January has had a fairly slow start for 2026 video game releases, as is typical in the video game industry. We’ve had a couple of stellar releases, like the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S versions ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade and The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon. We’ve also had the notoriously panned Code Violet. Now, review scores are out for Code Vein 2, and the critic response has been mixed at best.
Currently, as of this writing, Code Vein 2 is sitting at a 73 Metascore on Metacritic, making it the fourth-worst-reviewed game of 2026 so far. It is sitting still at the number 11 spot overall, on Metacritic’s own Best Games of 2026 list, just ahead of Quarantine Zone: The Last Check, BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW, and Code Violet.
Code Vein 2 is an anime-style Soulslike action RPG. Players assume the role of a customizable player character called the Revenant Hunter. The game makes a notable use of open-world game design elements, while the original game was a linear experience, similar in concept to FromSoftware’s leap from the Souls trilogy to Elden Ring.
In Game Informer‘s review of the game, which was scored a 5.5/10, reviewer Wesley LeBlanc called the game ugly and criticized the combat system, writing, “Across 42 hours of monotonous game, I found little warmth here. Its skin, a distractingly garish and ugly visual style, is as cold as its blood, a combat system that struggles to fuse original ideas onto a skeleton sculpted better elsewhere in the genre.”
Many reviewers praise the start of the game’s narrative but note that the storytelling becomes formulaic and the plot is overstuffed. Several reviewers have also criticized the open-world design of the game, with some calling it overly ambitious, like Meristation‘s review of the game.
Code Vein 2 is seeing particular praise for its character creator, which has a free demo available now so prospective players can make their character before the game’s release and take it into the full game.
Code Vein 2 releases on Thursday, January 29, for PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
