CV2 never figures out what kind of game it wants to be.

the open world is ok but extremely empty and gets old fast

combat ranges from fun to frustrating for regular enemies. however bosses are horrible and only get worse the later you go they often attack endlessly and are fairly difficult to stagger. even if you do manage to catch them off guard they recover in under a second and go right back to spamming.

i question if the MC was even made with this game in mind, you are very very slow and even with max balance a light breeze staggers you.

maybe they will fix these issues later but for now i do not recommend this game

Will not be playing until performance issues are fixed. FPS drops in the middle of a fight are not fun.

Code Vein 2 is one of those games I ended up enjoying more than I expected. I also liked it more than the first one.

The biggest improvement for me was the semi open world design. Exploring actually felt rewarding instead of just moving from one corridor to the next, and I found myself wanting to check every corner instead of rushing to the next objective. It gave the game a stronger sense of adventure that the original sometimes lacked.

The story itself was fine. Nothing mind blowing, but it was easy to follow and never confusing, which I appreciated. Where the game really shines is with the characters. The companions had personality, charm, and enough presence that I actually cared about them, even if some of their side quests dragged on a bit longer than they probably should have.

Gameplay wise, this is easily the most forgiving souls-like I’ve played. Some people might see that as a negative, but personally I didn’t mind at all. Not every game in this genre needs to be brutally punishing to be enjoyable, and I still had fun with the combat throughout. One thing I do wish was handled better, though, was weapon variety incentive. Once I fully upgraded a weapon I liked, there really wasn’t much reason to experiment with anything else, which made progression feel a bit static later on.

Performance also wasn’t perfect. I definitely noticed some issues here and there, but at the very least the game stayed stable. No crashes, which counts for a lot these days.

Despite the flaws, I had a genuinely good time with it. I enjoyed it enough to go all the way and 100% the achievements, which I almost never do unless a game really clicks with me.

Overall, it’s not perfect, but it’s fun, approachable, and has a lot of charm where it matters.

8/10