Since its very first presentation in the now distant 2017, Code Vein has aroused many concerns from critics and audiences. The Souls-Like of home Bandai Namco in fact it did not seem to be in good condition and it was possible to see dozens of gaps, both in technical and playful terms, a critical situation that led many to fear for the worst. Despite the increasingly rampant pessimism, the team did not want to give up and on the contrary, over the last few months, it has worked hard to identify the right direction to take with its ambitious project.
Indeed, given the situation in which the work was, the Japanese company could not help but temporarily remove the spotlight from its new protégé, keep it away from prying eyes and take more time to improve it in its mechanics. The time of conjectures and fears, however, is over and finally we have been given the opportunity to test firsthand the entire experience offered to us by the production, a work that we have carefully analyzed to identify its strengths and weaknesses, and fortunately we can confirm you right from the start. immediately that the extra time given to developers paid off.
Novice vampires
Code Vein is characterized by a script that many could easily trace back to the most classic of shonen. The world was destroyed by a sudden cataclysm and most of the survivors turned into real bloodthirsty vampires. A moderate and constant use of the very precious drops of blood scattered around the globe has allowed these new beings, called revived, to survive while keeping their psyche intact.
Immortal creatures, beings that once killed can be reborn from their ashes (albeit devoid of any memory of the past), soldiers from incredible capabilities necessary to face the terrifying creatures devoured by blood hunger that now plague every place and to protect the few humans left alive, kept safe from what is left of world governments, in exchange for vital blood transfusions. A world in disarray, in short, a Hell made up of internal feuds and dangers at every corner in which even our digital alter-ego will have to survive: revived awakened in a place of which he has no memory and without the slightest memory of his past life, but flanked by a prosperous damsel called Io and undressed in all the right places that, just like us, will have no recollection of who she is or why she is in our company. Speaking of a Souls-Like, the first big difference we noticed compared to the most famous exponents of the genre concerns precisely the narrative component.
The game, in fact, completely abandons that concept of see / do not see where the scenic pathos is all narrated in the descriptions of objects and in the study of the settings, to focus rather on an all-round script made up of secondary characters, dialogues, shots of scene, antagonists and cutscene. The adventure presents all the clichés that years and years of manga and anime have handed down to us, but once we got to the end credits we felt more than satisfied. The events narrated in-game fully bring a pleasant narrative plot to follow, in particular thanks to a wide range of characters who in their stereotypes still manage to be appreciated, all thanks to the various memories that we will be able to discover by playing. In fact, in each of the maps that we can explore, there will be numerous crystals - often even well hidden - representing fragments of memories that once collected will allow us to relive the memories of those around us.
Although this activity is not necessary to complete the adventure, we advise you to dedicate body and soul to the search and collection of these lost memories, which will allow you to get in greater harmony with the various companions you will meet along your path, so as to discover juicy background useful to get a clearer general picture of the situation. As easily imaginable, the work does not fail to offer various scenes markedly exaggerated and characterized by that tasty Japanese touch that never hurts, even if, honestly, at least this time we would have preferred a protagonist not affected by silence. On the other hand, the game world, left a little aside and rather poor in terms of lore, a real shame when you consider that some settings appear simply wonderful and potentially capable of telling very interesting background.
A matter of blood
As mentioned above, Playfully speaking, Code Vein is part of the growing Souls-Like genre, but in reality it takes very little to notice the many differences capable of giving him its own unique and inimitable identity. At the base we have a game system that recalls in every smallest aspect what we saw in the Souls branded From Software, with vast and intricate maps to explore full of enemies, secrets, shortcuts and so on. We have some details buds to make bloom that represent the bonfires, we can recover precious life using potions (upgradeable through specific hidden objects), by defeating enemies you get a particular currency called Mist necessary to level up in order to improve your stats and, should we be defeated, we will lose all the precious haze painstakingly collected. Even in terms of combat-system, the general feeling remains very familiar, including dodges, attacks, parries, parries and backstabs to be carried out while keeping the health and stamina bars under control, all flanked by a large amount of weapons and clothing that can be equipped. . The first big point of detachment between Code Vein and the From house titles is summed up in the companion that we will carry with us. Unlike a Dark Souls in which most of the adventure is generally lived alone, in this case we will in fact be constantly accompanied by a precious ally driven by artificial intelligence or another real-life player. During the adventure we will meet numerous companions who will be able to support us, each with its characteristics, weapons and abilities, a detail that therefore makes it very important to evaluate which is the best ally to take with you according to the situation. Fortunately, we can immediately give you a long sigh of relief by reassuring you about the friendly AI, which has performed very well over the course of our long journey. The many brothers and sisters in arms that we have brought with us have always contributed with commitment in battle, giving us support during the clashes and proved capable of saving our skin even in the most critical moments.
This peculiarity, however, has brought to light a much less difficult experience than we would have expected and that in various situations we have been able to face with general tranquility. Don't get us wrong, on other occasions we have found ourselves in front of very difficult play phases during which the Game-Over counter has skyrocketed, but the great help that the developers have decided to offer us has allowed us to experience each fight with greater serenity. Do you want to the possibility of being resuscitated, either for the chance to see our ally transform into the enemy's favorite target, we advanced from setting to setting without ever encountering any obstacle truly capable of putting us in crisis and various sections that alone would have been able to create enormous headaches have been overcome without too much difficulty. Even the boss-fight they suffered from the choice, with always pleasant clashes - also thanks to often extremely fast and versatile opponents - but who only on rare occasions were able to block our advance for a long time.
Another particular element that differentiates Code Vein from any other Souls-Like dealt with regards the classes, here called "Blood Code". The creature of the Bandai Namco house is characterized in fact by the presence of numerous specializations that can be equipped at any time through a simple menu and capable of completely modifying the statistics of our digital alter-ego. The Blood Codes are present in large quantities and all offer various uniqueness, including unlockable powers and well-diversified usable weapons. The decision not to tie the player to a specific class has undoubtedly proved to be a winner, with the latter finding himself being able to customize his fighting style over and over again, all in the name of the most unbridled experimentation, so as to understand which ones. specializations are better suited to your needs. In addition, the various exclusive skills of each class make the combat-system even richer and more varied, with heated clashes where we often and willingly used everything in our power to put the enemy in a corner. Speaking of customization, the creation system of our protagonist deserves a special mention, so rich and varied that it really left us breathless. The various applicable changes are so numerous that they have already allowed the most geeks to go and recreate famous anime, manga and video game characters with attention to the smallest details, a highly appreciated note of merit for a game where our digital alter-ego will be always clearly visible on the front line.
As easily imaginable, in addition to being able to level up, we will also be able to upgrade weapons and armor through special materials as useful as they are rare, not to mention the presence of a small hub where to catch your breath, take stock of the situation, chat with our companions , buy new equipment or create it with our own hands using the materials collected during some main or secondary mission. From time to time we may also come across special items from the old world, relics to give to our companions in exchange for valuable supplies that can be used in battle. From a more distinctly graphic point of view, Code Vein unfortunately does not scream a miracle, with a glance genre not really in step with the times. Unfinished textures, polygonal counts not always at the top and rather bare settings are thus flanked by beautiful plays of light and shadows and an art design for monsters and settings with fascinating features. Speaking of frame-rates, our base Playstation 4 struggled on more than one occasion to maintain a stability of 30 frames per second, but fortunately the situation did not seem so destabilizing as to have compromised our game. Speaking of the game map, moreover, the various places that we can visit are also characterized by an appreciable level design that explodes in some specific environments, real labyrinths made of tunnels, shortcuts, secret passages and secondary roads. We have very little to say about the sound sector, characterized by an excellent dubbing - available in both English and Japanese - and a soundtrack full of memorable tracks.
