Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 311 sampled Steam reviews (228 positive / 83 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing36% mention it
- Combat17% mention it
- Visuals & art10% mention it
- World & exploration9% mention it
- Difficulty & balance7% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing31% mention it
- Combat20% mention it
- Difficulty & balance20% mention it
- Controls & UI16% mention it
- Visuals & art14% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
50%
56 reviews
5-15h
66%
70 reviews
15-40h
80%
112 reviews
40-100h
84%
56 reviews
100h+
100%
17 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 74 | 51 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 68 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 83% | 77 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 69% | 66 | 105 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 300 reviews sampled · 231 total reviews in window · weighted 157.1 up / 70.7 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (115)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 70
“Despite all the drawbacks, Code Vein is fun to play. Nice characters, fan-service and clear presentation of the story are great. The tightened sections with the story about the past of heroes, visual secondariness of locations, simple opponents and easy bosses can spoil impression to hardcore fans of a genre, but beginners have to be satisfied.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“It's really easy to compare Code Vein to Dark Souls, since pretty much everything stays the same, and the only key differences are Anime Graphics and your partner, who always stays with you and sometimes tells you where something is hidden and when you should be alert. Story also gives you that warm feeling, that you are doing something right in a world full of corruption, where two races can't live together, since one feasts on the other, but throughout the game, you work on finding the right path, so they could all live in harmony. But as long as you get to kill tough bosses and thousands of enemies, we can't complain.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Obviously it's a Dark Souls clone, but does it really matter if the game is good? Code Vein's got unique art style and offers enough original things to hold your interest, without making you think too often about its roots.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“If you've played the similar games, such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Nioh, and you're still looking for more, then Code Vein has you covered. It's not as good as the rest, but it's different and interesting enough to be worth checking out.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Would I recommend Code Vein to someone who’s also a Soulsborne fan like me? Not really. It won’t give you the challenge you seek and the overall design feels like it falls short of achieving what it wants to emulate. What about recommending this to someone who’s never played or finished a single Souls game? Yes, I certainly would. It’s quite possibly the most accessible game in the genre so it might actually help you ease into the brutality of the other games.”
read full review ↗ - 80
- 70
“Code Vein is going to be divisive. Out of the box, it's not a very good game. The balance in difficulty is a mess, with certain classes and abilities feeling hugely overpowered; the partners making even the most challenging encounter easy, until the difficulty spikes massively towards the conclusion. It's in that conclusion that Code Vein shines at its best. For the players willing to invest the time to get there, and good enough to learn how to master the considerably complex system, there is a superb experience waiting. It's just a shame it takes so long to get there.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Code Vein is pretty fun, but it's dragged down some by some rote characters and dialogue and mediocre, tedious level design. It's also probably too easy for genre fans, but it's a solid game in its own right. ”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Code Vein is a stylish JRPG with an interesting combat system that just falls short in a few areas. Its inspirations are clearly worn on its sleeve, but it brings enough to the table to stand out on its own. This title has promise, and we think the developer could iron it out into a worthy franchise if it's given the chance to make future instalments.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Code Vein may be a bit easier than normal and have a few issues but its unique visual style and extensive playstyle customization allows it to easily stand on its own merits.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Code Vein should be applauded for doing something different with the Dark Souls formula. It's great to be able to switch out your classes at will and combine them, and the almost-constant presence of co-op is a real selling point for those who may not want to jump into the deep end of this emerging subset of the genre. The rest of the game, from the story to the level design, feels bland, and the combat falls apart when you suddenly have no AI companion by your side. If you don't mind a heavy dose of anime in your action game, Code Vein may be worth checking out.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“...a game that combined the unforgivable gameplay of Dark Souls with the heart of a JRPG saga...”
read full review ↗
GameMAG
INDIANTVCZ
3DNews
FourFaceButtons
Kakuchopurei
VGChartz
Cubed3
PC Invasion
Push Square
Capsule Computers
Worth Playing
Checkpoint Gaming…and 103 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Patch Note Ver. 1.53May 26, 2020
- Bug Fix Update Ver. 1.52Apr 23, 2020
- Patch Notes 1.51Mar 31, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Update Patch Ver. 1.31Feb 7, 2020
- CODE VEIN - Update Patch Ver. 1.30Jan 28, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- CODE VEIN – Update Patch Ver. 1.20Dec 19, 2019significant · resets scoring window
- CODE VEIN – Update Patch Ver. 1.12Dec 4, 2019
- CODE VEIN – Update Patch Ver. 1.11Nov 19, 2019
- CODE VEIN – Update Patch Ver. 1.10Oct 24, 2019significant · resets scoring window
- CODE VEIN – New Update Coming SoonOct 8, 2019
- CODE VEIN – Patch 1.03Oct 2, 2019significant · resets scoring window
- CODE VEIN - Day One PatchSep 26, 2019