Code Vein II

56 hours

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7/10

(I did the world's first +0 weapon on first playthrough - my review does not include any challenges i might've encountered from the run)

Gameplay

The gameplay has improved from the first game. There are alot of simularities, but the backstab and parries actually feel on-time and polished this time around. The bosses felt fair, none felt like there was 1 shot bullshit. There was a bit of a problem with repeat bosses especially when you're fighting the same boss 4 times in a row and repeating main story bosses within the main story.

Level Design

The game is designed as an open-world game, but it feels more as a means of traversal and story telling. I don't consider this an actual open world game. You don't get rewarded for exploring, rather it's just for gathering resources for crafting. Everything important is marked on the map which also defeats the purpose of exploring. When you get to the dungeons or areas for questing, they're pretty linear which is a nice change from the first game.

Story

Excellent story! It had me tearing up several times. I often got lost in code vein 1 storywise and the walking sections were wayyyyy too long and dragged out. They were shorter and quick to the point in this game. There were a few story lines that i felt like they rushed or didn't complete and/or could've added alot more to heighten the impact like some of the other stories.

Character Development

Every character has development, even side characters. It's amazing to see them grow and change and hear their backstories in different timelines and how they change when you change the timeline. Really well done.

Visuals

The visuals were great! Felt like i was watching anime alot of the time.

Audio

Audio... The soundtrack is INCREDIBLE. BUT! The ambiance when traversing is awful. There is almost none. There were some moments when i thought it was because of the time period, but then both time periods were empty quietness. I didn't like that there was both an empty world and empty sounds. It just made it feel that much more empty.

Difficulty

I did my first playthrough with a +0 weapon and i felt it was very fair and not very challenging until the final boss. So i'd say the difficulty is a middle ground difficulty. Very accessible for a souls like!

Replayability

I'm not sure there is not many replayability since there aren't different endings with replaythroughs - there are 2 extra endings once you beat the game. You can replaythrough for a challenge run however! The game is pretty linear, so there won't be many differences.

Overall, i enjoyed playing this game. There were some flaws and some things that didn't resonate with me, but I enjoyed the combat, boss fights, music, and the story. If you enjoy code vein 1, I recommend this. If you want to try an easier souls-like, this could also be good. Overall, fun!

Code Vein II

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Rating: 5/10

The game started off well but ended up being disappointing. The story is lacking, though Holly's storyline is worth experiencing. Unfortunately, it completely lost the vampire-mystery charm from the previous game.

Gameplay has improved and is straightforward—you won’t get lost anymore. The soundtrack and art style, as always, are solid. However, the open world feels lacking. I don’t recommend exploring much, because eventually you’ll reach certain areas anyway through quests. There’s also no music while driving around on your motorcycle. A Code Vein radio while riding would have made it way more enjoyable.

The story structure is messy: each hero has a totally separate storyline, and in each one, you end up doing very similar tasks. For me, the game breaker was right before the final boss—you’re forced to fight three repeated bosses. I stopped playing and streaming at this point. I might come back and do it as a bonus YouTube video, but only if I find the motivation to tackle three copy-paste bosses.

These repeated encounters, combined with the already weak story, really crushed the game for me. I hope others enjoy it more, but for me, it made me appreciate Code Vein 1 a lot more, even though it’s so outdated.