Code Vein 2 preview: timey-wimey vampire survivors

After a sneak-peak at Bandai Namco’s new anime-inspired soulslike, I’m pretty optimistic that it’s going to be a 2026 banger.

Code Vein 2 was announced during this year’s Summer Game Fest showcase and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t catch my eye.

With an open-world that can be explored throughout two different points in time it looks to have an interesting narrative, and after a short, behind-closed-doors gameplay demo the time-travel aspect sounds pretty interesting.

Players will become a Revenant Hunter, which are sort-of like vampires without the drawbacks, like not being able to go outside.

They’ll fight revenants across time to prevent a cataclysmic event that basically destroys the world as we know it, but to do so they’ll have to go back to before things really kicked off.

The gameplay demo showcases some of the open-world exploration, with story missions and dungeons to partake in as well as plenty of enemies to tackle along the way. At some point in the game you’ll unlock a kick-ass motorcycle to speed things up a smidge.

It’s said that actions performed in the past will have an impact on the future, with an example being a bridge built in the past will still be there by the time you travel back, unlocking new areas to explore in both versions of the map.

Combat looked exciting, with a variety of weapons ranging from greatswords with rifles with a bayonet attached to it. You’ll also have access to powerful attacks that can only be pulled off when you’ve extracted enough blood from enemies. These powers morph the player, Prototype-style, to have razor sharp claws, wings and more mutations for devastating blows.

The last thing worth touching on are the bosses. Only one boss was shown off but it’s very, very soulslike in its design.

Dodging and spacing were clearly vital in the fight as well ensuring you have a good opening to use your special moves in, and while it wasn’t paced like one of FromSoftware’s battles you can tell it's in the same genre at least.

Overall Code Vein 2 looks promising, and I’m interested in seeing how in-depth those special abilities go. The premise is also very exciting if it’s executed well enough.