Interested in catching all the E3 2019 action? Check out our handy guide, and all of our E3 2019 coverage!
Bandai Namco Entertainment has finally announced a release date for their upcoming vampiric dungeon crawler action role-playing game Code Vein. The game will release on September 27, 2019, which is almost exactly a year behind its original release date.
Geek Culture caught up with Code Vein’s Producer, Keita Iizuka at E3 to learn more about the game.
Iizuka-san shares on how the team made use of the extra year to improve and brush up on the overall appeal of the game. For a start, the team wanted to make sure they nailed the opening cut-scene so that the player can easily understand the story and what they will be getting into. One of the key features of the game is with its companion system, so adjustments were made to the AI algorithms of the companion to improve on their overall character behaviour and actions they take throughout the course of the game, Improvements have also been made to the navigation system, so that players will know clearly where to go next, thanks to a refined radar HUD.
The biggest thing we worked on and still continue to improve is the “Gift” system, which is sort of like a job skill tree that you use when you level up. We wanted to expand on the variation of actions of the gifts, to cater better to each player’s play style. This is done by ensuring each of the skills and attacks feel speedy and fresh when used in conjunction with the gifts. This is something we really zoomed in on and we’re confident we nailed it this time.
Iizuka-san then continues to share more about the companion system and what sets it apart from other games with similar AI buddy systems. He wanted to give the player an NPC companion experience that’s close to how it’s like with MMORPGs where players interact with other real players. The player has no direct control over their companions but both share and work towards the same goal. In Code Vein, players can’t directly give commands to their NPC companion. Instead, the companion will automatically apply attack or defense buffs, heals and occasionally revives the player. The companion will even help location hidden items, give hints of where to go next, and have their own story narrative that weaves into the flow of the game.
Iizuka-san shares his personal favourite Blood Code (character class), and clearly he’s a fan of one-handed swords.
My personal favourite Blood Code is the one called Prometheus. It is a Blood Code the player can acquire from a character named Louis. Prometheus will buff your attacks on one-handed swords. With this buff, each consecutive attack made increase your attack power, which allows for some fun combo attacks. At the same time, it also boosts the baseline stats of one-handed swords.
Apart from the character customization (aesthetics), Blood Code (character classes) and Gifts (job skill tree), Iizuka-san was particularly proud of how the team constructed and designed the boss battles in the game. The collaboration and dynamic between the player and the NPC companion was a key focus. The sense of teamwork that is carried out throughout each battle, where the companion assists with not just buffing and healing the player, but to also provide hints, on top of fighting alongside the player.
With that, Iizuka-san is proud of the sense of achievement and satisfaction that can be had from beating boss battles, and he hopes gamers will feel the same when they eventually play the game.
Aside from a brand new trailer announcing the game’s release date, Bandai Namco has also released a fifth trailer revealing more of the narrative surrounding the Revenants, humans who have turned into vampires following an apocalyptic event which wiped out most of humanity.
We also get a better look at the various monsters the protagonist will encounter on his journey.
The end of the fifth trailer reveals a Limited Physical Bloodthirst Edition that fans can collect. The limited collector’s edition will come with the main game, a 17cm figurine of Mia Karstein, an art book titled CODE VEIN World Report, and the original soundtracks for the game, composed by Go Shiina.
Players who purchase the game on the day of release will also get to receive the God Eater Collaboration Weapon Set and the Blood Veil Ogre “Venous Claw”.
Interested in catching all the E3 2019 action? Check out our handy guide, and all of our E3 2019 coverage!
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
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