Dark Souls and the Soulslike genre is one of which I have a small amount of experience. I’ve ironically played the original Demons’ Souls on PlayStation 3 and about an hour and a half of the first Dark Souls, but that has been the extent of it. The part of me that has enjoyed my time with those games overall really wants to play them more. However, I know I can get frustrated easily and I just keep putting them off for other games.

An inspired game that did catch my eye was Code Vein. Though some mixed reviews made me unsure, the flashy anime aesthetic and common sentiment that the combat was more forgiving than its inspirations won me over in the end. After having played it and fully understanding the common criticisms, I was happy to come away with a more positive experience than I was expecting.

Greeting me whenever I first started the game was a blinding white screen that pushes me to warn you to be prepared if you play this at night in a dark room. Getting past that and actually getting to the beginning of the player experience is a fun create-a-character system. I’m the type of person who can spend a long time messing with these systems to craft a player character and that is exactly what I did here. I won’t spend too much time on it, but I’ll say it is a lot more robust than expected. I was pleasantly surprised that there were so many options present.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic area, players take control of their unique protagonist who can absorb abilities and do many other plot and combat-related things that no one else can. Even if they are mostly silent, there is a much larger emphasis on the story within Code Vein between all of the conversations and cutscenes. This protagonist takes on a much more obvious “chosen one” role than what you’d see in Dark Souls.

The story is (unfortunately) one of the weaker aspects. There is a deep world here with a lot of characters, however, the presentation can be too routine to support it. A lot of the best story and character development is handled through memories within Vestige pieces. Every one of these memories is relayed through a gameplay segment where you just walk forward and stop two or three times. While they are all unique, quite a few follow a similar story structure and their shared bleak tone just makes it all feel boring. In general, any interactive story elements feel formulaic.

What didn’t help was being thrown in what felt like the middle of the story. It is effective and interesting at first because this world obviously is unique with many moving parts. However, keeping track of every character and events that have already transpired is a bit of a pain. Some of it doesn’t feel explained well either, as I didn’t understand some concepts until reading through a codex in the optional hot springs area. I was relieved when everything clicked for me after a while, but it didn’t feel justified. There was no “aha” moment because it just came off as unnecessarily complex.

I had read that many had mixed feelings about the moment-to-moment gameplay and I completely understand why. From the beginning, it’s easy to take note of the similarities it has to others in the same genre. All of the hallmarks such as dodge rolling, stamina management, and parrying are here. Even general traversal will feel incredibly familiar.

Many standard elements are also given a tinge of personality when it comes to their names. Examples include Ichor instead of magic and gifts instead of spells/actions. Some of these also have edgier names such as Blood Veils which act as your armor and Blood Codes which act as your classes.

All of these come together in the ways you would expect. Deciding which Blood Veil to take can depend on its stats and attack type. That has to be balanced along with whichever Blood Code you want, which in turn determines your Ichor amount. Ichor is important, no matter if you’re planning on using a lot of damaging gifts or supporting ones. However, some Blood Codes can be used without relying on Ichor too much. It’s entirely up to the player’s preference.

Where it shines brightly for me is how flexible everything is to accommodate vast player preferences. Blood Veils, Blood Codes, and of course weapons can be changed at any time to allow quick adaption to different situations. Experimenting with different gifts becomes easier over time as well, since repeated usage of a gift leads to its mastery and most of the time enables it to be used with any Blood Code. I typically would only try out different classes through a new playthrough in an RPG, so it was refreshing and fun to try them out whenever I wanted here.

How it regrettably falls short of its own inspiration is with the feel of the combat. Plain and simple, there isn’t much weight to anything you do. Attack animations can be slow and yet they will still provide little impact on an enemy before the quick recovery timing allows you to swing again. The stamina system in Code Vein isn’t a strategic gauge to work with like in the titles that inspired it. Instead, it just feels like an inconvenient hindrance.

The criticism that this doesn’t compare well to the primary genre it sells itself as is completely warranted. Even against obvious shortcomings, I still found it fun and entertaining. I really enjoyed how flexible all of the mechanics are and how flashy it looks in action. Even the largest and most bombastic attacks provide a hint of satisfaction, although it’s sometimes inconvenient depending on the camera’s location. Bringing along a companion NPC also made everything feel a lot more fun and was certainly one of my favorite parts of the experience.

On the topic of visuals, it is admittedly a mixed bag for me. None of the locations stood out as spectacular, but a majority of them were varied enough to stick in my head. Weapon designs were very hit-or-miss and often I found myself preferring the aesthetic of a weaker weapon over a new stronger one.

The designs of the characters and the Blood Veils all looked great to me though. Blood Veil attacks and the more close-range gifts can be enjoyably visceral. I can’t deny (nor explain why) that I was also a fan of the edgy masks everyone wears, including the ones you can pick for your character. Everything is pleasant enough to look at that I spent more time than I thought I would with the photo mode.

In the attempt to put a twist on the Soulslike formula, Code Vein stumbles over itself. There are multiple systems that are plenty flexible and allow for a lot of combat variety. Unfortunately, the combat itself is weightless and is held back by the primary inspiration. It’s almost as if the ideas for a potentially great fast-paced action game were simply thrown into this.

If you’re looking for “anime Dark Souls” you might come away from this a bit disappointed since the characters are tropes and it lacks the satisfaction of the mentioned game. To its credit, I did have a lot of fun playing though. Part of that was due to how much I could experiment with the different mechanics and the other part was because of how cool it looked. Even with my limited experience with the genre, I can tell this isn’t a good Soulslike. However, the unique aspects it brings to the table shine enough that I didn’t mind.

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Code Vein

$59.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Flashy Style
• A Heaping of Unique Mechanics
• Fun Character Creator
• Companions
• Everyone Loves a Photo Mode

Cons

• Weightless Combat
• Convoluted Story Telling
• Not a Great Soulslike