As I watch a stuttering gameplay demo for Code Vein 2 during Summer Game Fest 2025, all I can think about is how pretty it looks – when it's behaving. But this is the way of the Code Vein franchise: the original game from 2019 was awkward to control, though as atmospheric as 2AM, but its sequel's producer tells me Code Vein 2 wants to be better.
"In terms of why it was important to make Code Vein 2," producer Keita Iizuka says through an interpreter when I ask him, "I think [...] that core [Soulslike] gameplay – retaining it and improving on it for the players for the players was important to me."
"I think the Soulslike, challenging battles [...] and the dramatic storytelling with the exploration is something that resonates really well with players," Iizuka continues. "Likewise, from the gameplay mechanics side, the idea of having a partner with you during all this exploration" – Code Vein features several companion characters – "I think is very emotionally rewarding.
"Those elements – we wanted to bring them into Code Vein 2, and then evolve them."
That's why Iizuka considers Code Vein 2 a standalone game. While the RPG's gothic and electronic, supernatural and futuristic environment identify it as part of the Code Vein family tree, and its story about hunting monster Revenants adopts some of the first game's mythology, Code Vein 2 is ultimately "completely different," Iizuka says.
"The world is completely different," he explains. "The characters are all different. So the story, of course, is going to be different."
But, most importantly for me – someone who's unable to deny any vampire's demonic, cherry-stained beauty – Code Vein 2 is a vampire game in an expanding galaxy of vampire games, if FromSoftware's The Duskbloods and RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker are any indication. With its combat system propelled by your ability to drain enemies' blood, Iizuka muses that "there's something that really attracts us to this [...] motif for characters and storytelling."
Vampires are "extremely powerful and very strong," he continues, "yet they [have] very clear weaknesses that I think everyone kind of universally understands." Just like any of us fallible humans, "they're not invincible."
