The Dark Souls series has a reputation for being punishingly difficult, challenging players’ patience and problem-solving abilities as they come face to face with increasingly brutal enemies. Its high skill ceiling, addictive action-RPG gameplay, and rich worldbuilding has made it a fan favorite, but everyone can agree it has been sorely lacking in one department: anime vampires. Look around any Souls game — there are zero anime vampires to be found. It’s a frankly embarrassing statistic in an otherwise extremely polished series, but it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Thankfully, Bandai Namco, who publishes the Dark Souls series, acknowledges this and they’re seeking to address this shocking paucity in a brand new video game, Code Vein.
Released on Tuesday, the first trailer for Code Vein reveals everything that Dark Souls has been missing: cool-ass anime vampires fighting all manner of creepy, screen-filling monsters using tactical, real-time combat to defeat them. The characters feel a bit like Tokyo Ghoul cosplayers, but if you’re going to take design inspiration from another hit anime, you could do a lot worse. Admittedly, I was hoping that the game would employ the art style showcased in the #PrepareToDine teaser trailer, the end result looks pretty compelling in its own right.
Here’s the basic gist of Code Vein, according to the video description:
“In the not too distant future, a mysterious disaster has brought collapse to the world as we know it. Towering skyscrapers, once symbols of prosperity, are now lifeless graves of humanity’s past pierced by the Thorns of Judgment. At the center of the destruction lies a hidden society of Revenants called Vein. This final stronghold is where the remaining few fight to survive, blessed with Gifts of power in exchange for their memories and a thirst for blood. Give into the bloodlust fully and risk becoming one of the Lost, fiendish ghouls devoid of any remaining humanity.”
Bandai Namco has not yet officially announced what platforms the game will appear, but the action-RPG will release in 2018.
What do you think of Code Vein? Will you be playing? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: Bandai Namco
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).
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