CODE VEIN II: The gothic anime soulslike returns, bigger, bolder, and emotionally charged.
CODE VEIN II is the long-awaited follow-up to 2019’s gothic anime-styled Soulslike. It’s Bandai Namco’s return to the vampire-themed, post-apocalyptic world that won players’ hearts with its unique mix of difficult combat and anime-styled storylines. Over the course of six years, the developers reflected on what went well and what didn’t in the first game. They promised a bigger world, more complicated combat systems, and a more complex story.
CODE VEIN II is easier for new players to get into than many versions.
You don’t need to know a lot about the first game to start this one; the stories are mostly self-contained. The sequel builds on the first game’s structure by adding time travel, open world exploration, and highly customizable character builds. It still keeps the anime style that made the series famous, though.
The cool thing about CODE VEIN II is that it combines old Souls-like features with new ones. For example, it adds a motorcycle system for getting around and a time-shifting feature that lets players see how the world was in the past and the present. The game aims to be both hard and easy to play, so both fans of the first game and newcomers to anime-Souls games can enjoy a fully realized experience.
Bandai Namco’s development team clearly wanted to make every part of the original game bigger while also fixing problems like difficulty spikes, linearity, and repetitive fighting. The result is a game that feels both familiar and ambitious, with enough scale and detail to impress even people who have played a lot of Souls-like games.
When CODE VEIN II starts, the world has been wiped out by an end-of-the-world event. Cities have fallen, and roads have been flooded and destroyed. As a revenant hunter, players must go back in time and stop the people who are most guilty of the end of the world.
This time-travel feature lets you experience two stories at once: you explore the effects of choices made in the past while managing a broken present. This creates tension and emotional stakes that aren’t usually present in Souls-like games.
The game throws you right into a lot of lore-heavy language. Words like Forma, Mist, Blood Codes, and Resurgence are used so quickly that it can be hard to keep up. But as players try out different systems and processes, these words that were at first hard to understand start to come together to form a world that makes sense. When the tutorial parts are over, the story really starts to get interesting, with both personal character arcs and high-stakes action.
The emotional depth of the people in CODE VEIN II is one of the best things about the story.
When you follow stars from the past, you see their sad pasts and formative experiences, and you often know how their lives will end. This adds a unique tension: you form bonds with people whose lives you can’t completely change. The story is full of themes of loss, pain, and sacrifice, and there are times when you really care about the people you meet.
In addition, there are branching choices in the game that change both the past and the present, sometimes opening up whole new places. The main plot is pretty typical anime “save the world” stuff, but the deep character growth and powerful personal stories make it more than just a collection of tropes.
Some players might find the early explanations annoying. Still, once you get into the swing of exploring, learning about characters’ pasts, and talking to your friends, CODE VEIN II‘s story keeps you interested all the way through. You should enjoy this story if you like character-driven adventures with action and choice.
The game’s setting is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with broken buildings, ruined infrastructure, and flooded cities. The environment gets more interesting as you explore rooftops, interiors, and high highways.
There are also hidden dungeons, mini-bosses, and secret places all over the world. The open-world style makes exploring more fun than in the first game, and being able to switch between past and present forms of the world makes both the story and your movement through it better.
The time-shifting feature in CODE VEIN II isn’t just for the story; it also changes how you explore.
Some parts of the past might not be available until progress is made in the present, which gives players a satisfying sense of how one thing can lead to another.
The motorcycle traversal system, based on Elden Ring’s horse physics, lets you move faster and glide less, making vertical exploration freer and more fluid. The system is usually much better than the original game’s linear design, though it can be annoying when physics bugs or story gates stop progress.
At its core, CODE VEIN II is a cartoon Souls-like game where builds can be changed a lot. There are a lot of different weapons for players to pick from, such as standard swords and axes, as well as psychically controlled blades and bayonet rifles.
Players can change how they fight by using different attack chains, charged strikes, and special skills for each type of weapon. You can also put skills and spells on each weapon, giving you more ways to attack and defend.
Blood Codes from the first game are still in this one. They determine how your character plays and how many stats they have. When you mix these codes with jails (abilities that are linked to companions) and boosters (like talismans in other Souls-like games), you get a lot of depth.
You can try out different builds that use melee, ranged, magic, or a mix of these. The way these systems work together gives you a lot of strategy options. Consumables, buffs, and firearm upgrades add to the game’s complexity and encourage both trial-and-error and careful planning.
Many enemies appear, but they are used over and over again during the fifty-hour game.
At first, encounters may seem hard, but getting used to them can make them easier, especially since you can get energy back (Icore) during staggered strikes. Boss fights can also recur with little change, making them less powerful. Even with these problems, the fact that buildings are flexible and weapons can be chosen from makes battle fun.
Companions are an important part of CODE VEIN II, and each one has its own perks, buffs, and ways of fighting. They can bring them back to life when you die, but it takes time away from fighting. Some players might think that companions are a crutch, but the game makes sure that people who seek a challenge can still play alone. Some areas of the game require particular friends, which makes picking characters more like making a plan.
Exploration and battle are directly linked to XP and leveling up. You can get experience and resources to improve your weapons, armor, and jails by defeating enemies, finishing side quests, and finding hidden areas.
This development is important because it lets players change their builds in strategic ways and fight in different ways. In some Souls-like games, grinding XP can get boring, but in CODE VEIN II, it’s a natural part of exploring and finishing the story.
The way CODE VEIN II looks divides people. It keeps the anime-style look of the first game, but some parts move toward older cell-shaded styles, which makes some settings look a little plastic. The day/night cycle is ruled by gray tones, and it rains and mists a lot, which can make the outdoors look dull.
Character models, on the other hand, are unique, and set pieces like time-shifted wrecks and urban decay are striking. The way the zones are set up and how tall they are make you want to look up, down, and all around, which adds to the sense of finding and scale.
The time-shifting effects on the environment are especially amazing, with parts of the world going back and forth between physical and ethereal states. Some parts of the game have bugs, clipping, or small frame drops on consoles, but the general visual design is good and helps you feel like you’re in the post-apocalyptic world.
The sound in CODE VEIN II is great. The music in the game runs from spooky piano themes to orchestral boss music, which makes both emotional and combat scenes better. Some characters in story-driven stories, like the singer Holly, have their own music that fits right in with the story.
The Japanese voice acting is good, on par with current anime. The English dubs aren’t as consistent, but they’re still good enough. Sound effects, skill effects, and environmental sound usually help with gaming, but sometimes there are problems with the sound.
CODE VEIN II is a big improvement over the first game. It gives you a deep, open-world anime Souls-like experience with big battle systems, characters that make you feel a lot, and a world that rewards exploration. Early-game explanations and jargon can be too much, but the story and exchanges between characters quickly become interesting.
Combat in the game is fun and varied, but some enemies and bosses appear more than once, the game sometimes feels unbalanced, and there are some small performance problems that keep it from being perfect.
Exploration is fun, and the addition of past and present features makes the game more complex. Some people may not like the graphics, but outdoor design and verticality make the experience more immersive. The Japanese voice acting and music are always very good, making the experience intense and atmospheric.
