Anime Dark Souls isn't actually that bad... neither is it that good.
There isn't a whole lot to say about Code Vein in 2023 that probably hasn't already been said, but here's my piece: It's a totally okay game that does its best to be Dark Souls while also having its own distinct personality.
The good of Code Vein revolves around a few things, mostly visual. The first as a lot of people around release were buzzing about is the character creation; you have a LOT of options to make your picture perfect anime waifu/husbando. I toyed around a little bit longer than I do most games to make a female character with long white hair that translated into red highlights, completely uninentionally working with the plot around blood. You spend a lot of time looking at your character, so might as well make them look good! Speaking of looking good, this game on max everything is pretty. Code Vein cycles through the typical video game environments (sand zone, fire zone, cold zone, etc...) with some post apocalyptia thrown into the mix and it's all done well within the games structure. Though the map design can be a little frustrating, it at least looks good.
Outside of the visuals, I liked two things more than anything else that Code Vein does in terms of gameplay. The first here is that they GIVE YOU A MAP. Man do I LOVE MAPS. They are GOOD. I love my Fromsoft Games, and much to Elden Ring's credit they give you an Overworld map, but if there's one chief complaint about each one that I've played its the lack of an intertactable and re-usable map. Code Vein throws you down a lot of winding corridors and samey looking areas outside of the cool environments, and having a point of reference is huge. Knowing how to backtrack to your mistles (bonfires,) safely once out of healing was paramount to me having a decent time with Code Vein. It must be something with my brain, but not having a map in games gives me a weird sense of being lost and panicked and is often the contributing factor to me giving games a dissenting rating. I also enjoyed there being a board in the hub world that tells you about the next location of interest when I returned to the game after a big break. On top of the map, I enjoyed the addition of a Co-op partner in this game, something that I liked about Elden Rings summon system as well. It's nice to have an aggro buddy in boss fights that are overwhelmingly stacked against the player, while also having a partner that is not overpowered enough to contribute a lot to the fight on their own. Code Vein's partners make exploring the world less isolating, while also providing minimal value to the fights that makes them more fair, and I enjoyed that.
Now what did I not like about Code Vein? The story was kinda, there. I give them credit for trying to do what most Soulslikes and Souls games themselves don't do very well, and that's include an up-front lore heavy story. Code Vein's is okay at best, but it didn't particularly grab me and hold any interest for me throughout the game. Outside of that, I found like a lot of the weapon, veil, and code builds rather confusing, almost frustratingly so. Maybe it's tutorialized well somwhere and I missed it but I didn't really catch on to the best way to utilize codes and gifts with weapons and builds that offered an optimal playstyle. So in lieu of being more complicated, I went with the tried and true oonga boonga bonk strength 2-Hand Sword method. I have some other nitpicks about the game, like the healing being almost worthless, the final boss being larger than the screen (DMC style,) silent protagonist, etc but they aren't worth more conversation than pointing them out per se.
I'd recommend Code Vein to people who have twenty hours to kill and a souls itch to scratch, other than that it's kinda just another game.
There isn't a whole lot to say about Code Vein in 2023 that probably hasn't already been said, but here's my piece: It's a totally okay game that does its best to be Dark Souls while also having its own distinct personality.
The good of Code Vein revolves around a few things, mostly visual. The first as a lot of people around release were buzzing about is the character creation; you have a LOT of options to make your picture perfect anime waifu/husbando. I toyed around a little bit longer than I do most games to make a female character with long white hair that translated into red highlights, completely uninentionally working with the plot around blood. You spend a lot of time looking at your character, so might as well make them look good! Speaking of looking good, this game on max everything is pretty. Code Vein cycles through the typical video game environments (sand zone, fire zone, cold zone, etc...) with some post apocalyptia thrown into the mix and it's all done well within the games structure. Though the map design can be a little frustrating, it at least looks good.
Outside of the visuals, I liked two things more than anything else that Code Vein does in terms of gameplay. The first here is that they GIVE YOU A MAP. Man do I LOVE MAPS. They are GOOD. I love my Fromsoft Games, and much to Elden Ring's credit they give you an Overworld map, but if there's one chief complaint about each one that I've played its the lack of an intertactable and re-usable map. Code Vein throws you down a lot of winding corridors and samey looking areas outside of the cool environments, and having a point of reference is huge. Knowing how to backtrack to your mistles (bonfires,) safely once out of healing was paramount to me having a decent time with Code Vein. It must be something with my brain, but not having a map in games gives me a weird sense of being lost and panicked and is often the contributing factor to me giving games a dissenting rating. I also enjoyed there being a board in the hub world that tells you about the next location of interest when I returned to the game after a big break. On top of the map, I enjoyed the addition of a Co-op partner in this game, something that I liked about Elden Rings summon system as well. It's nice to have an aggro buddy in boss fights that are overwhelmingly stacked against the player, while also having a partner that is not overpowered enough to contribute a lot to the fight on their own. Code Vein's partners make exploring the world less isolating, while also providing minimal value to the fights that makes them more fair, and I enjoyed that.
Now what did I not like about Code Vein? The story was kinda, there. I give them credit for trying to do what most Soulslikes and Souls games themselves don't do very well, and that's include an up-front lore heavy story. Code Vein's is okay at best, but it didn't particularly grab me and hold any interest for me throughout the game. Outside of that, I found like a lot of the weapon, veil, and code builds rather confusing, almost frustratingly so. Maybe it's tutorialized well somwhere and I missed it but I didn't really catch on to the best way to utilize codes and gifts with weapons and builds that offered an optimal playstyle. So in lieu of being more complicated, I went with the tried and true oonga boonga bonk strength 2-Hand Sword method. I have some other nitpicks about the game, like the healing being almost worthless, the final boss being larger than the screen (DMC style,) silent protagonist, etc but they aren't worth more conversation than pointing them out per se.
I'd recommend Code Vein to people who have twenty hours to kill and a souls itch to scratch, other than that it's kinda just another game.