Code Vein has gotten a lot of pre-launch notoriety and publicity for a game that looks as quintessentially and unapologetically Japanese as it does, and it all comes down to its pitch- it basically looks like an anime flavored Dark Souls game. Which means that even people who are usually turned off by anime artstyles are interested in the title.
However, the game will have an identity of its own beyond just being anime Dark Souls, it sounds like. Speaking to VG247, director Hiroshi Yoshimura emphasized that the game will be more than just that. “Yes, the battle system is driven by very tense one-on-one battles, kind of like Dark Souls,” he said. “The thing that separates us from Dark Souls is really… well, like I said, it’s because they’re vampires. Because of the blood they suck, they can use these special abilities called gifts. These gifts allow you to for instance speed up or create shields to block enemy attacks.
“By using these gifts, it gives you that very fast-paced action that you’d see in other games also. It becomes a combination of the Dark Souls style high tense battle with a very high pace action – that’s what sets us apart.”
Code Vein is due out on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC next year- whether or not the game is able to successfully follow up in the footsteps of From Software’s superlative series, especially when so many other games fail, is something that remains to be seen. But we will be rooting for it.
