Review: Code Violet (PS5) – Gooner Shooter Can’t Get It Up

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Code Violet begins and ends with quotes by the renowned painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci.

That’s a fitting comparison. This game won’t be a timeless classic like the Mona Lisa, but it’s similar to Leonardo da Vinci’s initial airplane designs – full of big ideas that, unfortunately, never quite take flight.

Code Violet takes place far in the future, in a remote space station. The story begins with a shocking event: the main character’s friend is suddenly attacked and eaten by a velociraptor. It’s definitely not how anyone wants to be woken up!

Ugh, seriously? My character, Violet, woke up completely naked! Talk about a rough start. And of course, all her clothes are on the opposite side of this huge facility. Looks like I’ve got a bit of a fetch quest on my hands before I can even think about the main story.

This situation is puzzling. It suggests she undressed the night before, then walked through the building in just her underwear, possibly seen by the cleaning staff. She would have fallen asleep and then, the next morning, repeated this walk to retrieve her pants before having breakfast cereal.

That’s confusing, and we don’t have time to worry about it. Velociraptors are known for being restless, and Violet needs to get away quickly – with or without her pants – before they finish their appetizers and come looking for a bigger meal.

She quickly gets up and quietly leaves the room, searching for pants, weapons, and answers—specifically, why dinosaurs are in space and why she’s become a target. The camera, unfortunately, focuses a little too much on her backside during the escape. It’s a bit awkward.

Okay, so the whole premise – space dinosaurs – is totally ridiculous, but everyone involved plays it completely straight. It’s like imagining Christian Bale, you know, super serious Christian Bale, doing the voice work for the old 1960s Batman show. It’s a really strange mix of tones, and honestly, that’s what makes it surprisingly funny sometimes. It’s so bad it’s good, in a way!

The fun ends quickly when you actually start playing. We were killed by a glitch almost immediately after getting control of the character, Violet.

We tried to escape two hungry raptors, but the game controller stopped working. The dinosaurs then clumsily wandered around, and somehow managed to kill us more by chance than skill.

Even with weapons, the gameplay doesn’t improve much. The shooting feels weak and the guns lack impact.

Shotguns are supposed to have a powerful blast, but firing one in Code Violet feels weak and disappointing – like blowing through the paper wrapping of a McDonald’s straw and barely getting any sound. It’s less of a booming explosion and more of a flimsy ‘thwip’.

Man, the hit detection in this game is all over the place! And honestly, it’s super frustrating because there’s hardly any feedback when you shoot something. I usually just keep firing until the dinosaur finally falls down, but it doesn’t feel like I’m actually hitting it most of the time. It’s just not very satisfying.

When Violet gets attacked, she doesn’t react like someone being eaten by a dinosaur. She mostly just stands still while the dinosaur crashes into her.

Violet conveniently wears an armband that shows how much health she has left. Even if she seems to be taking hits without getting hurt, you’ll know you’re in trouble when the health number starts to go down.

The camera doesn’t improve things, and in some places, what it captures could even be considered a hate crime.

Violet died repeatedly, and we mostly saw her back because the game’s camera struggles in tight spaces – a big issue since the game is set mostly in narrow hallways.

The game doesn’t offer much direction; there’s no quest list or helpful guide. You’re simply told where to go, and then you go. Often, you’ll encounter locked doors, forcing you to search each room thoroughly for a keycard.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter simple puzzles, like using a black light to reveal a code or matching button combinations to unlock a door. These puzzles are fairly typical for the genre.

The enemies aren’t very diverse. You’ll mostly fight Velociraptors, though a few larger dinosaurs also appear.

Remember those small, fast dinosaurs that attacked Peter Stormare in The Lost World: Jurassic Park? And the ones with the frills and spitting, like the dinosaur that bit Newman in the first Jurassic Park? Just a heads-up that this refers to events in movies that came out over thirty years ago.

Dedicated fans of Jurassic Park probably already know the dilophosaurus—the dinosaur famous for its frills and venom-spitting—didn’t actually have those features. Both were invented for the book and film.

Either this new game, Code Violet, is secretly a continuation of the Jurassic Park story, or the developers were heavily inspired by the 1993 Jurassic Park movie when creating their dinosaurs. It’s likely we’re overthinking things, though.

People often get caught up imagining all the fun outfits they could put on Violet, even though there’s no real need to do so.

The character is often costumed in revealing outfits, frequently featuring low-cut tops, and sometimes these outfits are overly sexualized, with exposed buttocks.

These outfits aren’t suitable for fighting dinosaurs, and they contribute to the overall inconsistent feel of Code Violet. The main character, Violet, isn’t very likable – she’s constantly gloomy and appears perpetually upset, like she just received bad news at a fun event.

A key scene shows Violet breaking down in tears after a friend is killed – by a space dinosaur, of all things. As she cries, with the voice actor delivering a powerfully emotional performance, the camera pulls back to reveal she’s wearing a surprisingly revealing cowgirl outfit, complete with chaps that leave little to the imagination.

It’s actually pretty amusing. You could even imagine Violet running a cosplay-themed online platform – that might explain things. Either way, the revealing outfits are present if you’re interested, but you can easily overlook them if you’re not.

Despite its flaws, Code Violet has moments of visual appeal. While the animations are a bit strange, the outdoor environments and Violet’s character design are nice to look at. It’s too bad, though, that most of the game takes place in repetitive, dimly lit hallways.

One of Code Violet’s strengths is its relatively short length – around six hours. We did get a little stuck at the start, so it might even be quicker for players who aren’t easily confused! While ten or twelve hours would have felt like a drag, six hours is manageable, though still a bit lengthy, it’s definitely better.

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2026-01-09 09:38