This year, the top contender for the lowest-rated game of the year arrived pretty early. Launched on January 10th, dinosaur survival game Code Violet has a near-unheard-of 29 aggregate rating on Metacritic. That’s lower even than the notoriously maligned Lord of the Rings: Gollum. And user scores for the PS5 exclusive aren’t much better, with the game averaging a generally unfavorable 2.6 on Metacritic. Yet despite all of the negative chatter surrounding the game, Code Violet is officially getting a sequel.
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On February 10th, Team Kill Media shared via X (formerly Twitter) that the team is already working on Code UltraViolet. The game is confirmed to be a direct sequel to Code Violet. The post goes on to thank fans for their “incredible support,” deeming the poorly-rated survival game an “overwhelming success.” From the sounds of it, Code Violet has sold well and potentially even found a fan base despite its low review scores.
Code Violet Is Getting a Sequel Despite Negative Reviews
It’s certainly not unheard of for critical reviews and fan opinions to differ. Games like Tales of the Shire may not have performed well in terms of Metacritic ratings, but still went on to find a fanbase. But that is typically reflected in a difference in scores across media-focused and player-focused platforms. Yet Code Violet, which is only available for PS5, has a 2.88 out of 5-star rating on the platform. With over 4,000 user reviews on the platform, the game has an interesting spread of ratings. 31% of users gave it 5 stars, while 36% deemed it a 1-star title. The remaining percentage is spread pretty evenly across the other rating options.
It’s pretty clear that the survival horror game isn’t for everyone. Negative reviews point to a variety of downsides, from bugs and glitches to unresponsive mechanics and a lack of enemy variety. Many had hoped it would be a spiritual successor to the likes of Dino Crisis, but it seems to have fallen short of those expectations for most gamers. And yet, clearly, not everyone hated the game. TeamKill is deeming it enough of a success to create a sequel. While Code Violet does have a handful of 5-star reviews, it seems likely that success here speaks more to sales than to critical reception.
Many PS5 reviewers leave a star rating with no written text, so it’s a bit hard to say exactly what has people leaving 5-star ratings for the game. But from the sounds of it, there are gamers out there who feel that Code Violet‘s bad reputation isn’t totally deserved. One Reddit user review says “the game is actually really fun,” noting that it’s got decent replayability and fun mechanics. And there are quite a few positive replies to TeamKill’s sequel announcement, as well, suggesting that Code Violet has at least a few fans excited to see a follow-up.
Even so, the game’s defenders do seem to be few and far in between. From the number of reviews in the PlayStation store, Code Violet likely sold fairly well despite its largely negative reviews. Whether that means there are a ton of fans eager to pick up a sequel when it arrives remains to be seen. As of now, TeamKill has not confirmed a release window for Code UltraViolet. The team has, however, stated that development is already underway. No word yet on whether this game will also be a PS5 exclusive like the first installment.
Did you play Code Violet? What did you think of it? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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