UE5 strikes again. No reason I should have to limit my frame rate to 30fps to have a playable experience. I understand my CPU is old, but this is wild (i5-9600k, upgrading soon). Arknights: Endfield—a free game, mind you—runs and looks better than this. Final Update: I refunded the game. I plan to pick it up again later on when I have a better PC and the game has received some updates for performance. At launch, I cannot recommend this game to anyone.

Code Vein 2: Technically Fine, Spiritually Hollow Code Vein 2 isn’t broken. It isn’t unplayable. It isn’t a disaster. And it isn’t badly made. But it lost the soul that made Code Vein matter. CV1 wasn’t special because of mechanics — it was special because of identity: gothic melancholy, tragic atmosphere, emotional weight, and a world that felt damaged in a meaningful way. CV2 feels like a modern systems-first game wearing the Code Vein name. Technically: Performance is smooth Stability is good Visuals are clean Systems are polished Exploration is structured Design-wise: competent. Identity-wise: sterile. The world is prettier, cleaner, safer. The darkness is aesthetic, not psychological. The tragedy is visual, not emotional. The atmosphere is diluted into genre design. This doesn’t feel like a sequel — it feels like a different IP reskinned. Censorship & Artistic Direction The censorship is real: outfits altered DLC designs modified extra layers added under costumes stylized fashion expression sanitized This isn’t about “fanservice.” It’s about artistic coherence. You don’t build a gothic anime IP around stylized bodies and visual expression and then redesign it with fear-based visual safety. That’s not evolution — that’s aesthetic sterilization. It’s like making a fashion show where no skin is allowed: not ethical, not progressive — just lifeless. Simple truth: CV1 had a soul. CV2 has systems. One is identity-driven. The other is safety-driven. Verdict: Code Vein 2 is not a bad game. But it trades identity for design safety. It doesn’t evolve Code Vein. It rebrands it. Not a failure — just a spiritual replacement instead of a sequel.

One of the most unoptimized games I have ever played which is a real shame because it otherwise seems really cool

First and foremost the game simply does not run well. I have a great computer so it's not unbearable but it still doesn't run like it should with this command center of a PC that I have. Tons of pop in, choppy cutscene transitions, low framerate in several areas and situations. Also a general floatyness and less impactful feeling with the combat which is either a lag thing or just a general change that makes it feel off, likely the latter but it's still worth a mention. The customization is... maybe a small tiptoe forward in some aspects and a few steps back from the first game in others. There is just something off about a great deal of the textures for all of the clothing with them just looking haggard and bad. All of the original player character outfits from Code Vein return but look worse in general and the ones that had some underboob/sideboob showing got nerfed to the ground. Most of the new outfits just look... well they look terrible to me. Strange looking outfits that don't look like they fit my characters body. They are all weird and uninspired or just very plain with such a pitiful amount of customization options. Either more outfits or more options for the existing outfits would have sufficed but we get neither. Removing a tiny arm band does not count as in depth customization. There is just a weird arbitrary design with these outfits where some clothes you can change the boots/gloves on some and others you cannot. With so many things being taken straight from the first game and slapped into this one you would think that they would be able to offer more in terms of customization but no. Perhaps the most unacceptable part to me is that with the Ultimate Edition (100 bux btw) you get the original casts outfits but for what can only be described as laziness, you can't change the colors on them at all. Nor can you alter the outfits in any way... how and why is this even a thing? It is not hard to make it possible to dye them... If Eva's outfit had her booba nerfed in this sequel I would have absolutely refunded this with all the previous issues I have with this game. And while it was definitely nerfed, it wasn't hit as hard as everything else. Overall it's quite a bit of a disappointment and a big let down. Perhaps the story will somehow be able to redeem the bad customization, no co-op, downgraded combat feel and performance issues but I highly doubt it. p.s. I see a lot of people pushing back against others simply taking umbrage censorship of outfits... why? Censorship of any kind is just shitty in every aspect. You can try to straw man people as just sex addled coomers because they point it out but that doesn't change the fact that relatively innocuous things were copy and pasted into this game and then changed afterwards for no good reason other than to somehow not offend people or please some non existent puritan audience. The outfits in the original weren't even that scandalous yet they felt the need to "tone them down" Thanks.

Yes, the game runs bad and I had to do a bit of tinkering to make it run well enough. Got 60 fps with great looking visuals, but there is always a stutter here and there. Even the cutscenes, which are locked at 30fps, stutter here and there. But I've seen this from a mile away, since basically every single trailer stutters. That being said, it absolutely doesn't kill my enjoyment of the game. It feels vastly different from the first game, but the exploration and the combat are so much fun! Tinkering with your build is better than ever, even if it feels even more complicated. I did expect a janky Souls (or 'Elden Ring') with a less than stellar performance, and it's what I got. But I also got nice performances from the voiceactors, neat cutscenes, rewarding exploration and a great combat system. Oh yeah, and I really don't give a damn about toned down fanservice. My char looks awesome and I don't need to peek underneath every single skirt in existance. And I LOVE lewd games. But here, it's just not needed.

I will update this when necessary. For now, feels like wasted money for early access. The game performs like shit. The First Berserker Khazan from last year looked way better and didn't eat my CPU.

I'm personally enjoying the game, but hot damn it runs like dookie. I have a 3080Ti and can barely get 45FPS. Hope they can better optimize it. Giving a thumbs up because I have been enjoying it, but I'd enjoy it a lot more if it ran better.

lou is cute but its runs like shit and the combat somehow feels like a downgrade from the first?

The game seems very solid. Okay combat system. Nice open world. Lots of weapons. However, the performance is a bit of a disaster. On my RTX 5090, the game almost never runs consistently with good FPS. 4K DLAA 60-80 FPS 4K DLSS Quality 60-90 FPS 4K DLSS Performance 70-90 FPS It almost never breaks 100 FPS. It constantly fluctuates between 60 and 90 FPS. The settings don't matter. Even with everything set to low, the FPS remains virtually the same. The game is poorly optimized. It also looks extremely bad. At least 5 years behind the times.

No performance issues so far. Running Ryzen 7 9800X3D + 5080, all graphics settings maxed.

Paid $20 for early access thinking it would be co-op like the first. Wildly pissed off this is single-player only. Refunded.

Horrible performance. My specs are not the best, but they are modern, and I can run new releases just fine. However this is unplayable. Specs: i5 12450HX, 32GB DDR5 RAM, RTX 3050, running the game on an nvme SSD. Settings: Medium-low with textures set to high, and models high. 1080p display resolution. 80 scaling Getting 35-40fps in the base, 20-25 fps outside. Framerate is not stable. This should not be this bad. Please fix before official release. Additional notes: 1) Ultimate / deluxe edition outfits need dye channels. 2) Whoever thought that binding PICK UP ITEM / INTERACT and SKIP DIALOGUE to the same button in an OPEN WORLD GAME with CHARACTERS THAT TALK is a good idea, I really hope you are proud of yourself. That's devious. Update: Got to run it in a playable state: 1) Installed Ultimate Engine tweaks from Nexus mods. 2) With the following settings: Windowed Mode, 1080p resolution 30 fps capped Draw distance Medium DLSS Performance Vsync Off Post Processing, AA, Shadow, Effects, Material, Global Illumination settings -> Medium Texture, Character model -> High DoF -> Low Runs stable 30 fps in the open world (after you get out of the intro). Happy I can play it now, but that doesn't mean that the devs should not be held accountable for terrible performance. I will be waiting for driver updates and performance patches still.

game runs fine...yes it could be better but nothing a update cant fix, people need to calm down and stop moaning.

An excellent sequel to a great anime souls-like game. For people who enjoyed playing code vein 1 and wanted to experience it again I can highly recommend picking up this sequel I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time with it.

Performancewise it runs fine for me so far. But i do have a good PC! Gameplay feels smooth. Good first impression :)

I recently replayed Code Vein all the way through to justify a preorder for the sequel, and I have thoughts so far. Eight hours in, and I've been loving most of it. The combat's fun enough, the performance is actually pretty good considering how good the game looks, there's only moderate goonerbait with some of the designs, and the JP VA's did a great job. English feels kinda flat, but the casting seems pretty decent from what little I used.

Below is me talking about things in slightly more depth, but mostly just commenting on what other reviews say.

First, the combat feels more or less the same overall. I don't like not having a second weapon slot off the bat, but it is what it is. - The spaces are bigger and the camera's farther, so it feels both clunkier and more polished simultaneously. - The partner system has changed. now, your partner simultaneously buffs and debuffs you, giving you bonuses when you have them removed from combat, but doing so also massively reduces your damage output in general. Having another pair of hands is better than the, in all honestly, fairly mediocre damage reduction and increase you get with them recalled. - Your partner's damage is not permanent, unless you are actively also hitting the enemy. You can't just sit and let your partner do all the work, or whatever you're fighting will begin to restore its health. - There's two new weapon types, dual blades and rune blades, one being self explanatory and one essentially being nier automata weapons where you can send them to do things while you continue to punch whatever enemy you're fighting. - In Code Vein, parrying was dependent on timing based on which type of veil you were wearing. Claw, spear, thorn and hounds all had different parry windows, ranging from half a second after you hit a button to what felt like almost two seconds. In Code Vein 2, You now have the ability to use the reaper Jail, which has a built in parry with a pretty decent window (similar to the hounds or claw timing), or you can use a defensive weapon type with parrying instead of guarding. Both have very similar parry timings, and it has MUCH better windows than in Code Vein with its 4 frames or so of parry. - The only REAL complaint I have about the combat comes down to the bosses, which feel so overly tanky sometimes it makes you wonder what level of progression you're supposed to be at before you even CONSIDER challenging them, as there's no real indication. They also all have INSANELY high poise, and barely ever stagger even when getting clobbered the entire fight. Second, the customization is NOT that bad. - The "censorship" is minimal. Anyone complaining about it is a gooner just suffering from having 4% less total skin shown at any given time. Every original outfit from the first game is the same, with the sole exception of the towel having slightly more coverage. Io's outfit has a pair of shorts. That's it. They don't cover any more than the original aside from the tiniest bit of inner thigh. - The accessories and outfits are diverse, and the body adjustment is a MASSIVE improvement on the first game. If people complain about not being able to change their face shape enough, they clearly never played the first Code Vein. I am a little upset at the lack of bangs in the accessory section, but generally speaking, almost every other accessory from the first Code Vein is in Code Vein 2. - This one's a little unrelated, but I saw someone comment on the running animation, which in Code Vein had you running in the clunkiest way possible, essentially kicking yourself in the left cheek with your right leg and vice versa. Last, the performance isn't actually THAT bad. You don't actually need to full-send graphics 24/7. Let your computer rest once in a while, people. Turn down two settings by one level, maybe your texture quality or your reflection quality, or hell turn your antistropy down from 1938x to 16x or whatever, and you'll enjoy the game's visual quality at the exact same level without seeing much of a drop. Not everything needs to be unrecord, after all. That's everything. If you read through all this, know that I genuinely believe Code Vein 2 is worth it if you're a fan of the first game, even with a couple issues here and there. Those'll be fixed before march. Probably.

First and foremost, I should really play the game more thoroughly before leaving a review. However; I already see glaring issues I have with the Sequel. I played the absolute shit out of Code Vein(1), I fell in love with it's characters, it's themes, it's gothic vampire aesthetic, and it's story. A lot of people didn't like the original's Story, can't say I agree. When Code Vein 2 was announced I was ecstatic! I kept wondering what we'll do outside the Goal of the Mist? What will become of Io's legacy? How will Revenants interact with the rest of the God Eater universe, the Aragami, the locations, or Humans for that matter? What will become of our beloved Characters like Yakumo and Mia? WHAT ABOUT IO'S LEGACY? Now imagine my dreams and excitement absolutely obliterated when I am first; not even given a similar tutorial and explanation of who my character is like Code Vein(1). Game opens up with exposition of the current setting, another calamity?! One that is completely removed from God Eater's and Code Vein(1)'s?! Despite literally being in the same universe: we see an Aragami in the base story, then 3 MORE in the DLC's referred to as "Horrors" which was the lore reason for the creation of the Revenants; kind of like pseudo-God Eaters. But... apparently we're set in the future where revenants are commonplace and even have Revenant-Hunters(vampire hunter), which are revenants, suppose thats nothing new considering Jack. But this game's setting already feels completely disconnected from the source material. With MY current understanding of this Installment's setting, plot, and lore: it has nothing to do with the code vein lore or story; and even if it is mentioned later in the story, it would only be fanservice for those that played the first game! Because nothing is relevant. Different Calamity. Different themes. Different setting. Different conflict(traveling back in time?!). And god forbid we stick to Original Dark Souls instead of the new hot Elden Ring style of gameplay. As for more comments on the GAME itself rather than story or what became of the franchise: It's miserable. The easy to read and simple UI of the first game? Thrown out the window, now instead we have a more stylized and chaotic character menus and significantly inferior HUD. I'm not a fan of the Gift system being drastically changed. Bloodveils?! Nope, Gone. Now just the drain weapon part: Jails. On that matter, where is all the blood? It's CODE VEIN, the game known for; idk, vampires and blood? Moody grungy and edgy? It literally has VEIN in the title! The aesthetic changes feel like a complete abandonment of the source material in every regard. Our bloodveils are no longer here for us to drain blood, no mention of blood or bloodbeads, No blood aesthetic but instead GOLD?!, VAMPIRES?! I generally do not like some of the game design conventions taken to make it more like Elden Ring. Or the reworking of Gifts and new Forma Def/Off. It's not that they're bad or dogshit in theory or even play: just, not Code Vein. If this was a completely different IP, that'd be pretty cool I suppose. They're just casting magic. Which brings my rambling upset elsewhere: If Code Vein 2 is so insistent on being detached in both themes, lore, gameplay, and BLOOD. What makes this Code Vein? Like; the lore of Revenants is that they're corpses implanted with the BOR Virus, a bio-engineered parasite that inhabits your heart and revives you. It requires blood to keep going and has exotic abilities to fight back against the aragami. All of your Gifts and Abilities are described as using blood or other alchemical methods to perform: shooting a ball of lightning out of your hand, which WOULD be straight up magic in any other setting; but code vein explains everything as biological and slightly eldritch. In Code Vein 2, theres a revenant, Lou, that can travel across time... thats just straight up magic... like there is no explanation just that she can and she is the only one. Now, to be fair: Fantasy explanation of how characters perform basically magic as "Biological" is a stylistic choice; but we all know it's just magic under a different name. However, never does Code Vein imply it's "Gifts" are reality breaking let alone High Fantasy spells like: TIME TRAVEL. In a more coherent conclusion: I feel as though Code Vein 2 has significantly departed from the Source material in a attempt to chase the Success of Elden Ring and it's gameplay. Many of pre-existing mechanics somewhat unique to Code Vein are either butchered or removed. The Deep and Heavy Gothic Vampire aesthetic that defined the Franchise is just gone. It runs on Unreal engine 5, which is a cancer. It's opening hours suck, nothing to do with the original setting, and it just doesn't feel like a Code Vein sequel to me. It feels like a completely different IP with Code Vein's corpse of mechanics and character maker latched onto it.

Horrible performance and I have a 9950x3d 96 GB 6400 ddr5 5090 (Will update when fixed)

Read the reviews after i purchased one of the premium editions to find out that the outfits from the first game are censored giving shorts to io's outfit and putting pitch black shadows on the hotspirng outfit and that the character sliders aren't as good as i thought they were gonna be if that doesnt matter to you then you'll be happy to know that this game looks like a slightly better game compared to the first while running 3x worse than the first game textures are pixelated and i got all of that from the first 9 minutes instant refund i know warning signs of a bad time and this game fits the bill. instant refund and i was looking forward to this game since it was announced even spent more money on one of the premium editions just to get the extra outfits.

I'm liking the game so far, it runs pretty well with only an occasional lag, I do really hope we get out bangs back to make hair look good. other than that it is leaving a positive first impression on me edit: am now just playing with photomode, anything but saving the world

They censored all the outfits they offered as premium DLC, adding shorts to every skirt, and even putting shorts on the TOWEL OUTFIT WHILE YOU ARE BATHING IN THE HOT SPRING. They literally scammed you with false advertising, covering up and downgrading outfits that already existed in the first game. No panties allowed. Zoom in on the feet of the character model and it looks absolutely disgusting, they aren't formed right and the toe nails are literally off the side and uneven. Everything about the model looks like trash. Bandai is on record bragging about censoring games. They can't go bankrupt fast enough. Also the enemies have tons of hyper armor and just strike you through your attacks, and you are stuck in your own attack animations for a very long time so you can't dodge or do anything. The technical form of the attack animations is awful, the heavy attack with dual swords has the character lunge forward from a left lead and turn with the right foot in front, with the toes facing left way across the center line. Many animations have this issue but that one is egregious. Never give them money.

CODE CPU 2

Tran rep is so good more games should be like this

Compared to Code Vein 1 this is maybe a 4/10 on a very good day. Only buy this game if its on atleast 80% sale, else its not worth it. They made the mistake many companies do and go open world but fforgetting to fill it with stuff that actully makes sense. its big empty and full of water. Combat is worse then 1 also all your weapons are hitting like wet noodles while most mobs 1hit you. only positive thing about the game is that it did not crash once in 6hours which is impressive with UE5. JUST GO PLAY CODE VEIN 1 for a overall better experience, or go back to playing Arkknight Endfield which you were doing the last few days anyway