CODE VEIN

Save the jogging for something less interested in making you dodge on cue, because CODE VEIN can pull your attention away from your feet pretty fast. I’d play it on an easy walk or a steady bike pace, and let the workout stay boring while the monsters don’t.

Gameplay

I think CODE VEIN is a good action RPG, and a lot of its combat has the useful quality of making you pay attention without asking you to read a paragraph every few minutes. You’re watching enemies, choosing when to attack, and trying not to spend all your stamina at once, which is enough to keep my brain occupied on a moving treadmill. Then a boss shows up and suddenly I’m standing very still in my head.

The fighting feels good when you learn an enemy’s timing, but that also means button mashing gets punished pretty quickly. Dodging at the right time matters, and some attacks cover enough ground that you can’t just wander toward the enemy and hope the situation improves. I like that the game asks you to watch what’s happening, though I’d be lying if I said I wanted to make every workout a serious appointment with a giant monster.

Blood Codes and Gifts give you room to change how your character fights, which is a nice way to experiment when one approach stops working. You can lean toward different weapons and abilities instead of feeling like you picked one build early and have to live with it forever, and I think that flexibility makes the game more fun than a pile of complicated menus has any right to be. There’s still a fair amount to sort through, so I’d do the tinkering when I’m off the belt.

Your partner can help in combat, and I think that’s a smart fit for a game that can get pretty demanding. They give you another reason to keep moving through the tougher fights, though they don’t turn the bosses into a walk through the park. I don’t know that every fight lands equally well, but it’s nice to have someone there who is at least trying to make the room less crowded with monsters.

The story comes through in scenes and memories, and those sections slow the pace down compared with the fights. Vestiges fill in pieces of the characters’ pasts, which is interesting when I’m in the mood to listen, but less useful when I’m trying to keep a steady workout going. You can skip some of that, and I would save the longer story moments for when you’re not moving. The game has plenty to tell you.

Category Score: 2 out of 3

Treadmill and Bike Compatibility

The combat is the part that decides whether this works for you, not the fact that the game has a lot of walking around. Exploration is usually forgiving enough to fit a relaxed pace, and I’d be comfortable moving through the quieter stretches on a treadmill, but a boss fight can ask for quick dodges and careful timing while you’re also trying to keep your balance. That’s a lot of jobs for one pair of hands.

A controller makes sense here, since the fighting depends on using several buttons quickly and moving the camera while you keep track of an enemy. I’d keep the treadmill at a speed where I can react without bouncing around, and I’d lower it further for boss attempts. There’s no shame in treating the treadmill controls like a very small car, because I do not need to prove anything to a video game.

On a bike, I think the steady position would make the faster fights easier to manage, though it still won’t make the timing forgiving. You can keep pedaling through exploration and stop pushing hard when you reach a difficult enemy, which is probably how I’d handle it. If you’re biking hard enough that you’re already struggling to concentrate, I’d switch to a calmer section rather than trying to dodge a boss with the focus of a sleepy cat.

Mistles give you places to stop and handle the more menu heavy parts, so I’d use them to change equipment or take a breather instead of trying to sort out a build while moving. The memories and longer scenes are also natural breaks, even if they’re not exactly the exciting part of an exercise session. You’ll have stretches where the game wants your attention and stretches where it lets you breathe, but the fights are not loose enough for me to call it a carefree workout game.

Category Score: 2 out of 3

Computer Requirements

The minimum target is an older dedicated graphics card, with the game estimating 1080p at 60 frames per second on low settings and warning that demanding scenes can slow down. I’d check the graphics card first, because a big boss fight is a bad time to discover your computer was hoping for a quieter game.

Category Score: 3 out of 3

Conclusion and Score

CODE VEIN makes sense for you if you like action RPGs and can keep your workout pace moderate when the fights get busy. I’d play it on a steady bike ride or a careful treadmill walk, but I wouldn’t pick it for a fast run where I want my attention somewhere else.

Overall Score: 2.33 out of 3