But the developers aren’t hiding
from this comparison, in fact they’re
embracing it. “It’s great that people
say that Code Vein is kind of related
to Dark Souls, because Dark Souls is,
like, one of the best action RPG games
ever,” says Code Vein’s producer
Aude-Alexia Koch. “So, obviously Code
Vein does take a few cues from the
‘die and retry’ Dark Souls genre, but I
think that we’re bringing something
new with Code Vein, especially with
the co-op mode, which is completely
new and allows you to experience the
game differently.”Forever friends
Dark Souls also has co-op
functionality but this consists of
summoning players for help or
invading other people’s games, and
as soon as the boss in a particular
area is defeated or the host dies,
each player is sent back to their own
world. In Code Vein you’ll be able
to team up with your friends right
from the beginning and all the way
to the end. This allows you to build
strategies on how you want to fight. At
any point you’re able to change how
your character plays by using various
‘Blood Codes’. The ones we saw were
Fighter, Ranger and Caster, and they
give you a different set of abilities, or
‘Gifts’, and change your effectiveness
with certain weapons. Depending on
the situation, then, you might decide
that one person will take on a healer
role and the other an all-out fighter.
Many more Blood Codes will be made
available to you as you progress to
give you more strategic options.
If you don’t have another player with
you, or if you’d simply prefer to play on
your own, then you’ll be joined by an
AI companion, several of which you’ll
meet throughout the game. You’ll only
be able to have one with you at any
given time, however.
After our recent hands-on session
with the game we found that although
the game is challenging, it’s not
as unforgiving as Dark Souls. It’s
also fun to play, even if the female
character designs cause us to raise
a questioning eyebrow. Its accessible
nature means that people who may
have been put off by Dark Souls’
demanding reputation may be more
open to trying out the genre, which
can only be a good thing. QYou’re an amnesiac Revenant, a
vampire-like creature that thirsts
for blood, looking to restore your
lost memories in a post-apocalyptic
world that’s on the brink of ruin.
Every time Code Vein shows its face,
waves of people cry out that it’s
simply an anime Dark Souls. Which,
at first glance, is a fair assessment,
given that it shares more than just
a sprinkling of similarities with the
popular FromSoftware series.
The majority of the Dark Souls game
design has been replicated for one.
They’re both action RPGs in which you
traverse through various locations
full of winding paths and hard-as-
nails enemies. Instead of souls you
collect Haze, which is used to level
up your character. Upon death you
lose all of your Haze, but you have
one opportunity to retrace your steps
to where you died and reclaim it. Die
again and that stockpile is lost forever.
Shiny tree-like ‘Mistles’ function in
exactly the same way as bonfires, this
will be where you level up, replenish
your stock of healing items and
teleport to other locations. But this
comes at a risk, as every non-boss
enemy will respawn as soon as you
activate them. That’s not all, though:
Code Vein is being developed and
published by Bandai Namco, which
also published Dark Souls.Code Vein was initially teased with the words ‘prepare to dine’ – remind you of anything?
Code Vein
This isn’t just another
Dark Souls clone when
you’re playing with friends
Adam Bryant
PUBLISHER BANDAI NAMCO DEVELOPER BANDAI NAMCO
ETA 2019CUSTOM
JOB
The character creator
in Code Vein offers
such a vast array of
options that you
might spend hours
creating your very
own Revenant.
Although you can only
select your face from
a series of templates,
you can change
(among other things)
your clothes, hair
(which can be
layered), eyes and
accessories, such as
hats, scarfs, glasses,
backpacks and even
fluffy tails.
“Although the game is
challenging, it’s not as
unforgiving as Dark Souls”
036 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
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