Code Vein (PS4) review: A Dark Souls-like game that is drenched in blood and anime

Customisation and story

Code Vein is a Souls-like wrapped in Gothic vampirism and a whole lot of strange anime fluffiness. When I say Souls-like, I mean that it’s INCREDIBLY similar to FromSoftware’s Souls games, which are often praised for their extreme difficulty, combat and boss fights. This game isn’t nearly as good as any of FromSoftware’s offerings, which is unfortunate as it clearly wants to be. Still, it does have some good qualities:

Customisation

Many simply refer to Code Vein as ‘Anime Dark Souls’ - a cutesy clone of the real thing. They’re not wrong, but this game arguably does some stuff better than the game it emulates, namely character customisation. Holy moly, this customisation system is so extensive and generous it might as well be considered the first boss of the game - it took me nearly 40 minutes just to beat it. 

Right after you’re done getting those eyebrows just the right shade of red, you’re thrown into one of the worst video game tutorials of 2019 yet. Your character awakens in a small floating square, and the game proceeds to painstakingly spell out every single aspect of Code Vein’s gameplay to you. This is the most game-y of game tutorial sections, and it utterly breaks the golden rule of show, don’t tell. 

You’re also told that much like every other Japanese RPG ever (Don’t hurt me, I LIKE Japanese RPGs), you are the most important person in this game’s world and possess entirely unique abilities - and conveniently, amnesia. Predictably, you go on to use these abilities to try to save the world. If this bit sounds generic and uninspired, then I’m sorry to say that the rest of the story is more of the same. 

You are the chosen one

Waking up after the tutorial, you are paired with a mysterious, equally amnesiac partner and proceed to explore this brand new world. You see, you are a vampire, and your blood is very different from every other vampire in this world. You are unique in being able to bring dead ‘Bloodspring plants’ to life and collect other vampires’ ‘blood codes’ (I’ll explain that in a bit) for yourself. 

The weirdest part of this game is how it takes itself so seriously. Code Vein is trying to sell everything straight; its monsters, its atmosphere, its characters and even its story. The problem here is that unlike the player character, none of these things stand out in the genre whatsoever. This gothic-apocalypse setting has been done before and infinitely better in Darks Souls and Bloodborne alone - nevermind other games like them. 

Thus, the setting just seems pretty 'been there, done that', and that goes for the rest of its elements as well. The monsters won’t really stick with you, and neither will the scantily-clad characters or the generic writing. Granted, the story does get better eventually, growing some much-needed depth and complexity - but it’s not exactly Game of the Year material at the end of the day.