The original Code Vein came out in 2019, blending the then-growing ‘Souls-like’ genre with heavy anime aesthetics. Taking place in a post apocalypse, players were one of the few people that were not corrupted by the forces that wiped out humanity. Despite the existence of various ecchi elements of some barely-clothed waifus in the cast, the story was dark and the setting was grim. Code Vein II largely is related in name only, with the story being mostly standalone and the atmosphere largely swapped to a more fantasy element.
A key part of Code Vein II‘s plot involves time travelling to try to change a hopeless future. The game starts out on a snowy island that the player must traverse to get to a portal to the past. Coming from the first title where nearly every environment was a brown/red industrial park and alleyway, the wide open snowy fields are a very positive change. Graphically the environments look great on PlayStation 5; from the water in the distance, the snow blowing, and trees swaying, many times it is fun to just stop and look around. Rapidly the player gets a bit of plot dumped on them, and then kicked back to the past where the game becomes an open world lite experience of having a large island to explore.
This is partly where one of the criticisms of Code Vein II comes from: a large degree of pacing issues. It will frequently bounce between plot dumps and kicking the player out into the void to go run around for an hour or two with nothing happening. It treads an unnatural line between Western-style games where the plot is more slowly evolving and in insular chunks compared to tighter JRPG plots. This leads to a disjointed feeling where it is tough to tell what the game wants to be. Does it want to be an open world ‘Souls-like’, or an anime JRPG? Many times there is the feeling of wanting to just rush through environments to get to the next part of the story. Unfortunately the narrative often comes in expositions dumps rather than a slower and more natural reveal.
Combat is a great step up from the first game. It is still brutally punishing, with even random enemies capable of killing in two or three hits. Combat feels rewarding when it’s to the player’s benefit, such as a quick ambush and defeating an enemy before they even get a chance to move. In contrast, though, it sometimes feels cheap when the enemy gets off a random hit and blows away a huge chunk of life. Regardless, attacks feel much faster compared to the slow and weighty swings of the original Code Vein. It feels much more agility focused compared to the timing the first one represented.
The change in environment comes at a cost. As stated, the graphics and environments are such a huge step up from the first game, but the problem comes with what it represents. Code Vein was oppressively dark and destroyed, so while admittedly very repetitive, it was in support to the post-apocalypse plot. Here many of the locales look like really nice places for a vacation. This naturally leads itself to an inconsistency within the plot; it becomes tough to feel the weight of an apocalypse when the player is on a nice sunny beach or talking a relaxing jaunt through the woods.
One thing that deserves a little longer discussion is the change in fan service and censorship present in Code Vein II. For some gamers it is going to be a non-issue, but others will find it to be an instant turn-off and has to be addressed. The first game was rated M, and was clearly a made for adults between the story and aesthetics. Code Vein II is only rated T. Specifically the first game had a lot fanservice and a general ecchi vibe present in some scenes, which contrasted well with the dark story. The sequel features many censors to the character outfits, including black shorts, additional longer clothes, general costume changes, and much less of the same vibe being present. It is very strange because despite some of this, much of the rest of the game remains with well-endowed characters wearing meagre clothing.
Code Vein II is fun, but plagued by a few issues. They are systemic, though, and not something easily fixed. There is simply too much divide between the open world exploration, the lack of a present plot, pacing problems, and inconsistency in the story. In some regards it feels like the developer tried to do too many things and as a result is worse for it. This is a decent game, but it isn’t going to blow any minds, and the issues detract it from being highly rated. Code Vein II really just needed more kick in the pants to keep the plot moving forward faster, and perhaps less forced exploration slowing down the pacing.
