[Preview] Code Vein II reimagines the anime formula through the lens of time

Vampires, apocalypses, time travel and moons: Code Vein II aims to go all in on sci-fi and fantasy twists

Bandai Namco wants us to know that whatever our thoughts were about the original Code Vein, this sequel is bigger and bigger, and also bigger. Once again it’s an open world Action-Adventure RPG with brutal bosses, tons of exploration, and a story that may require a wall of sticky notes and string, but it’s not meant to be a direct sequel to the original. Rather, this reimagining is only possible because the Soulslike genre and development technology have come a long, long way in the years since its 2019 release.

Our hands-off presentation at Summer Game Fest involved some story elements but really focused on the gameplay and action. Set in the post-apocalyptic future after a moon-based calamity happens (the moon is depicted as being chained to the earth, floating auspiciously close in the sky, and it’s friggin’ cool) Revenants, the vampiric denizens of this world, are slowly being turned monstrous. Things are getting chaotic (thanks again, Moon) and the different Revenant houses are battling for control, with Humans getting in the way sometimes. Our job as the Revenant Hunter is to save the world, alongside Lou MagMell, a character that revived us after we’d disposed of.

But that’s not all. There’s a huge element of time that affects the game, as things will shift between the quickly collapsing Present and the world of 100 years prior in which we had only just started the path towards calamity. We’ll need to manage time and time travel to save the present — and ultimately the future.

The game focuses on several gameplay features. We collect things to build up abilities and attacks based on Blood Codes, which are sort of like classes related to the House we’ve chosen. These can affect abilities and skills, and even the speed of build up of different attributes. We channel the Revenants we hunt by storing their hearts in things called Jails on our backs, which afford us different equipment. Using these Jails we can utilize Formae, which are special attacks based on the weapon we currently have. These can be defensive (guard, parry, etc) or bequeath (special attacks) or any variety of others, as we’ll have 7 different types of weapons to choose from but they all have caveats, so if we want a big ass blade then we’ll have to understand that it’s going to be powerful but heavier to wield. We can have close- or long-range attacks and our partner Lou will even join in by helping us, even casting buffs when we need them. We even have cool finishers to enact, if we’re lucky to take down an enemy.

Our demo video showed combat against the massive boss from the announcement trailer. It’s giant sword swings with a furore as the clock gears within it turn and shift and click. The battle is tough; not only is the boss incredibly strong but even the hero’s current skillset and Blood Code may not have been enough to take it down. Ultimately the boss wins out — we can’t go seeing too much of what happens next in the plot if we had won, can we.

Code Vein II introduces mini dungeons to the series, located underground. Each dungeon has a unique visual design; we see one that looks like a mall, complete with escalators and what looks like a dilapedated shopping center. It’s wild to see that as a dungeon, but also kind of cool as this world was oncxe populated by normal people and normal buildings. The world is huge by scale, so getting from dungeon to dungeon can seem perilous. Luckily we can get around on a motorcycle, so traversal is never meant to be a slog.

And, like the original game Code Vein II has a lot of customization for the main character, with new clothing, new facial features, and more more more — the Bandai Namco team want us to know that they went overboard to provide players with the opportunity to really make this character their own.

While the presentation and demo were hands-off, there’s certainly a vibe present in Code Vein II. It’s aiming to push the Anime-ness of the plot, and yet give a deep and layered level of gameplay. We’ll see just how deep into the dungeon it gets, as the game is shceduled for launch sometime in 2026 for Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 and PC.