Code Violet Review (PS5) – Dinosaurs Ate My Face

For years, Capcom has continued to ignore the pleas from fans for a successor to its Dino Crisis franchise. Now, a small indie studio made up of four brothers, TeamKill Media, has heard the cries from fans and decided to give us its own version of the genre, Code Violet. During the run-up to release, the studio regularly mentioned on social media that the upcoming game was a ‘love letter’ to Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, and a few more classics from our childhoods, and as such, it put everyone in mind of what to expect, but did it hit the mark? Is it a delight or a dud? After nearly 12 hours with it, I have the answer.

Waking up dazed and confused, Violet Sinclair, the protagonist, is like us, wondering what the hell is going on. Alarms blaring. bodies and pieces of, strewn across the room, and dinosaurs randomly attacking her without any explanation as to what’s happening and why. Throughout the next few hours, you’ll piece together those answers, and to be fair, the story is a pretty paint-by-the-numbers ordeal – predictable, safe, and simple – but it has its moments of being engaging.

It also has its moments of being nonsensical and forgetful of what has come before, and has the feeling of trying to do and be too much. From sci-fi cloning to dinosaur/human hybrids, to time travel and world extinction, Code Violet really tries to do every sci-fi trope, with a mixture of success. The biggest comment to be made about the story is that it needed some editing from a Narrative Director. Some things should have been left on the editing room floor, and the whole thing would have felt much tighter as a whole.

With limited dialogue and cutscenes (with a mixed bag of performances, acting-wise), the majority of the clues as to what is occurring play out via found notes, messages, and memos between the now dismembered members of staff. Building the story in bite-sized messages, from moral quandaries, questioning practices, and events going on, and explaining. It creates the ideas of characters we haven’t met, beyond their limbs and bodies scattered throughout the complex, and it does it very well. The world-building via these is a real strength, and something the studio should focus on in the future.

Code Violet’s atmosphere is a big plus, especially for the first few hours. Some of the environments are extraordinarily creepy, well-designed, and fun to explore, but the repetition will, and does, set in as you progress. There were times when I was reminded of Predators with how the jungle environments were designed, and other times of the Resident Evil films, in the latter areas. It’s an experience that’ll constantly remind you of other popculture phenomenons, for better, and for worse.

If we’re being honest, the gameplay isn’t anything to write home about. It successfully imitates the aged and best-forgotten stunted gameplay of Dino Crisis and Resident Evil, with awkward, slow-moving handling of the six weapons in-game. I feel like this was an intentional design choice, rather than poor design, in the sense that it harkens back to the gunplay of the two aforementioned games. The threat in those wasn’t always from the number of enemies like in other games; sometimes, two or three were enough to cause you issues, and the same is definitely to be said in Code Violet.

However, what was designed in years-gone-by due to hardware constraints, now comes across as unpolished and poorly-thought-out. There are other ways to have ‘dampened’ the modern gameplay down to return us to the nostalgic feeling of our childhoods, and make it feel fluid and satisfying. A few patches are needed to find the right middle ground, I think.

There are more direct homages as well, with special rooms that once unlocked via a rudimentary puzzle (finding a blue light hiding nearby and shooting it), the camera swaps to a forced perspective, the controls change and you’ll immediately feel like you’re playing old school Resident Evil again. This is actually used sparingly and doesn’t overstay its welcome, and works well because of it.

Graphically, the Unreal Engine does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Those intense and atmospheric environments mentioned? Brilliantly designed and brought to life. The character models? They’re not as good, and are a consistent weak link that regularly drew me out of the experience. Tied to that, the voice acting is a proper mixed bag, with two or three decent performances, two or three laughable ones, and some passing examples too.

A plethora of bugs exist, some of which are meddling and annoying, but bearable, and others which are game-breaking and absolutely should not have made it past any sort of Quality Assurance, if there even was any. From a permanently disappearing inventory upgrade, locking out any increases in size for the rest of the game, to antidotes and health items not working, and many more as well, there’s just no place for this sort of shoddy performance in today’s day and age, AA or not.

All that aside, it may shock some of you to know that for the most part, despite its limitations, performance problems and odd choices, I actually had fun with Code Violet. It’s not perfect, but it’s a serviceable adventure and one that proves the studio aren’t scared of taking chances, even if they don’t all work. Some extra time, someone to occasionally say no on some important choices to the developers, and again, more time, would have benefitted the title. That said, the price tag is a little steep for what it is.

For more from us, check out our review on She’s Leaving, or the casting of Kratos in Prime Video’s God of War.

Luke Addison

Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!