Of all of the games that launched in 2019, Code Vein was certainly one of them. It received a mostly tepid reaction (including a 6.5/10 review score from us), so I don’t think many will mind that Code Vein II offers a clean slate. It features a standalone story largely disconnected from the events of the original while introducing new gameplay mechanics designed to soften the Soulslike genre’s inherent difficulty. After playing a few hours of the game during a recent event, I’m still not sure if Code Vein II will catapult the series into the highest echelon of Soulslikes. But as a standalone action game, it seems perfectly cromulent, and as a time travel story, it has intriguing ideas.
Like the first game, Code Vein II centers on Revenants, undead humans with vampire-esque abilities, though it takes place in a brand-new world. One hundred years ago, Revenants gathered to try to seal away a phenomenon known as The Resurgence, which transforms the living into mindless monsters called Horrors. They failed, which led to the birth of a threat called Luna Rapacis, and some Revenants became Horrors themselves. Fast forward to the present day, and it’s up to a Revenant Hunter, the game’s customizable protagonist, to rescue the world from the brink of collapse. This hero partners with a mysterious girl named Lou MagMell, who can travel through time, and must visit both the past and the present to locate and defeat the fallen heroes of the Resurgence.
This time travel premise is the most intriguing element of Code Vein II, as players visit the past to influence events. Speaking to the development team at Bandai Namco, the time travel premise was chosen because the team believes it allows players to have greater agency over their story, as they can choose how to manipulate past events to shape the present and future. Additionally, this is why Code Vein II is not a direct continuation of the first game, as messing with time would mean altering the events of the first game. With a clean narrative slate, the studio can tinker with timelines as they please. As someone who played only a limited amount of the original, I’m happy not to worry about any potential plot baggage.
After creating my character in the robust customization menu, I endure a lengthy and, frankly, confusing exposition-heavy preamble. I meet Lou, watch a world get obliterated off the map, and chat with an absurdly proportioned Lady Dimetrescu-esque woman named Lavinia before I’m transported to the past. My goal is to meet a legendary warrior named Josée Anjou, who is one of the many heroes sealed away in the present day. I must team up with her 100 years in the past to find a way to free her in the future.
I spent most of my play session exploring a dungeon called the Sunken Pylon, an uninteresting and tricky-to-navigate multi-story industrial facility. Josée Anjou rules this area, and to gain her trust, I must help her locate and eradicate whatever is polluting the area’s water. You can hit a button to display a golden path towards the objective, but it also shows the route already traveled in blue. This can result in a scribbled mess of glowing pathlines that I sometimes find difficult to parse. In traditional Soulslike fashion, special checkpoints replenish health while resurrecting slain enemies. You can also warp to a special realm called the Confluence to chat with Lou, who may share insights on the situation at hand.
The melee combat on its own is passable but unremarkable despite having access to a bevy of different weapons, from dual swords to hammers to even a bayonet. Additional features help spice up the action. For example, you have your Jail, wearable equipment Bandai describes as this game’s equivalent of Code Vein’s Blood Veil. Jails enable hunters to use Formae, supernatural weapon abilities, and allow players to execute Drain Attacks, turning their arm into a beast-like claw to siphon a resource from enemies called Ichor.
Ichor fuels Formae, and these attacks vary based on the equipped weapon. Formae can be a powerful and flashy weapon attack, creating defensive shields and other stat buffs, or unleashing projectile attacks, among many others. Thus, you’ll want to drain Ichor from enemies regularly to continue unleashing Formae during battle. Though I’m unfamiliar with how, Bandai flaunts that the Blood Code system has also been reworked. Like in the last game, Blood Codes offer multiple combat styles and sport six attributes that impact the player’s stats, such as your base defense and your max Ichor.
My favorite aspect of Code Vein II’s combat is the Partner system, which lets you summon a second character to aid in battle. Think of Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, but if they were always available and lived inside your Jail. Partners offer an extra hand in battle and, sometimes more importantly, can draw the attention of deadlier foes while you deal damage uninterrupted. I spent most of my session taking down foes with Josée, who proved invaluable not only in battle, but also because she revived me whenever I took a killing blow, though this ability has limited uses.
You can recall partners at any time, called Assimilation. While you’re likely wondering why you would ever willingly fight alone, going solo has its benefits. Partners bestow stat upgrades thanks to a system called Link Traits, and each companion brings unique traits to the table. Partners also grant another meter called Link Points (LP), which is reduced when you take damage before your HP does. Neat, but I rarely took advantage of Assimilation as double-teaming threats was simply too valuable to give up, at least against the enemies I faced.
Cutting down all manner of monstrosities en route to my goal offers decent fun, but things picked up during the two boss encounters in the demo. In the first, I took on a deformed titanic beast called the Metagen Remnant – the source of the Sunken Pylon’s pollution. Resembling a woman grafted to a pair of grimy, giant arms and a long, toxin-spewing tail, this battle was a trial. If I kept my distance, the Remnant would unleash beams of fire from its mouth or rain a volley of fireballs from above. Try to get behind it, and the tail would spray poison, inflicting the Acid status effect if you linger too long. It takes me several attempts and provides an excuse to cycle through each Formae I have equipped. Staggering the creature lets me perform execution-style attacks to deal significant damage. It takes a few tries, but I eventually topple this gross creature thanks to some finesse and no shortage of help from Josée.
Later in my demo, time-traveling shenanigans return me to the present, leaving a grateful Josée behind to rebuild her domain. I go to unseal her in the present; unfortunately, several years and a series of unfortunate events befell Josée after I returned to my time. Thus, when she emerges from her cocoon in the present, her sadness has transformed into a giant, blind, masked sword-wielding demon. Begging for her death, she unwillingly comes at me with ruthless assaults from her oversized sword. I rely on Lou as my partner in this bout, and the two of us do our best to put Josée out of her misery. This battle became my favorite combat encounter of the demo, and though it’s challenging, the action combined with the story implications makes it an exciting bout. Toppling her feels like a real triumph and a big relief to Josée, who thanks me as she withers into nothingness.
According to Bandai, battling fallen heroes in this manner will be a recurring theme of Code Vein II. While they’re keeping the story details secret, they tease that the manner in which players alter time will determine how and when these confrontations play out, assuming they occur at all. Bandai wants Code Vein II to be a tragic story filled with heavy moments, such as witnessing a heroic ally succumb to darkness. According to Bandai, it’s this focus on character drama that defines and separates Code Vein II from the litany of Soulslikes.
I conclude my Code Vein II demo not bowled over by what I experienced, but still intrigued by its time-bending premise. The idea of tackling heroes-turned-monsters who may only become such because of how I choose to fiddle with time is fascinating. However, I am worried about the plot falling into the trap many time-travel stories have of becoming too complex and up its own butt for its own good. We’ll see if Code Vein II has what it takes to make a greater impression than its predecessor, but I respect how hard it’s swinging for the fences.