Code Vein 2 Review

It’s all about proportion!

Certain gaming styles lack a sense of depth despite an overwhelming sense of scale. To put that in perspective, it doesn’t always mean much if you have a vast horizon and a lot of real-estate to traverse if you can’t do much in it, or if its discoverable elements are of the same-same, rinse-repeat variety. This has been happening a lot as the ‘open-world’ aspect of many sandbox titles has expanded, no pun intended, where combat is left to fill the void and give players something other than exploration to do.

That all might sound a bit complicated, but if we look at, say, Horizon: Zero Dawn, its game-world was pretty much set-dressing for its robo-dino ecosystem where combat with the mechanoids took precedence over a more dynamic world full of wonders and detailed interiors to explore. It was a stunning game with an intriguing story, but it lacked a certain density we now expect of anything announcing itself as “open-world”. And that’s just one example.

In the Souls-like genre, which has itself been expanding into realms other open-world games have, we get a bit more on that discoverable front but most of our meat out of tightly-tuned combat. And that’s okay, because as a genre all its own, the tentpole needs to be heart-pounding skirmishes based around skill, character management and timing. But when it comes to marrying all of the elements above, none bar Elden Ring have come close to getting it all right, and that game is anomalous anyway.

Which brings us to Code Vein 2 -- an ‘open-world’ Souls-like with an anime sheen and a fairly complex story to tell. As you might have already guessed, we are alluding to the idea that it tries to do all of the above with an expected Elden Ring-style outcome of balance and intrigue, but it manages to fall short on pretty much all fronts. It is an engaging and at times stunning game with a unique artstyle in the anime space, so it does stand out, but it also comes packed with old-school tropes that feel out-of-time, which is an apt point because the game’s premise involves a lot of time travelling to reshape the past in order to save the future.

Code Vein 2

Genre: Souls-like JRPG
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Release Date: January 30, 2026
Classification: M15+
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: March 20, 2026

Back to the Future II

Code Vein 2 starts off full of exposition and movement. Its directed path is kinetic and you get a sense of urgency out of the gate, which is a good thing. But it eventually slows to a crawl and by the time we learn we must go back into the past to change the future in which we currently live, which is a wretched post-apocalyptic one filled with dread, we knew we were kind of in for a slow burn. 

"You need to head back in time and help a couple of heroes apparently handy in a pinch..."

You see, an imbalance has befelled the world and Revenants, once there to maintain the balance of all things, are being corrupted by it and transformed into “Horrors”. As a Revenant Hunter, our player-character (created by you in a very lite-on character creation system) is killed early on only to be revived by a young woman who has the ability to travel through time. She ‘joins’ the initial party, and you’re told that in order to thwart the existential threat known as Luna Rapacis decaying the current, you need to head back in time and help a couple of heroes apparently handy in a pinch but who also had their own troubles back in the old days. So far, so anime.

After this relatively brief intro and some lite exploration and a quick trip into the past, the game begins proper and we find ourselves trouncing through equally lite dungeons and slowly levelling in a pretty standard JRPG manner. (Read: convoluted and overly complicated.) And then when we step out into the wide, wide world a sense of equal parts dread and opportunity hits you and you wonder -- can that dungeon experience genuinely fill this place with enough, and enough differentiation for this whole journey?

Back to the Future III

But what better place to learn how you’re integral to the future, than in the past? Could you have ever become the hero you would, had you never gone back and learnt from history? Could you even be your own grandfather?

"A lot goes into how you just swing your sword and what the outcome of that is..."

Existentialism aside, though a rote topic throughout Code Vein 2, the game builds you up in a way that feels like destiny -- more anime and JRPG tropism. But the genuine differentiator here is what you do with leveling, how you leverage the world and its limited resources around you and then build out your combat abilities. As this happens, the game shifts and the Souls-like component comes to the fore, but we’d be remiss to suggest it feels a bit offcentred. Not tacked-on, because that would be a disservice, but certainly unique in the JRPG space, which Code Vein 2 more quickly reveals itself to become. We liken it, actually, to how Final Fantasy 16 brought in Ryota Suzuki from Capcom fighting games to help shape a new vision for combat in that longrunning series. And we think he did a bang up job on that one, so were pleased to get an echo of that here.

An issue, though, is the barrier of entry. Even at a tutorial level Code Vein 2’s combat and systems and management are spreadsheet-ish. This is not news nor usually an issue for Soulsy peeps, but for others it’s worth mentioning, because a lot goes into how you just swing your sword and what the outcome of that is. 

We haven’t mentioned it yet, but Revenants are kind of vampiric and they need Ichor which is blood. Different terms for the same thing because… anime/JRPG. At any rate, in order to extract Ichor, Formae is needed and there are three forms of this, though each has a kind of sub-Formae attached. Weapon Formae for example utilises your weapon for Ichor extraction (read: damage) and you can apply varying sub-types to your weapon depending on its type (this is where it can start to get complicated), and the synergies your produce around this are based largely on trial and error. Beyond Weapon is Bequeathed Formae -- effectively your Special (think fighting games and a super you unleash when a meter fills) and finally Defensive Formae, which speaks for itself in the Soulslike world.

As mentioned earlier, you also partner up with a Buddy in party-lite mode and they can be set to autonomously join you in battle, or merge with you to bolster you so you’re in control.

Back to the Future 

The above takes a bit to get the hang of, but once you work out a playstyle that suits, or a weapon or buddy setup right for an event, occasion or enemy, it’ll click. It’s easily the best part of the game, but that says a bit about what’s on offer for the rest of proceedings because… look, it’s just not there. Yet.

"The space is huge but filled with nothing and feels devoid of a kind of life that could have given it the energy it so deserved..."

We say this because once you understand the rules of engagement, explorations and scaling, the whole space becomes that rinse-repeat dungeon, just on a large scale. The space is huge but filled with nothing and feels devoid of a kind of life that could have given it the energy it so deserved. Even in safe quarters with shops and level-up options and more, they’re just empty. Or if they do feature engaging things, they’re fleeting. If you make large spaces we want to feel like we can go here and find that. No POIs gave us any sense of discovery that wasn’t heavily combat-based which ended up belying the game’s intricate and heavy-handed story.

We loved the characters and the game’s quirky art-direction, even if some bewbs were just too ridiculous, but the whole of it felt skewed too much one way, then in another the next, then another after, without any sense of marrying everything together harmoniously. We see a future for this IP and where it wants to go, but if you’re attempting anything ‘open-world’ or even sandboxy, you need to fill it with life and activity and while some of that’s here, it’s just not yet up to standard.

What’s Boss?

  • Unique artsyle that immediately grabs you
  • A complicated story that is fairly engrossing
  • Fun cast of characters, if a little tropey
  • Combat is the game's absolute strongest aspect

Not Boss Enough?

  • That said, it can also be intimidating and feel spread sheety
  • A massive playspace with very little bringing it to life
  • A static world also lacking in dynamic discoveries leaving little desire for exploration
  • Dungeons are largely one-note

A JRPG with an artstyle that riffs on steampunk, that also features a deep Souls-like combat system. Travel back in time to save a corrupted future in a fairly engaging adventure that just lacks in life and discovery.

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About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms (particularly street and tattoo culture), and is the director of Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd, this site's owner and publisher. When not dispensing words, he's also dispensing boutique beers as a taproom fixture at Bracket Brewing in Marrickville, NSW...
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