Accessory manufacturer Belkin has added a new Switch 2 case to its catalogue, and this one looks like a doozy. The Charging Case Pro retails for $99.99, which certainly sounds like a lot for a case, but you’re also getting a lot with this one.
The new Pro model comes with an LED indicator so you can quickly see how much charge the 10,000 mAH power bank has, allowing you to charge the Switch 2 up to 1.5 times while on the go. The console itself can be docked into the case and used in table-top mode whilst it’s charging, and you can store up to 12 Game-Key Cards game cartridges in the included sleeves.
Xbox to Bring Cloud Gaming to Select Hisense and V homeOS-powered Smart TVs
Lori Wright, Corporate Vice President, Gaming Partnerships and Business Development
As we step into the new year, many of us are looking for fresh ways to play, connect, and explore. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new partnership with V (formerly VIDAA) that expands where your gaming adventures can happen: the Xbox app is coming to select Hisense and V homeOS-powered Smart TVs in 2026.
This partnership is all about giving you more freedom and flexibility to play how you want. Xbox Game Pass subscribers – including Ultimate, Premium, and Essential subscribers – will be able to stream hundreds of games, from new releases to fan favorites, directly through the Xbox app on supported TVs via Xbox Cloud Gaming.
With the Xbox app, you’ll be able to explore a variety of great games including Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and many more. As an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you’ll also unlock unlimited cloud gaming, giving you the flexibility to play games across different devices, including select games you already own. It’s all about giving you more freedom to play your way.
Expanding the Xbox Cloud Ecosystem
Our vision is to make sure your games, your community, and your achievements are always within reach. Bringing the Xbox app to select Hisense and V homeOS-powered TVs is another step toward making gaming available across a broad range of devices, to meeting you wherever you want to play. We’ll share more details on the Xbox Cloud Gaming experience with Hisense TVs in the coming months. Stay tuned to Xbox Wire and follow our social channels for the latest updates.
Super Meat Boy, the hard-as-nails platforming classic where dying dozens of times per level comes as standard, has now been played from start to finish in a perfect run.
It’s been 15 years since Super Meat Boy originally released for Xbox 360, and it has taken all of those 15 years for someone to pull off this frankly astonishing feat.
Step up shredberg, a Nintendo speedrunner with a particular soft spot for Super Meat Boy, who livestreamed his deathless completion of the game just before the end of 2025. The achievement quickly drew congratulations from Edmund McMillen, the game’s co-creator, who dubbed shredberg as “awesome” for being the one who finally managed it.
For anyone who’s played and struggled with Super Meat Boy over the years, particularly its later levels which simply look impossible when you first see them, it’s hard to not watch the full video of shredberg’s run and be impressed at the calm way he leaps, slops and slides around each level just pixels away from sawblades, meat grinders and explosions.
“Let’s go,” shredberg said calmly, upon completing Super Meat Boy’s final level after more than 2000 attempts and over 1000 hours of gameplay. “Let’s go dude! I cannot believe it, I’ve been doing this too long. I got to go to work tomorrow.
“I’ll be honest, I’m not going to say I wasn’t nervous, because I was very nervous at the end there… but I was way more nervous just in Dark Cotton,” he continued, referencing an earlier level. “Once I got past Dark Hell 2, I was relatively fine. I got super nervous whenever I had any minor slip-up.”
“I’m going to be emailing everyone,” shredberg added. “Kotaku, IGN, CNN, Chef’s Illustrated, they’re all going to hear about it. I will unironically email IGN.”
Over the years, Super Meat Boy has launched on every major console from Nintendo Switch to PlayStation Vita, though no one else has managed this feat — something many players thought was impossible. A sequel to the game, Super Meat Boy Forever, launched in 2020. Next up for the series is Super Meat Boy 3D, due for launch early this year.
And for shredberg? The second he completed his run, one viewer had a suggestion for what he should play next. “I have to play Silksong now?” shredberg said, reading the inevitable comment. “Yeah… I’m so glad it’s over. Not even in a ‘this wasn’t even fun’ kinda way, because it was. But, man.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
A nice, juicy nine-minute-long Styx: Blades of Greed gameplay trailer has been plucked from the tree of stealth games today. Juicy in the sense that nine minutes is plenty of time to help ascertain whether a game looks like it could be fun, yet if we’re sticking with this metaphor this is one of those apples that’s really good but has a nasty bruise on it you have to avoid.
Walmart has dropped Battlefield 6 to just $40 for both PS5 and Xbox in the 2026 New Year sales. That’s almost 50% off, and pretty close to its outstanding Black Friday deal I was raving about not so long ago ($35 for a limited time only).
If you’re looking for a traditional boots-on-the-ground multiplayer shooter to play in 2026, this is it, and it’s the best price we’re likely to get on it right now. Snap it up ASAP, as I don’t see this deal lasting the rest of the week, especially since Walmart is already indicating that stock is running low.
While it’s not the best deal we’ve ever seen on the game, it’s fairly comparable, with just a $5 difference, and well worth checking out if you missed the previous best last year.
Released in October last year, Battlefield 6 has offered a true return to form for the long-running shooter franchise and has pretty much finally outdone Call of Duty at its own game, selling some almighty big numbers.
While we didn’t love the campaign, there’s no denying it’s a gorgeous-looking shooting gallery, but as with any Battlefield game, the real draw is multiplayer.
Reviewer Justin Koreis gave the multiplayer an 8 out of 10, saying, “Battlefield 6’s multiplayer action is expertly crafted, wrapped in a wonderful layer of destructibility that both looks great and materially affects the flow of combat. The gunplay is excellent, with weapons that are accurate enough to reward skilled shooting, but have just enough sway to promote a bit of careful thought while you take aim.”
Whether you’re looking for infantry combat, the opportunity to fly a jet or helicopter, or you just want to pile into a tank with your friends and bring down buildings, there’s pretty much something for everyone here.
Battlefield 6 is currently in the middle of its first season of post-launch content, including new maps and modes, while the RedSec Battle Royale mode is also available as a standalone free-to-play game. Given how successful the game has been for EA, you can likely expect new seasonal updates well into the future.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
If you’re a fan of both the colour grey being draped all over designs that could be accurately described as both angular and slabby, you’re in luck. A third brutalist map jam has hit Quake, with this one being less of a fan-made map pack and more of a huge overhaul mod – the concrete cavernousness of which dwarfs the original game.
A new year is upon us, and if you’re looking for some new games to stock up on to keep you busy in these early months, Amazon is the place to look.
Though the holidays and their seasonal sale events may be behind us, the retailer is kicking off 2026 with some worthy video game deals. This includes a 50% price drop on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for PS5 and Xbox.
Normally, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 features a retail price of $59.99, but this offer has dropped it down to just $29.99. Not to mention, it’s the best price for both PS5 and Xbox, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. That’s a stellar offer to jump on right now, especially after all of the holiday sales.
If you’ve been hoping to sink your teeth into a big RPG this year, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is sure to keep you busy. It’s a game that we’re big fans of. Our review from writer Leana Hafer said: “Armed with excellent melee combat and an exceptional story, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one part sequel and one part coronation, bringing a lot of the original’s ideas to fruition.”
Alongside earning high praise in our review, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was also a runner-up nominee in our picks for the best RPG and the best PC game of 2025, which is certainly worth celebrating.
This is one of our favorite deals we’ve come across recently, but far from the only one to have caught our eye. For even more great video game deals available right now, have a look through our most recent breakdown of the best deals of the day, which includes discounts on Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on Switch 2, Gears of War: Reloaded, and quite a few more.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
If you can’t resist taking cheeky potshots at your fellow players in Arc Raiders, the shooter’s matchmaking can now neatly shuffle you into a session where you’re more likely to get a taste of your own medicine. Developers Embark have confirmed that some “aggression-based matchmaking” has been sprinkled into the game’s systems as of late, making PvP-prone players a bit more likely to be funnelled towards each other.
Code Vein II arrives on Xbox Series X|S on January 30.
Building on the first game’s rich combat, Code Vein II remixes its themes and imagery into an original story and setting.
The partner system of NPC companions returns as well, reworked and expanded as a central pillar of both the gameplay and narrative.
The monstrous Metagen Remnant really had me on the ropes, crushing me repeatedly with a swipe of its tail, but that stoic, pink-haired woman just wouldn’t let me forget the power of duty, friendship, and anime.
I recently attended a closed preview event for Code Vein II, upcoming sequel to Bandai Namco’s 2019 3rd-person action game with anime aesthetics and narrative. Hosted at a dramatic cathedral church in Los Angeles, I played several hours of a curated demo and took part in a group interview with series director Hiroshi Yoshimura and producer Keita Iizuka, both of whom are returning from the first game to make a bigger and better sequel.
One of the original Code Vein’s main mechanical hooks was the variety of NPC partner characters that you could team up with to overcome the game’s challenges, and Code Vein II has doubled down on that. Yoshimura summed it up well that what he “think[s] defines Code Vein and its identity is really traversing these difficult dungeons and encounters with your partner, and that sense of achievement you get from overcoming them together. So that’s one [piece of positive feedback] we got from Code Vein, one that we’re definitely leaning into more in Code Vein II.”
Same but Different
If, like me, you never got around to the original Code Vein, you don’t need to worry about missing the story. Code Vein II remixes much of the first game’s imagery—powerful, vampiric beings called Revenants in a post-apocalyptic world—into an original setting and story. Fans of the first will no doubt find plenty of rhymes and resonance, but new players need not worry about studying up on the lore to understand what’s going on.
That’s not to say that everyone will easily follow along with everything. A big part of Code Vein’s appeal is that it’s anime as all hell, with a plot that’s as melodramatic as it is convoluted and laden with proper nouns. This time around it’s a time travel story, no less. According to Iizuka that’s why they decided to have it be unrelated to the first game: “If we had done this as continuation of the previous world/character/game, then that could possibly mean players would affect and change events that have already happened in [the original] Code Vein. And we didn’t want to take away from that, because what players experience in Code Vein, we think, belongs to the players.”
Josée and the Pussycats
Code Vein II takes place in a world on the brink of collapse. Humans now live together with Revenants (vampiric beings that had long existed in the shadows). 100 years ago, Revenants worked together to try and defeat a cataclysmic force called The Resurgence but failed to seal it, creating a new entity known as Luna Rapacis. The result was that the Resurgence was only delayed, and Luna Rapacis is turning Revenants into mindless horrors that accelerate its progress.
You play as a Revenant Hunter tasked with saving the world. In order to do that, you have to defeat Fallen Heroes of the Resurgence—the Revenants from 100 years ago that tried and failed to seal it away, and have since been corrupted into monsters and sealed into cocoons. With the help of another Revenant with a unique time travel ability, you must first go back into the past, meet these heroes in their prime, and help them out in their personal quests before returning to the present and defeating them in their monstrous form. According to Yoshimura, “the overarching mission is going to be to defeat all of these heroes, the order of which is up to the players themselves,” so in a very real way, the gameplay and story are structured entirely around these partner characters.
For the demo session we played parts of the section for Josée Anjou, a short, fierce Revenant with a giant sword, pink hair, and an eyepatch. She’s a stoic protector, burdened by guilt from her past. In her present we were helping her cleanse polluted water from the Sunken City, a flooded urban ruin, by fighting our way down to defeat an enormous, sphinxlike beast called the Metagen Remnant. Our exploration down towards the boss was punctuated by flashback scenes in which I’d run past tableaus from Josée and her sister’s past, learning more about her personal story. Eventually I returned to the present to do battle with a monstrous (and monstrously difficult) Josée, burdened by the full pathos of knowing this creature’s tragic backstory as she pounds me into the tile over and over again.
Formae and Function
Combat is the real star of the show. Code Vein II comprises an intricate lattice of interconnected systems that I could only begin to wrap my head around in a few hours of play, but I imagine they’d be engrossing when built up over an extended game. The foundation of stamina management, light/heavy attacks, and dodging should be familiar to anyone who’s dabbled in the Soulslike genre. Code Vein II then heaps on layers and layers of customization.
Rather than committing to fixed stats, Blood Codes return from the first game, acting as hot-swappable classes to rescale your stats for different builds. In addition to a variety of one- and two-handed weapons with different base move sets, Formae (a rework and expansion of the first games Gifts) are powerful special moves that you can find over the course of the game and slot into compatible weapons. These cost a resource called Ichor to use, which you replenish by landing special drain attacks.
The resource for using your special abilities being generated by attacking adds a risk/reward dynamic to combat, and keeps it aggressive. In all ways, Code Vein II wants to empower you to experiment and play in your own style, with Formae and Blood Codes allowing you to completely rebuild your strengths and moveset at any time.
And my Greatsword!
Partners take a prominent role in that combat customization, each offering unique passive bonuses to you that improve as your relationship deepens. You can either Summon them to have them fight side by side with you as normal (and as any Elden Ring player knows, just having a summon pulling enemy aggro can make all the difference in a tough fight), or you can Assimilate them into you, absorbing additional power and stats. This enables proud players that want to Let Them Solo Her still engage with the partner system, as it’s so central to the game’s narrative.
One of the biggest benefits I drew from my partner was the Restorative Offering, where they would sacrifice themselves to bring me back when my HP hit zero, before respawning soon thereafter to continue the fight. This brought me back from the brink countless times during the two extremely challenging boss fights in the preview, and can serve as a great buffer to keep you in the fight a little bit longer.
When I asked about mitigating difficulty, Yoshimura emphasized the role partners played here too. When faced with a difficulty spike, you can explore to level up and find more equipment, Formae, and Blood Codes to experiment with. The leeway given by partners pulling attention and reviving you “increase[s] this trial and error cycle, [and] I think that will keep the difficulty balance in check in a way that the players won’t hit this wall or feel this huge level of frustration, because the partner opens up that window for different ways of exploring encounters.”
The difficulty spike between exploration and bosses was enormous, and it’s clear that they will demand a lot, but Code Vein II provides so many different tools and levers for you to tweak that it will really feel like your own victory when you finally do overcome them, even if you did have a helping hand.
You can meet and defeat Josée and all the other partner characters yourself on January 30 when Code Vein II arrives on Xbox Series X|S, available for pre-order now.
• Stylized Forma Set
– Forma Face Paint: A cosmetic item which applies a forma design to the corner of your eyes.
– Twin Fangs of the Lone Wolf (Weapon): Twin blades engraved with a special forma. Cut through your enemies like a wolf sinking its teeth into its prey with a powerful, lunging slice attack.
In a future world where humans and Revenants coexist…
Due to the sudden appearance of the Luna Rapacis, Revenants have transformed into mindless monsters called Horrors. As a Revenant hunter, the player shall halt the world’s inevitable collapse by traveling to the past with a girl called Lou who possesses the power to manipulate time.
An epic adventure awaits, where you and your chosen partners explore a post-apocalyptic world, face fierce battles against powerful enemies, and uncover an epic story that transcends time.
• A Tale Across Time
Embark on a journey that spans both the present and the past as you search for clues to prevent the world’s destruction. Alter the fates of key Revenant characters you encounter in the past, while uncovering lost histories and the hidden truths of the world.
• Intense and Satisfying Combat
Dive into adrenaline-fueled battles where reading enemy moves and mastering your arsenal are key to survival. Unleash powerful skills, adapt on the fly, and conquer relentless foes in fights that deliver both intensity and triumph.
• Unique Battle System
Experience Code Vein II’s unique gameplay mechanic, where the player drains and acquires blood from enemies to unleash a variety of skills. With the series’ new build system, you can freely customize weapons and skills to suit your own battle styles.
• Powerful Partner Characters
Explore the world with trusted and powerful allies who can fight alongside you or enhance your abilities. Each partner brings unique abilities and deep connections that shape your journey.
*Other editions are also available. Be careful of duplicate purchases.
• Stylized Forma Set
– Forma Face Paint: A cosmetic item which applies a forma design to the corner of your eyes.
– Twin Fangs of the Lone Wolf (Weapon): Twin blades engraved with a special forma. Cut through your enemies like a wolf sinking its teeth into its prey with a powerful, lunging slice attack.
• Early Access (Deluxe/Ultimate Bonus)
– Experience CODE VEIN II 72 hours* ahead of launch!
The Deluxe Edition includes:
• CODE VEIN II
• Custom Outfit Pack: Contains 3 costume sets and 1 weapon
• Expansion DLC: Mask of Idris
In a future world where humans and Revenants coexist…
Due to the sudden appearance of the Luna Rapacis, Revenants have transformed into mindless monsters called Horrors. As a Revenant hunter, the player shall halt the world’s inevitable collapse by traveling to the past with a girl called Lou who possesses the power to manipulate time.
An epic adventure awaits, where you and your chosen partners explore a post-apocalyptic world, face fierce battles against powerful enemies, and uncover an epic story that transcends time.
• A Tale Across Time
Embark on a journey that spans both the present and the past as you search for clues to prevent the world’s destruction. Alter the fates of key Revenant characters you encounter in the past, while uncovering lost histories and the hidden truths of the world.
• Intense and Satisfying Combat
Dive into adrenaline-fueled battles where reading enemy moves and mastering your arsenal are key to survival. Unleash powerful skills, adapt on the fly, and conquer relentless foes in fights that deliver both intensity and triumph.
• Unique Battle System
Experience Code Vein II’s unique gameplay mechanic, where the player drains and acquires blood from enemies to unleash a variety of skills. With the series’ new build system, you can freely customize weapons and skills to suit your own battle styles.
• Powerful Partner Characters
Explore the world with trusted and powerful allies who can fight alongside you or enhance your abilities. Each partner brings unique abilities and deep connections that shape your journey.
*Other editions are also available. Be careful of duplicate purchases.
*Expansion DLC: Mask of Idris will be available by January 2027.
• Stylized Forma Set
– Forma Face Paint: A cosmetic item which applies a forma design to the corner of your eyes.
– Twin Fangs of the Lone Wolf (Weapon): Twin blades engraved with a special forma. Cut through your enemies like a wolf sinking its teeth into its prey with a powerful, lunging slice attack.
• Early Access (Deluxe/Ultimate Bonus)
– Experience CODE VEIN II 72 hours* ahead of launch!
The Ultimate Edition includes:
• CODE VEIN II
• Custom Outfit Pack: Contains 3 costume sets and 1 weapon
• Expansion DLC: Mask of Idris
• CODE VEIN Character Costume Set: Contains 6 costumes based on characters from the original game, CODE VEIN
• CODE VEIN II Digital Mini Artbook & Soundtrack
In a future world where humans and Revenants coexist…
Due to the sudden appearance of the Luna Rapacis, Revenants have transformed into mindless monsters called Horrors. As a Revenant hunter, the player shall halt the world’s inevitable collapse by traveling to the past with a girl called Lou who possesses the power to manipulate time.
An epic adventure awaits, where you and your chosen partners explore a post-apocalyptic world, face fierce battles against powerful enemies, and uncover an epic story that transcends time.
• A Tale Across Time
Embark on a journey that spans both the present and the past as you search for clues to prevent the world’s destruction. Alter the fates of key Revenant characters you encounter in the past, while uncovering lost histories and the hidden truths of the world.
• Intense and Satisfying Combat
Dive into adrenaline-fueled battles where reading enemy moves and mastering your arsenal are key to survival. Unleash powerful skills, adapt on the fly, and conquer relentless foes in fights that deliver both intensity and triumph.
• Unique Battle System
Experience Code Vein II’s unique gameplay mechanic, where the player drains and acquires blood from enemies to unleash a variety of skills. With the series’ new build system, you can freely customize weapons and skills to suit your own battle styles.
• Powerful Partner Characters
Explore the world with trusted and powerful allies who can fight alongside you or enhance your abilities. Each partner brings unique abilities and deep connections that shape your journey.
*Other editions are also available. Be careful of duplicate purchases.
*Expansion DLC: Mask of Idris will be available by January 2027.
Code Vein II maintains the core elements of its predecessor, but it feels more like a standalone action-RPG than a sequel. That’s because it greatly expands on the series’ combat systems and ideas to offer a huge amount of customization, while telling an all-new story about vampiric characters called Revenants that’s not linked to the original Code Vein.
I recently got a chance to go hands-on with Code Vein II to check out its new systems, its time-traveling story, and its tough-as-nails bosses. Here’s everything I saw along the way.
A host of combat options
At first blush, Code Vein II feels similar to other Souls-like games, as well as to its predecessor. You can fight with a host of weapons ranging from huge greatswords to fast, gun-mounted bayonets and, new to the sequel, dual blades. Hitting Square gives you a fast, weak attack, while Triangle fires off a stronger, slower one. You can also dodge with Circle and block attacks with L1 to lessen the damage you take, or parry blows completely if you hit L1 just as an attack lands.
Where Code Vein II sets itself apart is in all its combat options. For starters, for each weapon, you can equip four special abilities called Formae; one for each of the face buttons. Holding R1 and hitting one of those buttons activates the Forma equipped to it.
Formae come in three different categories — Combat, Magic, and Support — and they all have different uses in battle. One might give you a powerful attack, while another can help you dodge out of the way of an enemy before striking back when there’s an opening, and another might cover a patch of ground with flames.
Draining your foes
Powering your Formae attacks takes Ichor, and like in the first Code Vein, you only have so much. You steal Ichor from enemies by activating slow but powerful Drain Attacks when you hit or hold R2. These strikes use special weapons, Jails, and, like the Formae, each is useful in its own specific way.
Jails can be equipped like other weapons in Code Vein II, and I tried several to see how they mix with different builds and abilities. The Ogre Jail is a huge claw that slashes away at enemies, while the Hound is a pair of dog-headed gauntlets that latch onto and bite enemies.
Another Jail fires off like a scorpion tail, giving you lots of range, while another lets you send a horde of tiny bats to tear at enemies. Each Jail has particular attributes that fit different Blood Codes, the central aspects of a build that determine your character’s fighting style.
Between weapons, Formae, Jails, and Blood Codes, there’s a huge amount of customization in Code Vein II’s combat.
An adventure through time
The world of Code Vein II lies on the brink of destruction. The only way to save it is for you, the protagonist, to team up with a Revenant named Lou with the ability to travel through time. The plan is to head 100 years into the past to just before an event called the Upheaval, where you can hopefully alter history to stop a world-ending force called the Resurgence.
My preview started on MagMell Island in the present, where humans and Revenants were holed up, fighting to survive. But in the past, the place was under attack from bandits, forcing me to fight my way through its corridors and join other characters as they worked to defend it.
The second level, a dungeon called the Sunken Pylon, was ruined, flooded mall into the ground — a place now overrun by Horrors, the corrupted former humans and Revenants created by the Resurgence. In both levels, there are often side paths with tough, optional fights and hidden rewards to find. Often, you’ll loop back to an earlier checkpoint by unlocking shortcuts and elevators in classic Souls-like style.
Gaining Partners
Time travel also lets you meet characters from the past and team up with them. Partners are a major part of the series, but Code Vein II adds new aspects to the system. Your computer-controlled ally will fight by your side, making them great for taking on multiple enemies or distracting a boss so you can heal. But you can also “assimilate” your partner, fusing the two of you together to give yourself a stat boost while your partner is off the field.
You can activate assimilation whenever you want, making it a handy part of your strategy, assimilating to pull off a few high-power moves before releasing your partner back into the fight.
Partners are also something of an extra life. When your health runs out, your partner will revive you and briefly disappear. If you can stay alive long enough, a timer will run down, bringing your partner back into the fight.
Code Vein II’s story hinges on your partners, with the Sunken Pylon focusing on Josée, a Revenant hero wracked with guilt over the death of her twin sister. After channeling Josée’s memories to unlock her past, the dungeon culminated in a battle with the vicious Horror responsible for her sister’s death.
Battling the Metagen Remnant
At the bottom of the Pylon was the Metagen Remnant, a colossal creature that showed how brutally tough Code Vein II’s massive bosses can be. The trick to the fight was to get in close, dodging the Remnant’s enormous, burly arms, and then hitting it in the face whenever there was an opening — while also being careful not to over-commit and get pummeled.
Even once I had the hang of what the Metagen Remnant could throw at me, it was an arduous battle. Bosses have huge health pools and lots of deadly tricks up their sleeves. But if you can hammer them hard enough, you can stagger bosses just like other enemies, allowing you to perform Special Drain Attacks to do massive damage.
Taking on Josée
The last part of the preview, and the final boss fight, saw Lou and me returning to the present to complete our true goal. During the Upheaval, several heroic Revenants used their life force to seal the Resurgence, but the calamity facing the world is a result of those seals weakening. In order to stop it, we need to release the heroes — now corrupted into horrible monsters — and defeat them.
Joséewasn’t exactly as we remembered her; she was now a towering, katana-wielding, armored warrior. Her fighting style is all about fast, sweeping attacks, and using a status effect that can root you to the ground and leave you open to strikes. I had the most success battling Josée with speed, pummeling her with fast attacks and staying light on our feet to dodge her strikes. But like the Metagen Remnant, Josée puts up a serious fight, making it clear that Souls-like fans are going to need to hone their skills to defeat Code Vein II’s toughest challenges.
Altering history
The boss fight is a tragic addendum to Josée’s tale. But as Director Hiroshi Yoshimura mentioned during the event, after beating Josée, you’ll potentially have the option to return to the past and change her fate. That might give you the chance to save her, but it could put your overall mission at risk, too. While I didn’t get to see how the timeline might change in Code Vein II, it’s clear time travel is a big part of how its deep story will unfold.
Code Vein II has added a lot to its predecessor’s foundations, offering versatility in playstyles and plenty of options with your partner, your weapons, and your Formae. But the most interesting part might be its time-hopping story, with the chance to get close to Code Vein II’s characters and, ultimately, change history.
You can see how it all comes together when Code Vein II launches for PS5 on January 29.
A Code Vein II Character Creator Demo will be available January 23 on PlayStation Store, letting you explore the game’s central hub, MagMell Institute, experiment with Photo Mode and try the game’s character customization options. Your custom character can be transferred to the full game.
