Code Vein

Code Vein is an open world action role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic environment and played from a third-person perspective. Its gameplay was inspired by the Dark Souls series of games (published by Bandai Namco), while its animation takes after God Eater 3, with developers of the latter working on Code Vein.

Code Vein is set in a post-apocalyptic near future following a calamity called the "Great Collapse," where gigantic monsters called Horrors emerged from underground and ravaged the world. To combat the Horrors, humanity created the Revenants: undead humans with vampiric abilities and strength who can only die permanently by destroying their hearts, and require human blood lest they frenzy and mutate into the Lost - savage and uncontrollable cannibals devoid of reason.

Participating in an experiment to stabilize the Revenant population and stave off both the Lost and the Horrors, a woman named Cruz Silva volunteers to become the "Queen of the Revenants", though she later frenzies herself under the strain of the experiments, going on a murderous rampage. More Revenants are created to defeat the Queen in a mission dubbed Operation Queenslayer, led by Cruz's father Gregorio Silva.

Planning for Code Vein started around 2014, with about 200 developers involved at one point. The game was announced in April 2017 and was originally set to be released in September 2018, until it was delayed to September 27, 2019. The game's opening sequence was created by animation studio Ufotable. In January 2020, the game's first downloadable content pack, Hellfire Knight, was released.

The second, Frozen Empress, was released a month later. The last DLC titled Lord of Thunder was released on March 25, 2020.

Code Vein received "mixed or average reviews" for Windows and PlayStation 4, and "generally favorable reviews" for Xbox One according to review aggregator Metacritic. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 32/40.

Game Informer Daniel Tack said that it has "some nice ideas that shake up the core formula, but they are all incidental details", with the game being "overburdened by stale scenery, boring bosses, and tiresome trudging". Hardcore Gamer called the game "surprisingly delightful," but said that the "story, combat, difficulty, visuals and world all suffer from a variety of issues." IGN stated, "Some changes like being able to easily switch around and experiment with classes on the fly are great, while others like its inconsistent AI partner could be more trouble than they were worth at times. But in both the good and the bad, I appreciated its enthusiasm for mixing things up and getting a little weird.", recommending it to those who are "looking for a unique take on a familiar type of challenge, and are open to loving and hating a game for its many mechanical quirks in the same breath."