Latest Code Vein trailer shows off demonic finishing moves

Vampiric hack-and-slasher Code Vein showed off more of its combat in a new trailer this week, the highlight of which is definitely a deadly finishing move in which our hero summons the heads of two demonic wolves (that's what they look like, anyway) from his back to devour an opponent. Not a bad party trick.

The wolves aren't just hungry for finishers, either: you'll be able to whip them out to carry on combos or deal extra damage, as you can see at 0:10 in the video. It looks like it'll be satisfying to pull off.

What we've seen of the combat so far looks impressive. The emphasis on parries and dodges means that the comparisons to Dark Souls are inevitable, but hopefully it can forge its own identity, and not just because of its anime art style.

In the video, two players are fighting side-by-side—as we wrote in February, you'll be able to summon other players into your game to help in tricky fights.

Bandai Namco hasn't been shy in showing off gameplay footage—here's a full 17 minutes if you're interested.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.