The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (2013)

I tried The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, but I couldn’t get past the first few hours. At first, the gothic steampunk setting and the banter with Lady Katarina felt charming, and the game definitely had the right atmosphere. The presentation looked promising and it seemed like it could be a fun Diablo-style action RPG.

After a while, though, it became hard to stay interested. The combat loop of mowing down mobs and picking up loot started to feel repetitive very quickly, and the enemy variety wasn’t enough to keep me engaged. The story also didn’t pull me in, there’s a lot of lore and names thrown around, but it didn’t feel rewarding or compelling early on. On top of that, the interface and controls felt a bit clunky.

Managing skills and inventory wasn’t as smooth as it should have been, which made the grind more noticeable. The pacing also dragged, it never really escalated in a way that made me want to keep going. In the end, it wasn’t a bad game, just one that didn’t hook me strongly enough to justify the time investment. It felt solid but forgettable, and without a stronger early pull, I lost interest before it had a chance to really shine.

I can totally see somebody which enjoys action RPG that are Diablo-like really liking this title though, unfortunately for me, I'm not that kind of person anymore. Ever since I fell in love with Soulslike action RPG titles, I simply cannot enjoy the Diablo-likes anymore, I feel that Soulslikes are superior in every way, as action RPGs. But if you are not like me, then I would give this game a try, simply because it has a lot of entries, this is a sign the franchise is stil strong, otherwise it would die out on it's first entry anyway.

Despite being a Diablo clone with mediocre mechanics and game feel, I had a lot of fun with The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. A lot of schlock, a little wit, and consistently enjoyable banter really went a long way to creating an overall enjoyable experience. The setting was also fun, with a mix of 19th century speculative fiction, some steampunk, and eastern European mythology. The overall narrative wasn't particularly impressive either, but I've always found that good setting and characters can easily cover for run of the mill narrative in video games. I certainly cared more about what was happening in the story here than in other games of the genre.

All in all, I think the game is worth a spin if you enjoy the RPG genre and a good helping of schlock.

Note: I'm playing as part of the Final Cut edition that merges all three of the original games together and changes up some of the mechanics. I'd played the original versions of the first and (at least part of) the second chapter back when they were new, though, so I wanted to review each part separately still this go around since I wasn't on Grouvee back then.

Gameplay: 4 /5 Story: 3.5 /5 Presentation: 4 /5 Difficulty: 2 / 5

Basis:

Story= plot progression, intrigue, characters, world

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

To start I would like to mention I am a fan of the Dungeon Siege games and I have played Diablo 2 and 3. I enjoy top-down RPGs, but I may not have played a ton.

As a non-hardcore top-down RPG player, I felt the game shined in its continuous engagement. The story was fun and original, not just some generic fantasy idea where you have to go kill some uber powerful vampire. It had characters with personality. You and your companion have some pretty funny banter. Also, the game is filled with pop culture references that are really well placed. I feel I often got a bit bored with some RPG's in that it took to long to have new mechanics introduced to the game. At first, you think the game is just dungeon crawling, but later you find out that SPOILER: you can send characters on missions, there are tower defense mission which was super fun, you get a pet that you can send to hunt down treasure and money, and there is an adventure map mode.

The game has decent graphics. The worlds you went into were at times obviously recycled but the level design never felt like you were in the same exact place. You were never just in a forest the whole time or in a city the whole time. The lighting and textures looked great.

It is a bit of a longer game that took me over 20 hours to beat even after skipping some missions. I played solo so I didn't get to see how fun it is with a group, but I may write another review in the future if I do.