three presses of X. (Although, your two weapons and your single armor piece aren't saved, so you do have to switch those out a lot.) You also master skills as you use each class-- allowing you to make nearly infinite custom builds. I'm currently playing a support caster that uses a two-handed greatsword, with the build focused on support magic, strength, and defense. For the previous boss I used a teleporting flame ninja.

    There is infinite new game plus, with corresponding multiplayer; and as far as anyone knows, you can level all the way to level 9999.

    Every weapon is at least slightly different from every other weapon-- even weapons in the same category, and many weapons are unique outright.

    The story with Japanese acting opens very emotional. From there it is kind of like Elfen Lied-- that seems to be the inspiration to a degree. It is a VERY bleak world, but the execution of that idea is kind of middling. It is a good idea, and that will shine through constantly, but the substance and emotional beats of the story are not astounding all the time. It is a number of steps beyond Western storylines-- but the language barrier will make a lot of the emotional strikes glance off of the viewer.    … Expand
  3. Berstale7430
    Nov 14, 2019
    8
    I think it is a very good game for those who want to enter the souls genre cautiously, it has a good story, good characters, excellent scenarios , a good difficulty , and a good soundtrack.

    The first souls game that I could enjoy and that encourages me to play a darksouls or bloodborne
  4. Milidante
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    Just dont give a **** to idiot meta score of idiot sites that always want to ruin new ips and low budget and small developers. If this game was branded by miazaki and from software , every bull**** sites gave +80 but now this is new ip and at first of its way so they try to ruin it bkz they dont have enough money to give to various site to get a score of 85!!! That exactly happenee toJust dont give a **** to idiot meta score of idiot sites that always want to ruin new ips and low budget and small developers. If this game was branded by miazaki and from software , every bull**** sites gave +80 but now this is new ip and at first of its way so they try to ruin it bkz they dont have enough money to give to various site to get a score of 85!!! That exactly happenee to other soulslikes like surge and lord of fallen. Anyway. Belive me this game is fantastic and i promise you will have very fantastic times with it. Im just angry with its idiot metascore. This game is neither perfect nor master piece. Its not even near to dark souls or bloodborne but belive its worth a try. You will addict it soon although it has some technical problems like fps drop and...… Expand
  5. MrFlankster
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Here is what I think... I think people are marking this game down because it's a clone of Dark Souls, and Dark Souls enthusiast are offended that someone is imitating "their baby." The way I look at it is, imitation is the best form of flattery. I don't play many games anymore, except challenging ones like DS, so when this came out, I was excited. The DIFFERENCE is that this has a STORYHere is what I think... I think people are marking this game down because it's a clone of Dark Souls, and Dark Souls enthusiast are offended that someone is imitating "their baby." The way I look at it is, imitation is the best form of flattery. I don't play many games anymore, except challenging ones like DS, so when this came out, I was excited. The DIFFERENCE is that this has a STORY and an (shockingly) good one. I give it a solid 9.

    If you want customization up the wah-zoo, great exploration (albeit generic looking environments), awesome plot, great character development... all wrapped around the "souls genre" gameplay, look no further. Great game! Can't wait to try the co-op.    … Expand
  6. hepoport
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Are you looking for an easier Dark Souls? Do you like typical anime characters? Do you like wandering around msomewhat mediocre maps while looking for items and trying to progress? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you'll probably like Code Vein. The game's story itself is decent, if pretty familiar. The lore is cool too in spots, but the characters are your typical assortment of anime tropes. Their character models also have a lot of clipping problems. No matter what character you're looking at, their hair clips through everything. Thankfully you can change your hair at any time. I initially gave my character the longest hair I could, but watching it clip through my entire outfit every time I moved got old.… Expand
  7. Magnifico1227
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    I don' think we will have another came this great this year like Code Vein. Bandai Namco has done a really great job. The game's graphic looks overwhelming and the story will keep you wanting to keep playing and playing. This is too much good for casual players.
  8. Arkea
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    In-Depth Combat with a mixture of dodge/parry with combo, launch, and drain attacks. Great multi-faceted class-system, leaving your character up to your imagination. Compelling story, great graphics.
  9. Nitja
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    One of the best soulslike of the generation. This is a must buy game for any type of game specially rpg ones.
  10. Headcase1001
    Sep 28, 2019
    8
    Very cool game. Combat is fast and being able to switch between fighting styles in a snap is great. The character creator is one of the best I have seen in games period. You want to wear a hat on a hat your ho right ahead. The fact that there is a story completed with cut scenes is a huge change from the foggy souls like games. If I have some grapes with the game it is the environment andVery cool game. Combat is fast and being able to switch between fighting styles in a snap is great. The character creator is one of the best I have seen in games period. You want to wear a hat on a hat your ho right ahead. The fact that there is a story completed with cut scenes is a huge change from the foggy souls like games. If I have some grapes with the game it is the environment and the colors used. Can be very brown and boring. Some clipping issues while in fast combat and clothing options. All and all I am having a great time with this different anime style souls game.… Expand
  11. mca0
    Sep 28, 2019
    9
    Code Vein is not a soulsborne game, it's just a souls-"like" game. Critic Reviewers are need to go back to DarkSouls series.
  12. Gohax
    Oct 3, 2019
    7
    So CODE VEIN is a funny story to begin with because as I was thinking if I should buy the game I saw some YouTube reviews and most of them either hated the game or said it’s an okay game so I gave the game a chance and after playing it I understand why people give it bad reviews its because most people didn’t even finish it and gave their reviews only by their first impressions so after ISo CODE VEIN is a funny story to begin with because as I was thinking if I should buy the game I saw some YouTube reviews and most of them either hated the game or said it’s an okay game so I gave the game a chance and after playing it I understand why people give it bad reviews its because most people didn’t even finish it and gave their reviews only by their first impressions so after I finished the whole game and almost 100% most of the maps I can give my most honest review to it

    Story:
    you are a revenant in other words a vampire after waking up to the white haired girl ( yes that one) she helps you to the blood tree that grows blood fruits of sorts and after drinking it you come to your senses shortly after you are forced to go find more trees like the one you drank from by a revenant unit you meet Louis who becomes your teammate and best friend who also introduces you to the hub world and his friends

    Pros:

    The art style is amazing and you can really see how the unreal engine 4 just makes everything prettier

    The animations are really smooth and good looking

    The game is a bit difficult and it takes time to learn the attack of some enemies plus your healing potions
    barely heal you which really adds a challenge to the game

    The character customization is one of the best ones I saw in a while so good that you can actually customize your character to look like other anime characters

    Really deep story and a lot of character development

    Your AI partner isn’t dumb at all from telling you that you are low on healing potions and to wait for him so you won’t go alone to helping you out in battle staggering enemies and even reviving you when things go bad

    Every area has its own unique mobs

    The bosses design is really something most of them I still remember just by how cool they look

    there is some replay value i guess because there are 3 endings so you can try to finish the game three times for those endings also for endgame content there are this dungeons you can do that are really similar to the chalice dungeon from bloodborne also for endgame you can try to complete maps by exploring everything and 100% every map in the game

    Cons:

    I know it’s an anime game but the amount of Over-Sexualization in this game just becomes disgusting at some point because most of the women in the game are half dressed and their huge chest is just sticking out they even went as far as doing it to the female bosses in my opinion they really over did it

    another personal con is the fact that you and your friends are high powered vampires that can lift really heavy swords and do really incredible things but you still have limited human like stamina and it takes forever for you to swing a sword which is kinda dumb they could add their own spin to the game by making everyone super agile like in sekiro so again in my opinion its a huge con

    maps are really boring and blend sometimes even looking the same

    some weapons also look boring and its a shame because the devs are knows for designing awesome looking weapons

    the way they tell the story by making you walk slowly to a kind of a slide show is just awful and sometimes i even tried to avoid those

    the main thing that made people write negative reviews about this game is the class system and the amount of stats you as the player need to go through before you actually get to play the game is just ridicules

    because of the class system and the build you are forced to make at some point bosses just become super easy just of how much op the build you made is sometimes i even 4 shotted bosses that's just absurd

    the mechanic they added to the game where you need to find and purify this flower things just to uncover some parts of the mini map is just not necessary it would be cool just to have a general map or no map at all

    all in all this game feels like an indie game although its developers are not i guess its their first souls like game so they had some difficulties with it which bring me to the final score to this game and its a 7 out of 10 its a cool game but needs more polishing and fixing at some areas i do recommend it but at a lower price    … Expand
  13. ace1325
    Sep 29, 2019
    10
    I hate people giving it bad reviews for being to hard and Call it bad combat mech. Because of that

    or girls are half naked sometimes Its truly a anime souls game and i really loves it
  14. syrick
    Sep 28, 2019
    8
    This is anime souls heaven, Combat is fun, music is good, visuals are stylish as hell, some of the boss battles are meh... But the rest are great and damn it has a great character creater.... A bit glitchy is some places on my copy.....
  15. NoFe
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Code Vein is inspired by Dark Souls. But that’s perfectly okay. Worth it and respect bandai namco
  16. HadesAwaits
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    This is a PHENOMENAL GAME from the customization to the freedom of building up you character in combat. It Definitely lived up to the hype, maybe even surpassed it!
  17. ArshiaGam1ng
    Sep 27, 2019
    8
    If you're sexist like myself then you will love this game. Nah but in all seriousness, this is a good game. Its not fantastic, it has a lot of rough edges , needs more polish etc. But i don't think its fair giving a game that is in the very least ENTERTAINING anything less than a seven. Its no masterpiece, it will not be regarded as a cult classic in the future, but its ENTERTAINING. YouIf you're sexist like myself then you will love this game. Nah but in all seriousness, this is a good game. Its not fantastic, it has a lot of rough edges , needs more polish etc. But i don't think its fair giving a game that is in the very least ENTERTAINING anything less than a seven. Its no masterpiece, it will not be regarded as a cult classic in the future, but its ENTERTAINING. You will not be bored throughout the game , nor will you be biting your own thumb because of how unfair or janky it is , cuz its not. So if a boring game gets a 5 , and an infuriating bug filled game gets less than that, and a game thats extremely mediocre and only does the bare minimum good gets a 6 , then a game that gets a lot of things right , manages to be entertaining, has likeable characters and great music and an engaging gameplay but has some rough edges deserves AT LEAST a 7 , and im giving it an 8 because i particularly liked and wanted a game that plays like dark souls but has a gorgeous anime aesthetic . Every soulsborne game is better , sekiro and even nioh are all better games , but that doesn't mean this game isn't worth your time , since it brings some new things to the table. Between this and surge 2 , I'll pick this, they're both at the same overall level in terms of polish and care , but code vein has something that the surge doesn't have , anime titie-i mean PERSONALITY and soul. Surge is as soulless as you can get for a soulslike. Oh and if you seriously get offended by scantily dressed women in an anime game then im sorry for wasting your time , this game is not for you. Oh and if you aren't particularly good at getting better in video games then , try harder but if you think you can't manage difficult games this game is not for you either. Its more "unfair" in certain areas than soulsborne with some bad hitboxes and poorly choreographed attacks but its overall easier than most soulsborne titles. And the best part is , there's a demo , if you have doubts, you can give that a shot first , completely free and with full character customization… Expand
  18. Smithys35
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    A brilliant game so far more you play the better it gets a hidden gem 10/10 playing it on PS4 pro
  19. TuffinUp
    Oct 2, 2019
    8
    Man people are salty! This game is great. Just because it uses the dark soul formula doesn’t mean it has to be exactly dark souls. Lots different here and it works.

    Fun combat and leveling system that doesn’t lock you into 1 build.
  20. Avorax
    Sep 29, 2019
    10
    Nice Game , pretty and nice combate.the skillset IS really good.The bad side is the carácter face creation is not very good.
  21. Ishi123
    Oct 25, 2019
    7
    This game fumbles on the gameplay sometimes, making grave mistakes that Dark Souls never did, which I will list for you now.

    Its controls can be unresponsive. The camera and lock-on often is uncooperative when you need it. It starts approximately 100% of enemy encounters with a monster closet. Your stagger animation upon getting hit is a full second so you WILL be stunlocked to death if    This game fumbles on the gameplay sometimes, making grave mistakes that Dark Souls never did, which I will list for you now.

    Its controls can be unresponsive. The camera and lock-on often is uncooperative when you need it. It starts approximately 100% of enemy encounters with a monster closet. Your stagger animation upon getting hit is a full second so you WILL be stunlocked to death if you take on more than one enemy at a time. Some enemies and bosses straight up have no windups to their attacks and/or have attacks that are literally single digit frames long requiring near clairvoyant timing to avoid. Many of the bosses have no cooldowns on their attacks at all, giving you literally no time to heal. The game doesn't know how to make bosses difficult so some of them just have arena-wide instant kills that you can't avoid or see coming because the telegraphs are either unreasonably fast or subtle. Some normal enemies have straight instant kills for some reason. The level design gets shorter and more linear as the game goes on. Enemies will aggro to you and ONLY you, completely ignoring your AI partner or any player help you have to gank you. You CANNOT run away from encounters that go south, as enemies have an infinite aggro range and will follow you literally to level exits, meaning if you want to try to get away to heal, you will be run down and killed by the conga line of enemies that sprint after you. The AI partner is reliable but literally only feels like a crutch to compensate for all of the above, like they were aware of how BS the game can be and just decided to give you a permanent partner instead of actually fixing the game. And lastly, the game will sometimes just straight up instant kill you with literally no way to avoid it aside from prior knowledge just to laugh at your face.

    Quite a few issues that a seasoned Souls veteran can see from miles away. We already got the best version of this kind of game, guys, if you're going to copy it, copy it good, how about?

    However, what the game does have going for it is a compelling world, amazingly realized characters, and holy hell this music is so good. For the most part all of what I mentioned CAN be learned through and if that doesn't work there's always brute force, I guess, but I found myself going back to it every time it gave me a BS death that I didn't deserve because of all of those things. The character customization is really great, and not just in the appearance, but in the gameplay as well. Many ways to mix and match different abilities and weapons and armors to suit your playstyle perfectly, and when you find your perfect build it just feels so good to lay it into your enemies.

    The game is flawed as hell, for sure, but for a brand new IP it's not a bad start, and if there are going to be any plans for one, a Code Vein 2 is definitely something I'd keep an eye out for.    … Expand
  22. TheFrog
    Oct 15, 2019
    6
    UPDATE: my initial review was enthusiastic, see below, but I had to lower the score after finishing the game. The game features a number of easy bosses that are perfect for someone, like me, who hates boss encounters with a passion. Then, at the end, you have a number of super frustrating, overpowered bosses that are as bad as those in Dark Souls, possibly worse. Attacks that cover theUPDATE: my initial review was enthusiastic, see below, but I had to lower the score after finishing the game. The game features a number of easy bosses that are perfect for someone, like me, who hates boss encounters with a passion. Then, at the end, you have a number of super frustrating, overpowered bosses that are as bad as those in Dark Souls, possibly worse. Attacks that cover the whole arena and cannot be avoided or parried, non-stop swipes that cover 340° around the boss with a radius of several meters, area effects that prevent you from attacking even in that miserable split second that you could (you spend the rest of the time avoiding those nearly infinite combos). You just try and try and try, until you get lucky and defeat them, thanks to your sidekick reviving you. I cannot make heads or tails of this design. This is certain to anger both boss lovers, who'll begrudge the easy ones, and boss haters, who'll suffer with the later ones. It looks like the game was too short and they decided to artificially extend the duration by cranking difficulty up to 11. A huge disappointment for me.
    Also, in hindsight I realized that while it's true that you can choose among dozens of gifts, most are useless or worse. If I see an opening, I can unleash a combo on an enemy, which will deal damage and recharge ichor ("mana") or a gift, which will probably deal less damage and *consume* ichor. There are powerful area-based gifts that in theory would be great when you are surrounded, but in practice will go through 10% of the time, due to the long animation that exposes you to the attacks of the enemies, who never stop attacking for more than half a second, no stamina meter for them.
    Finally, the red tint of everything has an explanation, but makes everything look drab and boring nonetheless.

    I am having a blast with this title, that has far exceeded my expectations. Think Dark Souls minus the frustration: the game is not nearly as punishing, while maintaining the satisfaction of a challenge. Especially bosses, which I hate, can often be beaten at the first attempt. A negative for some, I’m sure, but great for me, who prefer confronting the mob while exploring levels.
    Where this game really shines is customizability. Scores of different abilities to choose from and to activate with 8 hot keys. You are free not only to choose your preferred path, but also to switch it at a moment’s notice. In certain levels I breezed through using a spear, then I found that the short sword is much better in the next, punishing one. No problem, insta-switch.
    Certain enemies go from near invincible to easyish if you use the ability that augments your stagger value, others react better to poison, others still are powerful but slow, opening them wide to backstabs. I love the variety, I love the fun, I’m grinding just because I don’t want it to finish so soon.
    The story is ok, narration is very anime-oriented, which is not really my cup of tea, with lots of unconvincing drama. No problem, I can forgive the designers and anyway I’ve seen worse.
    Since many ppl are criticizing the Cathedral level, and I understand why, I can say that mapping such a 3D maze in the form of a graph, using a mind mapping tool on a tablet, is pretty satisfying. You know, creating your own maps instead of relying on the automap takes me back in time, and it’s not a bad sensation. By the way, I totally had to do the same for Bloodborne, so I honestly cannot see why it’s such a sore point here.    … Expand
  23. Sumbyv1
    Oct 1, 2019
    6
    Really wanted to love this game but its definitely at the lower end of souls like games. Weightless combat that is unsatisfying compared to other games of this genre along with awful level design (cathedral) made it a slog to get through which is a shame...
  24. Bloodfallen
    Sep 28, 2019
    7
    Decided to make an account to review this game, could not think of a good username so I just went with something related to the game. I find this game rather enjoyable. I would like to say the character creation is one of the most in depth character creation systems I seen in a game, however I didn't spend my money just for the character creation, I wanted a good game. So far I believe theDecided to make an account to review this game, could not think of a good username so I just went with something related to the game. I find this game rather enjoyable. I would like to say the character creation is one of the most in depth character creation systems I seen in a game, however I didn't spend my money just for the character creation, I wanted a good game. So far I believe the game to be fun and has a decent story, but the story its nothing to write home about. It's biggest downfall is the bugs. I experienced a few bugs when playing the game, but the biggest of which was a bug which prevented me from getting past the first bosses cut scene. Every time I killed the boss the game would crash. I was able to get past this bug buy entering the ps home screen as soon as the cut scene started. I didn't experience any bugs this bad since, but a few small and annoying ones. These bugs are the biggest reason for the score of 7, but if I didn't experience the bugs it would have been an 8.… Expand
  25. Alannotwake
    Sep 30, 2019
    10
    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
  26. HMourad
    Nov 6, 2019
    9
    If you’re a Souls/Borne fan and don’t mind Anime, this game will not disappoint.
  27. 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.
  28. TrapKing101
    Sep 27, 2019
    6
    Dark Souls but anime, whats not to like? Enjoying the game a lot! Been waiting for this game a while and im not dissatisfied at all.
  29. iKover
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Amazing game. This game was a must buy since the first beta. No problems with the game.
  30. TheScoundreL
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Don't write this game off based on (or allow yourself to even be influenced by) agenda-driven, biased, negative media reviews. Download the free demo & decide for yourself. It only offers a taste of what the full game has to offer, but it'll show you how full of **** the perpetually-offended outrage culture sheep critics are. Like any Soulsborne game; the more you put into it, the moreDon't write this game off based on (or allow yourself to even be influenced by) agenda-driven, biased, negative media reviews. Download the free demo & decide for yourself. It only offers a taste of what the full game has to offer, but it'll show you how full of **** the perpetually-offended outrage culture sheep critics are. Like any Soulsborne game; the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of Code Vein. Well worth MY $ and if you're a fan of the games that it takes inspiration from, it'll prove worthy of yours too. Even if you're not a veteran of said style of games, if you can afford to add this game to your library to support it, you'll help show those who'd rather see female characters covered in burkas than show cartoon skin that (actual) gamers aren't willing to obey their demands, follow their narrative & allow them to ruin everyone else's fun. 9/10 + 1pt for good old fan service & balancing out some of the unwarranted hate.… Expand
  31. Pr0fyt
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Evil, vampiric Dark souls style hack and slash! Corny dialogue, but excellent action and setting!
  32. Firewolf2706
    Sep 27, 2019
    8
    El juego cuenta con una excelente ambientación, banda sonora, diseño de personajes y sobretodo una historia muy interesante que te mantendrá enganchado. Sin embargo el diseño de los enemigos comunes es muy repetitivo, al grado de que algunos son clones más débiles de algunos jefes, por otro lado el sistema de combate se siente algo tosco y a pesar de que están muy bien hechos losEl juego cuenta con una excelente ambientación, banda sonora, diseño de personajes y sobretodo una historia muy interesante que te mantendrá enganchado. Sin embargo el diseño de los enemigos comunes es muy repetitivo, al grado de que algunos son clones más débiles de algunos jefes, por otro lado el sistema de combate se siente algo tosco y a pesar de que están muy bien hechos los personajes las físicas están mal aplicadas, por lo que constantemente vas a ver como el pelo u otros elementos se atraviesan entré ellos. Fuera de estos puntos la verdad vale la pena darle una oportunidad, no es un candidato a GOTY pero si te gustan los juegos al estilo Dark Souls éste es un título que te interesara mucho.… Expand
  33. yashiro0755
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    Code Vein is so good.
    I like game character customization options!
    But the game is too easy.
  34. Makwitcher
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It an awsm game...different just for everybody who loves hard games ....have to play must play… Expand
  35. Mystogan2
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    This game is awesome, The character creator is simply amazing so much Fun, making all your favorite anime characters, gameplay is fun but challenging and the aI helps to A certain extent, the combat takes bit of getting use too, bit Clunky at times, Overall i Recommend giving it shot, its not dark souls completely,it brings different elements to game which is Refreshing.
  36. TornadoPR
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    If you love dark souls then you will be amazed by this masterpiece. The character creation is so unique and the gameplay is well fluid. This game is a must by for action rpg gamers.
  37. Powergamer05
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    As a fan of Dark Souls and Action RPG's in general I really love this game!! I'm giving it a ten because Im basing my review on how much fun I am having with the game. Which I am really loving every second of this game after playing about 10 hours of it. I cant wait to get home and play this game all weekend!!
  38. tzutopia
    Sep 30, 2019
    1
    Boring, repetitive, a lot of money...
    I wouldn't recommend spending money on this game.
  39. fellgo
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Souls lite combat, anime, dark aesthetics and the most fantastic character creator you have ever seen.
  40. 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.
  41. Steyraus
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Man this game is awesome.. yes its a soulslike based on anime, and that why its awesome.. The combat it tight and full of great moves and skills to explore. The world looks amazing and is fun to traverse, the character creator is extremely deep. Ive been playing this since launch and it one of my favorite soulslike game yet..
  42. Abner_Solomon
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    As someone who does find Ocarina of Time and Dark Souls as the quintessential spine of 3D gaming, I have no regrets adding this to my library. Where this game takes what is known and comfortably delivers you to your first stop of character creation, of which is novel in many ways. From there we arrive at the familiar tutorial but can skip it, that is if you can bring yourself to leave theAs someone who does find Ocarina of Time and Dark Souls as the quintessential spine of 3D gaming, I have no regrets adding this to my library. Where this game takes what is known and comfortably delivers you to your first stop of character creation, of which is novel in many ways. From there we arrive at the familiar tutorial but can skip it, that is if you can bring yourself to leave the dark, mysterious and majestic beauty Cruz. After the first stage, though bland, does a superb job at giving you the play experience in order to feel what your character's motivations, capabilities, journey, and who your allies are. The pacing of desired power and character growth are well synced and padded on either side with ally support and uniquely challenging boss gameplay. Like any good game it rewards experimentation and mastery but does not demand it. The character design aesthetic is as beautiful as it is unapologetic. I feel we have come into an oasis amidst the wasteland of cultural hiccups that exist out there beyond from under the rock I choose to live. And the games that have come out at this time will come with us once we made it totally out of this wasteland.… Expand
  43. Aloth
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Excellent combat with various built options, amazing customization and visual style! The partner Ai works pretty well too. Great game!
  44. Remsi
    Sep 29, 2019
    9
    Beautiful world, excellent chardis, greatest music. Stylish anime visual. Gameplay after Soul's-like games very nice and effecting. Must Play!
  45. zsnat
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Don't care any of comment just try on, and you'll know how perfect of this game
  46. juliantail
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Es un muy buen juego con una buena estética es divertido, si te gusta los DS este juego te gustará, los que ponen 0 seguramente sean por otros motivos mas políticos que otra cosa.
  47. G0Dslayer
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Amazing game which have elements from dark souls but have much better graphics and performance. Loved the anime style.
  48. Fby02
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Great story, likeable characters, very fun combat, many ways to customize your way of playing ... the list of things I like about this game goes on and on. I don't understand the critic reviews on this game. And some of them don't even bother to give reasons as to why they think this game is bad. Honestly, this game deserves way better than what these so called "critics" tell you.Great story, likeable characters, very fun combat, many ways to customize your way of playing ... the list of things I like about this game goes on and on. I don't understand the critic reviews on this game. And some of them don't even bother to give reasons as to why they think this game is bad. Honestly, this game deserves way better than what these so called "critics" tell you.

    Alright, after reading some of the user reviews I'm even more disappointed. Reviewing doesn't mean subjectively telling someone why YOU thin the game is s***. It's about objectively judging the game. Example: Someone doesn't like anime. He plays this game and says it's bad because it's in an anime stlye. 0/10. Is this how reviews should work? Definitely not. If you aren't into anime why even bother reviewing this game. Stuff like that honestly makes me mad.    … Expand
  49. CoExist
    Sep 28, 2019
    10
    Great fun, the anime version of dark souls, fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. A lot of reviews are lying I played and it's worth it. Don't let others who are trying to hurt the game make you not play it. If it was bad why did the developers do it? It's not amazing but still worth something
  50. omatsu
    Oct 29, 2019
    7
    Soul like action game with Japanese girl character for light gamer. But poor level design spoils them…

    Good: Character design and class system. - Create your original wife, quality of character making system is well. - Easy to switch the build by class system (Blood-code) Bad: Poor level design. - Stage is like maze, long and narrow aisle, you can see similar scene. No experience    Soul like action game with Japanese girl character for light gamer. But poor level design spoils them…

    Good: Character design and class system.
    - Create your original wife, quality of character making system is well.
    - Easy to switch the build by class system (Blood-code)

    Bad: Poor level design.
    - Stage is like maze, long and narrow aisle, you can see similar scene. No experience like exploring great building or wonderful location.
    - Enemy is almost same. Because almost of all enemy is human type (include boss), only difference is size and their weapon. You can see similar enemy from early stage to final stage.    … Expand
  51. 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"
  52. Kaito84
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Dont listen to the idiots like ign or gamespot. I still remember them giving skyward sword a 10 and three houses a 9.5 great games but they dont deserve those scores. This game is a blast, do not treat it like a souls like, yes it borrows its forumla but it also does its own thing. Im having a blast and ive played all souls borne and sekiro. And im 35 and played regular nintendo which isDont listen to the idiots like ign or gamespot. I still remember them giving skyward sword a 10 and three houses a 9.5 great games but they dont deserve those scores. This game is a blast, do not treat it like a souls like, yes it borrows its forumla but it also does its own thing. Im having a blast and ive played all souls borne and sekiro. And im 35 and played regular nintendo which is much harder than any of thosr. Please dont be a sjw warrior or a retard go out get it asap if you liked the demo… Expand
  53. Dnekros
    Sep 27, 2019
    9
    Tema muito bom... Trama muito bem feita...
    Gráficos ok Jogabilidade boa Sem bugs pelo menos até o momento Trilha sonora excelente Inimigos desafiadores
  54. Blazin23
    Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was like an energy drink started nice but went downhill from there and cost lots of $
  55. 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.
  56. YoBenson
    Sep 28, 2019
    0
    Troppo facile! Se ti piace solo creare il personaggio consiglio di scaricarsi la demo.
  57. 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.
  58. Labeebthefirst
    Sep 29, 2019
    10
    I'll keep my review simple. Bought it. Played it. Co op with my cousin most of the way through. The artwork and styled is amazing. Is it perfect. No. But I got my money's worth. To bad they dont have the reviewers on their pay roll
  59. Mdro
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Well this game is a soul like game with a story and anime art style. The combat is not as good as souls games but the story is told better. Also it has some differences to the souls games to the point wheir it feels like an advancement on the genre.
  60. YawYeetYaw
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    D38-J1 -Today I order the 5 new Hornaces of Death,THOD 1-5 as I embark on a new life & a new death with the final fight with THOD5 5.Pray4me
  61. Lukahs
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    This has been my favorite game of this year so far. Everything about it is beautiful. The music and the character creation are wonderful. This is a must buy game for any type of game specially rpg ones.
  62. DameDesuYo
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    While not perfect in every regard, it's an extremely good game. The story is solid, characters are great, and the combat is exceptional. A lot of replayability and variety. The people bombing this are ridiculous.
  63. goNdTREN
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    This is literally Pinnacle one of the Best Most Flavored Action Games Created All Generation. There is Zero reason to play any other Pile of xKIKEJournalist Shill AAA Garbage when you can Play this Master Piece.
  64. 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
  65. 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.
  66. 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.
  67. Zeest
    Sep 27, 2019
    7
    Плюсы.
    +Аниме
    + Есть сюжет + Хорошая графика + Костомизация + Саундтреки +Атмосфера Минусы - Система напарников - Тупые нпс - Упрощённая система прокачки - Озвучка (не знаю как в японской озвучке, но в английской они говорят нормально в противогазах. Комментарий: Игра позиционирует себя как соулслайк, но нпс и система напарников просто ломает жанр и это превращает в рпг. Только на боссах    Плюсы.
    +Аниме
    + Есть сюжет
    + Хорошая графика
    + Костомизация
    + Саундтреки
    +Атмосфера Минусы - Система напарников
    - Тупые нпс
    - Упрощённая система прокачки
    - Озвучка (не знаю как в японской озвучке, но в английской они говорят нормально в противогазах.
    Комментарий: Игра позиционирует себя как соулслайк, но нпс и система напарников просто ломает жанр и это превращает в рпг. Только на боссах вспоминаешь чтоо она похоже на соулслайк игру. Поэтому моя оценка 6-7/10    … Expand
  68. Jb567
    Sep 30, 2019
    0
    It was really bad. The combat and graphics do not feel like they belong in this generation.
  69. 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
  70. Freedom57
    Oct 1, 2019
    0
    The character creator is great but everything else has been done much better in other games.
  71. 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.
  72. RubinAganim
    Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Just a **** dark souls clone that fails in every souls aspect. Nothing much to say about.
  73. 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
  74. Hardycore
    Sep 28, 2019
    6
    This game is pretty good and fun. Then why only a 6, you might ask. The reason is that it claims to be a souls-like game. But it is not. I mean, it would be, if it was without the amazing atmosphere, the depth, the complexity and most of all the difficulty. What's left of that what you can consider dark souls like? Close to nothing. It basically is a kiddy version of Dark Souls with a lotThis game is pretty good and fun. Then why only a 6, you might ask. The reason is that it claims to be a souls-like game. But it is not. I mean, it would be, if it was without the amazing atmosphere, the depth, the complexity and most of all the difficulty. What's left of that what you can consider dark souls like? Close to nothing. It basically is a kiddy version of Dark Souls with a lot of hand holding, where dying is pretty difficult. Not only are enemies mostly push overs and bosses boring and bland (from what I've seen), but you are also teamed with over powered NPC that will clear most for you and even revive you when you die. It reminds me of WoW, where at first the game was tricky and fun but got replaced by hand holding to cater the children.

    Now this doesn't make the game bad. Even with all the hand holding the game is still more difficult than most games nowadays (which admittingly says more about the majority of games released), the concept of being able to change classes whenever you feel like it to suit the situation is pretty cool, the combat is still pretty fun and all that. It just hurts to get this when you are expecting a game like Dark Souls.    … Expand
  75. 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
  76. Sasturay
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Amazing game with wonderful visual and great music, really good souls like games with **** included
  77. 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
  78. 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.
  79. jelloskins
    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.
  80. 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
  81. 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
  82. 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.
  83. 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
  84. 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
  85. 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.
  86. DSouls_guy
    Mar 24, 2023
    9
    To start things up, let me say that code vein is not a souls Bourne clone! But rather a new take on a formula that the souls games have used for every game single souls game. Code vein has a story and an excellent character customization to boot! Plus the whole anime feel is just perfect. I'm really enjoying code vein and hope to see a sequel in the future.
  87. cylentstorm
    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
  88. 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.
  89. manninggage
    Jun 20, 2020
    10
    I don’t know why truly fantastic games like this don’t receive the recognition it deserves, yet we have metacritic giving TLOU2 a 95, like this world is a lie
  90. gq_foine
    Dec 28, 2020
    9
    Most underrated game in 2019. Frankly I would give this a 9/10 overall. I waited to have this go on sale for 20 bucks but would have gladly supported $100 if they brought the American collectors edition to the states instead of Europe.

    They take Darks Souls/Bloodborne and make it Anime story which is interesting. The game play is very interesting and would have made few changes like    Most underrated game in 2019. Frankly I would give this a 9/10 overall. I waited to have this go on sale for 20 bucks but would have gladly supported $100 if they brought the American collectors edition to the states instead of Europe.

    They take Darks Souls/Bloodborne and make it Anime story which is interesting. The game play is very interesting and would have made few changes like emphasize of the bonus stats when leveling up so you can chose which things so you can really customize your build and character. Game play 9/10

    The music is absolutely fantastic and the American dub is great!!! They did a really good job! 10/10.

    Story - 8/10. Interesting story but wished they would have made a few changes to make it connect more. It seemed a bit chaotic and not very clear as to why some of the things are what they are.

    Overall, if you enjoy Anime JRPG and love action Souls games this game is definitely shouldn’t miss. I would 100% recommend for those gamers who enjoy this stuff! I am have been playing it for 25hrs and it’s been fun! Anything less than 8 is bs. This is a great game for JRPG fans! Disregard critics and gamers love it! This was the most underrated game.    … Expand
  91. trevor1981
    Apr 20, 2020
    10
    Finally I got what I always wanted - a Souls game that would keep the players engaged, thanks to its story, and not just rely on the unbearable difficulty alone, that most of its predecessors coming from Miyazaki did. And Code Vein brilliantly achieves that. The writing was incredibly well done. In just no time I realised I was in love with the characters.
    Bandai Namco did the right thing    Finally I got what I always wanted - a Souls game that would keep the players engaged, thanks to its story, and not just rely on the unbearable difficulty alone, that most of its predecessors coming from Miyazaki did. And Code Vein brilliantly achieves that. The writing was incredibly well done. In just no time I realised I was in love with the characters.
    Bandai Namco did the right thing by creating a game that would first and foremost entertain, which is why some people got it wrong, probably because they've got used to being tortured. But still Code Vein can be extremely hard, if you stop partnering with any of the NPC's.
    To me personally this was the best souls experience ever. Even after getting the platinum trophy, I still play it.
    The visuals are amazing, the gameplay is long enough, and although it has its challenging moments, the developers did their best to ensure you'll have a good time with it.
    Among the advantages Code Vein has compared to previous entries are -
    1. Great storytelling and characters.
    2. Phenomenal visualisation. The level design is unlike anything you've seen before. Much better than DS3 and Sekiro.
    3. Phenomenal score by Go Shiino.
    3. Great voice acting.
    4. A map that will be a lot of help making it significantly easier to not miss out any important item.
    5. The co-op with other players is greatly simplified here. You don't have to place any signs like in DS3. You can be in one area and still be teleported to the other end of the game world to aid another player.
    6. Reasonable difficulty level, unless you choose otherwise.
    7. Even when you start a NG, it doesn't have to be NG+, so if you're doing an additional run for platinum trophy, that will come in pretty handy.

    Even the soundtrack I loved much much more than in Dark Souls. There are at least 3 pieces I will forever keep in my phone now. The track called 'Requiem', playing during one of the endings, I couldn't listen to without tears. Needless to say I was overwhelmed every time I finished the game.

    Although I have favorite animes, I never considered myself being a huge fan of the genre before, but now, thanks to Code Vein, I do. I'm eager to see just any anime title there is.

    Don't listen to the reviews downgrading this game!
    It's sheer brilliance!
    I was an idiot to refrain from buying it the day it came out, but later I wanted to kill myself for that. Not as a punishment, but just to support the developers, I additionally got 2 more copies - one for my brother-in-law and another for my best friend.
    I will gladly give my money to Bandai Namco and buy just any title they make. Thank you, guys, for these wonderful emotions.    … Expand
  92. tomvs123
    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
  93. TheMegaGodz
    Jul 28, 2020
    9
    An absolutely phenomenal game. I've never been that interested in Souls-style games. I've always played singleplayer games more for story rather than the challenge of the game. However, Code Vein peaked my interest, and I'm am so glad I gave it a chance. It offers challenges that are fun to complete, rather than a tiresome task to overcome. It has a fantastic cast of characters and anAn absolutely phenomenal game. I've never been that interested in Souls-style games. I've always played singleplayer games more for story rather than the challenge of the game. However, Code Vein peaked my interest, and I'm am so glad I gave it a chance. It offers challenges that are fun to complete, rather than a tiresome task to overcome. It has a fantastic cast of characters and an interesting world to explore and learn about. It's a game that I feel both hardcore Souls-borne fans can enjoy, as well as more casual players such as myself.… Expand
  94. KayVen17
    Apr 30, 2020
    6
    Es ist ein solides Souls-Like, was mir persönlich mehr Spaß gemacht hat als Nioh zum Beispiel. Trotzdem ist die Story wirklich komplett langweillig. Ich musste oft kämpfen nicht zu skippen in Cutscenes. Dazu kommen leider zu viele Kopien vom Vorbild. Ich verstehe das der Bosskampf mit Ornstein und Smough in Dark Souls ikonisch ist und man etwas ähnliches machen wollte, aber einfachEs ist ein solides Souls-Like, was mir persönlich mehr Spaß gemacht hat als Nioh zum Beispiel. Trotzdem ist die Story wirklich komplett langweillig. Ich musste oft kämpfen nicht zu skippen in Cutscenes. Dazu kommen leider zu viele Kopien vom Vorbild. Ich verstehe das der Bosskampf mit Ornstein und Smough in Dark Souls ikonisch ist und man etwas ähnliches machen wollte, aber einfach ebenfalls einen dicken langsamen und eine schnelle Kleine hinzustellen ist wirklich dreiste Kopie. Ich hatte definitiv meinen Spaß, aber leider verspürte ich zu keiner Zeit einen ähnlichen Zauber wie in From Software's Meisterwerk.… Expand
  95. zencube
    Jul 17, 2023
    6
    Unfortunately another Dark Souls Clone without having any spirit of the original Game. And it doesn't matter if you like Anime or not. We've got 1:1 all the mechanics of the DS Series, like Bonfires, Leveling-System, Weapon-Upgrades, etc. which is not a bad thing at all. Actually everything that was copied from the Master works good and without flaws...

    BUT the levels itself are truly    Unfortunately another Dark Souls Clone without having any spirit of the original Game. And it doesn't matter if you like Anime or not. We've got 1:1 all the mechanics of the DS Series, like Bonfires, Leveling-System, Weapon-Upgrades, etc. which is not a bad thing at all. Actually everything that was copied from the Master works good and without flaws...

    BUT the levels itself are truly AWFUL to look at AND to play. It's always an extremely narrow lane, tiny areas, Graphics from PS3-Area and the way they are build are just nonsense! It all fells like a big surreal picture without any references to how a world actually would exist. Beside those non-existing worlds, we've got stupid cities, deserts and a government building that's just so artificial nonsense, it reminds me of the games in the 90s, where Level-Design just had nothing to do with any sort of real worlds. How would anybody design and build a building like this?!

    Anyway, the mechanics and combat is okay, nothing special though and it saves the Game from beeing a total disaster. But still, it's so average in every way that I was just relieved when the final Boss hit the ground. And don't bother with buying the Add-On! It's basically recycled Bosses, tiny areas and a complete waste of time.    … Expand
  96. viroodiem
    Nov 21, 2020
    8
    Code Vein really scratched my dark souls itch. That said its more Dark souls lite than on the same level.

    Out of all of the "soulsborne" titles in the maso/core genre I think Code Vein is definitely my favorite non souls product. It definitely is no where near the same difficulty level, but its perhaps the most faithful to the feel of souls than the likes of NIOH, Surge, etc. What I    Code Vein really scratched my dark souls itch. That said its more Dark souls lite than on the same level.

    Out of all of the "soulsborne" titles in the maso/core genre I think Code Vein is definitely my favorite non souls product. It definitely is no where near the same difficulty level, but its perhaps the most faithful to the feel of souls than the likes of NIOH, Surge, etc.

    What I absolutely adore about the game mechanically is its system of creating a unique build. Granting you about 25 "base" classes but giving you the capacity to merge skills from any class into a unique build all your own. It does seem to come at the cost of having gear being pretty meaningless and without much variance but the same could be said of other games like Bloodborne that go the same route. Its a design choice and its not a wrong one, but I personally would have liked having gear have actual weight rather than it being mostly for aesthetic choices.

    What it lacks in authentically true souls mechanical experience it MORE than makes up for in narrative exposition. Now I am not much of a fan of anime (Early adopter, long since burnt out) and to be honest the story is not something groundbreaking, its a solid enough story being told and the system of info dumping is a MUCH welcome addition to the mechanics of the Souls formula. Dont get me wrong I LOVE deep lore but lore needs to be a back bone that something greater is built on, Not the entirety of its narrative.

    On the story front I will say there is a HUGE missed opportunity here. With the whole system of companions I would have liked to have seen the ability to develop your companions a bit too. Perhaps give them new weapons/armor or even full on makeovers. Chose their move set loadouts and even their tendencies/priorities. Also with all of the narrative and so many "waifu's" there was no excuse to have lack romance options in the game. It feels like they wanted it, but it ended up a cut feature in the end probably.

    Beyond that, I really like the graphic stylization and depth of "fashion code" char customization. Would have been nice to have some less anime centric options but there is definitely a look for just about anyone in there.

    The overall sound of the game can be flat at times but does an adequate enough of a job and does not end up irksome or dull. I really enjoyed the music. The orchestral arrangements were solid and almost on the level of a souls game. Really liked the early 00s post goth synth driven nü metal tracks that really flashed me back to that time period and fit with the "vampire" aesthetic they were going for. I however really wish that they would have had a wider variety of those tracks. Unpatched there is basically 3 main tracks for the jukebox and of course that gets tedious. Even with patching it mostly adds tracks from what seems to be other, smaller games that definitely do not mesh with the setting/style. Still overall the sound/track is not the games strong suit but its definitely passable.

    Now going forward It is my sincere hope that Bandai Namco take what they learned from Code Vein and apply it to building a new IP instead of trying to build a sequel of Code Vein. The story did not really lend itself to being continued. You COULD possibly eek out a prequel but it would end up encroaching on CV's story and only dilute both. The engine is what is key and that combination of the souls mechanics with multiple cut scene type systems is something that could be a big move forward for the maso/core genre if done well. It would take patience and investment but its something if done right could catapult BN to being a triple A studio instead of where it hovers just outside on its fringes. I want more of the systems. The story I could take or leave.

    All in all Code Vein was the most enjoyable soulsborne I have played since bloodborne. That technically places it as being more enjoyable than even Dark Souls 3 for me. Its the most souls like imho out of all the soulsborne games out there (and I have played nearly every one of them, even the bad ones) It gets into that sort of zen like groove you get with souls where it becomes a mechanical process that you can clear your mind and just focus on the patterns and rhythms of the game without intrusive thoughts invading. Its far from perfect though. Its definitely more rough around the edges. The story mechanics are great but the story itself is pretty bog standard anime.

    This review is a year after its release so I would say that it definitely merits its current 25-30$ price tag. I would not have rushed to pay anything above 45 for it though that is my personal financial values and not a knock on the game. I would like to see Code Vein get a Greatest Hits/Definitive edition treatment but due to it being at the end of this consoles life cycle that seems unlikely, but it definitely deserved the honor.

    8.60/10    … Expand
  97. Taryl
    Jan 31, 2021
    10
    Great story, super combat system. Very, Very good graphics! I hope to see code vein 2 Very soon!!
  98. OdinX1985
    May 2, 2023
    8
    Code Vein is an action jrpg Souls like anime style. Code Vein is a great action jrpg and for what it is this has probably the best character customization in a game that I've ever seen. You can create male or female and style them how you want. The story is not something that will wow you however in the middle of the game there is a surprising connection to another game wondering if bothCode Vein is an action jrpg Souls like anime style. Code Vein is a great action jrpg and for what it is this has probably the best character customization in a game that I've ever seen. You can create male or female and style them how you want. The story is not something that will wow you however in the middle of the game there is a surprising connection to another game wondering if both games are connected in the same universe. Boss battles are not like Souls or Bloodborne by any stretch but still they can be challenging in their own right. You can have an NPC follow you on journey and switch them out for a strategic approach in areas. Music is your typical jrpg with a few kick butt boss themes. Weaponry plays a big role along with armor that certain types does have great benefits and Blood Memories these are most important to the style your playing. These can be upgraded by finding them and by using your soul points I highly recommend doing these cause once you have them complete you can use them as passive abilities forever. The game is fully voiced acted in English and Japanese.. the length is well over 40 hours and the game does have optional bosses and a 3 dlcs sold separately. My score is an 8 for how deep the character customization was and how fun it can be. However the game does suffer bad enemy aggressive behavior that seems unfair. Enemies can clip through the walls FPS drops is rare but it can be noticeable when close buildings. It's a great game but a few hiccups.… Expand
  99. DuffySteffanni
    Feb 7, 2023
    9
    Good for - those that like a fun, challenging, action game with anime style. Possibly among the best looking anime games to date.
    Bad for- first time gamers or people who dont like anime art style and strategic games
    Similar games - dark souls, bloodborne Let me say as an individual who's played well over a thousand games. This is exactly another perfect example of how terrible "    Good for - those that like a fun, challenging, action game with anime style. Possibly among the best looking anime games to date.
    Bad for- first time gamers or people who dont like anime art style and strategic games
    Similar games - dark souls, bloodborne
    Let me say as an individual who's played well over a thousand games. This is exactly another perfect example of how terrible " professional "critics are. Games like repeated CoD trash get great rating while this magnificent game gets knocked on. Now to my review, The character building is perfect, you can choose so many cosmetics. You can choose so many different armor types that tremendously impact gameplay. You can hide your armor (which actually looks great also) if you want only cosmetics. The character creation is amazing.Every character is so well designed you actually find yourself liking all of then. There is so much to do and you get an epic soundtrack as well. The story is well narrated and really thought out. You also have a chance to dive into everyones back story if you want.    … Expand
  100. raskin_oleg
    Oct 14, 2020
    10
    Amazing! This game is really great! Recommend to anyone of my friend. 10/10
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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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