Bandai Namco has dated Code Vein II's first expansion. Mask of Idris arrives on September 9, 2026, and it is not coming alone - a free version 2.0 update lands the same day for everyone who owns the game.
The Forsaken World, and the woman guarding it
The expansion drops you into the Forsaken World, which Bandai Namco describes as a place forged from the converged passions of worlds that vanished because history got rewritten. At its centre sits a colossal swirling spindle of those passions, endlessly pulling in emotion from every time and place it can reach - and now leaking that pressure back into the real world.
It is exactly the kind of premise Code Vein has always run on: an ornate metaphysical excuse for a new set of very good-looking places to die in. The 42-second teaser is mostly mood and architecture, but it does introduce the expansion's new face - Liv Voda, billed as the alluring guardian of time and space, with what Bandai Namco carefully calls "a combative personality." Read that as either a boss fight or an extremely spiky companion, and you are probably right either way.
Code Vein II's Blood Veil and weapon design has always been the series' loudest asset, and the expansion is not toning it down.
Read this bit before you buy
Here is the detail that matters most, and the one that will catch people out: Mask of Idris is post-game content with hard prerequisites.
To start the new campaign you need to have:
- Reached the "Luna Fraterna" ending of Code Vein II's main story, and
- Completed the sub-mission "Valentin's request".
That is not a soft recommendation about difficulty - it is a gate. If you bounced off Code Vein II halfway through, or you finished it on a different ending, buying this on September 9 gets you nothing playable until you go back and clear those two things first. Worth knowing now rather than at the checkout screen.
On pricing and access: the expansion is a standalone purchase and is already included in the Deluxe and Ultimate editions. If you bought either of those at launch, you own this.
The free 2.0 update is the quieter win
Everyone else gets something too. Version 2.0 is free and ships the same day, and the piece Bandai Namco has confirmed is the one the community has been asking about since launch: additional content that lets you explore the post-main-game world with your partners.
For a series where the AI companion is half the identity - and where the endgame has historically meant wandering a finished map alone - that is a meaningful structural fix rather than a patch note. The rest of 2.0 is still under wraps; Bandai Namco says more details on the free update and further new content are coming later.
Fighting alongside a partner is Code Vein's core loop - and 2.0 finally extends it into the endgame.
Where this leaves Code Vein II
Code Vein II has been in a decent place since release, and this is a sensible first move for it: a paid chunk of new world for the people who finished the game, and a free structural improvement for everyone who has not. The 2.0 partner exploration in particular addresses one of the most common complaints about the original Code Vein, which never really solved what you were supposed to do with a completed save.
Mask of Idris and version 2.0 both land September 9, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
