I wish I could be more conditional for this review. Take my "Yes" with a HUGE grain of salt. I don't regret buying this game, but I also don't know that I'll sink much single-player time into it with all the variety of other games I have available to me. If you don't want to read the deets (they're spoiler-free beyond comparisons to similar-but-not-the-same games and anime) you can skip to the bulleted stuff at the end.


At its core, Code Vein is a mildly perverted conglomerated rip-off of several things. My brother pointed out to me that there are some stark parallels to the anime Tokyo Ghoul. The game's mechanics are mostly built around (read: nearly directly ripped off from) Dark Souls' combat system. In playing the game with others, I've been told about how the few things I didn't see as ripped off from other media were in fact ripped off from other media, I just hadn't seen / played those titles yet.

Speaking of titles ... the huge tracts of land that the first NPC you encounter outside of the tutorial happens to be sporting are nearly as capable of destroying your suspension of disbelief as the Zweihander sword in the game being casually held over one of the character's shoulders, despite it being apparent that the thing would weigh fifty pounds at best. I suppose that's another parallel to the aforementioned titles that the NPC pushes into your face at various moments.

So, long story short: this game is a cobbled together mish-mash of Chester the Cheetah level dangerously cheesy anime tropes, stolen "it worked for them!" game mechanics that are satisfactory but which pale in comparison to the origin material, and enough cut scenes that it makes you wonder if an anime studio wanted to make a miniseries but could only get funding for a game instead. All of that is taped together with enough sexually suggestive material that I would hardly be surprised if somewhere further down the line it crosses said line into full on softcore hentai.

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If none of this really makes you take significant pause, then I think you'll enjoy the game, simple as it is. Visually, it's often quite stunning... though simple. The levels are simple, but they're interesting. The characters are not simple, and look pretty cool/interesting. The customization is RIDICULOUSLY deep. I spent around an hour working on my character before I ever played the game.

• This game is definitely (though often fairly subtly) perverted, and it's not at all ashamed of the fact.
  
• Though the levels are interesting, they're not terribly complex.
  
• Pay-to-Win features from the Deluxe Edition include an overtuned NPC who does massive ranged damage and can revive you by sacrificing a small amount of her health with what feels like a < 10 second cooldown.
  
• Stealth / Backstab mechanics are present, but so minimal that it doesn't even feel like that's what they are.
  
• You don't get i-frames from dodging. If you didn't get out of the way, you're getting hit. I suppose depending on your connection speed, your might be getting hit even if you did get outta the way.
  
• No PvP that I'm aware of. While not getting constantly invaded is a plus, (I'm lookin' at you, Undead Settlement...) there's nothing to even elect any kind of PvP. (Again, that I'm aware of. I'm not terribly far into the game at this juncture.)
  
• The game difficulty is like returning to Kindergarten after getting your Master's Degree comparatively easy if you are a veteran Souls player.

• Feels like a Souls game sometimes, utilizing many of the same mechanics.
  
• Character customization is incredibly deep, but far easier to use than say... Soul Caliber.
  
• Unlike many of the recently released games I've played, I have barely noticed any immersion-breaking issues with connectivity while enjoying the multiplayer aspect of the game.
  
• Speaking of the multiplayer: It is pretty fun, overall. It's definitely what's kept me playing it thus far.

• Leading into the cons list from the last 'Pro' listed above: With how fulfilling the multiplayer aspect can be, it sure is crazy that this game is only cooperative for two players.
  
• Have I mentioned how simple this game is? It's as wide as an ocean and deep as a shower closet. Lots of promising stuff that just never really sees anywhere near its full potential. It feels a little... ahem... Soulless, because it clearly ended up a box of "Oops! All homages!" instead of adding its own flavor or spin to the video game equivalent of a high school band's Nine Inch Nails cover. Just like when you leave the concert and put the real NiN on your car sound system, the first time I played this game I just wanted to go play Dark Souls 3 again some more.
  
• So far at least, this game is just "sexy" enough to be awkward to play around some people, ("Hi, grandma!",) without even culminating in any kind of significant hotness. It's like a person's first intimate relationship, where their partner teases them but has no idea what they're supposed to do next, even if they want to. (They want to.)
  
• The dialogue is often worse than I've ever experienced with even the most watered down, cheesy, English-dubbed, edited-for-TV anime.

Wait for it to go on sale. I bought it for around $20 and it was worth about that to me, nothing more.


I hope you enjoyed my review. If you take a chance on this game, note that you can play a Demo version of it first, which I understand allows you to save your intricately customized character for visual import into the full version when you buy it.