Hello dear readers. Hopefully everyone made it through the recent snow and ice storms unharmed. Other than some busted pipes, I managed to escape with minimal discomfort. During the downtime, however, I found myself pulled into something far more dangerous than winter weather: a soulslike.

Our fearless chief editor was trying to secure Code Vein II for Save State columnist Vincent Mahoney. Unfortunately for Vincent, Bandai Namco only had PlayStation 5 codes available for reviewers, and that is how I ended up volunteering as tribute.

This was mildly horrifying for me because soulslikes and I go together like biscuits and asbestos.

My first experience with the soulslike genre was the original Dark Souls. At the time, all I really knew was that it was very hard and that the internet would tell me to “git gud.” I made it through the tutorial area feeling reasonably confident. Then the first boss turned me into decorative pavement. My next ten attempts went about as well.

I do not remember exactly how far I progressed after that. I do remember the controls feeling stiff, the punishment feeling relentless, and my patience evaporating at record speed. That experience was enough to push me away from the entire genre for years. I avoided soulslikes the same way I avoided extreme roguelikes, only cautiously drifting back toward the lighter roguelite side of the pool with titles like Against the Storm.

And that brings us back to Code Vein II.

I will not go too deeply into specifics on Code Vein II since I still have a full review coming, but going in my primary emotion was dread. Soulslikes demand precision, patience, and a willingness to fail repeatedly, and that is not normally what I look for when I sit down to enjoy a game.

To be fair, there is a reason soulslikes have such a devoted following. At their best, they create a powerful loop of tension, learning, and eventual mastery. Every enemy encounter is deliberate. Every victory is earned. For players who enjoy high-stakes mechanical challenges, that formula can be incredibly rewarding. The famous post-boss adrenaline rush is real for a lot of people.

I am just not one of those people.

When I reached Code Vein II’s first major boss, Frantz the Dejected Assailant, I was convinced my journey was about to end. It was difficult. It was demanding. It required far more focus than I usually bring to a weeknight gaming session.

But because I am a reviewer, I pushed through.

Eventually, I won.

And here is where I realized something important about my relationship with soulslikes. I kept waiting for that legendary wave of triumph everyone talks about. The relief. The exhilaration. The sense of mastery.

It never came.

What I felt instead was tired, slightly anxious, and mostly relieved that the fight was over.

That does not mean Code Vein II is doing anything wrong. In fact, it’s quite good at what it is trying to do. The combat is deliberate. The systems are readable. The difficulty, while real, feels more forgiving than some of the genre’s more infamous entries. Against my better instincts, I am even enjoying parts of it.

But I am also stressed almost the entire time I play it. And I think that gets to the heart of why soulslikes are so polarizing.

Some players boot up a game looking for tension, mastery, and mechanical challenges. Others, myself included, tend to reach for them as a way to unwind. I gravitate toward management sims, JRPGs, and experiences that help me relax after a long day. Playing something that raises my blood pressure while I am trying to lower it is, well, not ideal.

That said, I do understand the appeal of them now more than I used to. Soulslikes are carefully engineered pressure cookers. For the right audience, the friction is the feature, not the flaw. When the formula clicks, it really clicks.

I am still not convinced I will be lining up for every major release in this genre. Do not expect me to suddenly become a Sekiro speedrunner like my fellow GiN columnist Vincent Mahoney. And I don’t think I will be diving headfirst into Elden Ring challenge runs, even though I hear that it’s one of the most accessible soulslikes of that genre. But thanks to Code Vein II, I at least have a better appreciation for why so many players willingly sign up to suffer.

As for me, I plan to finish Code Vein II because the story has its hooks in me and the difficulty feels just manageable enough. After that, however, I will probably return to my regularly scheduled gaming and relaxing.

Some of us prefer our victories without an elevated blood pressure.

And honestly, that is okay too.