Bandai Namco’s promotional campaign for the anime Souls-like Code Vein continues, even without a set release date in sight. This time, the developer and publisher has dropped a ‘Behind the Scenes’ video for the title, the first in a planned series where key developers share some of their thoughts about key mechanics found in Code Vein, and how certain certain design decisions were made. Check out the video below, but fair warning to keep your eyes low; the developers speak in Japanese, and the subtitles are a bit hard to read.
Code Vein is an entirely new IP being developed by the same team behind Bandai Namco’s own God Eater series. Even though it’s its own beast, there’s no mistaking the inspiration God Eater has on Code Vein, down to a very similar art style and camera placement. In Code Vein, your player character becomes a vampire known as a ‘Revenant,’ who has access to a myriad of powers. You aren't alone in your journey, though, as you’ll be fighting alongside similar individuals to explore dangerous dungeons.
That, in essence, is one of the key things that Bandai Namco is looking to build upon in order to set Code Vein apart from other action RPGs: dungeon crawling mechanics. The developers talk at length about the sheer strength of the enemies you’ll face in the game, which is one of the key features you see in good dungeon-crawler RPGs. Balancing for this has been tough, the developers state, as they want something that most players can just pick up from the start, while challenging them in a way that is incredibly exhilarating as the game goes on.
The developers then note that there are systems built for Code Vein that were based purely on the lore of the creatures they’re going for, which are vampires. Drawing blood, for instance, is a key mechanic, one which acts as a way to replenish your capacity to do various abilities at your command. The developers were also careful to keep mechanics varied and useful for different playstyles in order to keep the gameplay fresh for more than a single playthrough.
Code Vein is set for release sometime in 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. A closed network test for the title is set to run from May 31 to June 3.
