The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II (2014)

• Playtime: 7,5 hours

• Played: 2025

• Expectation: Kinda negative. I didn't like the first game.

Intro

VH2 is an isometric action-RPG. You walk through fairly linear areas, killing monsters, gathering loot and levelling up. There is also a basic Tower Defense minigame and two different troop management minigames.

The Good

• TD minigame is probably the most fun i've had with either VH game.
• The Hero mission minigame is solid.
• Probably the only ARPGs in a Steampunk setting.
• Decent variety in skills, equipment, enemies, environments, etc.
• Katharina is a fun companion who can be a tank, dps and/or support.
• Katharina can pick up gold and loot as determined by filters.
• Four difficulty options including Story.
• There are some really fun story elements.
• Silly references like finding Gandalf's corpse.

The Bad

• After a few hours the references get tedious. Wow, an inventor called Telsa? What is this? Family Guy?
• Weather effects actually caused a bit of lag.
• No WASD movement.
• Elevation is so extreme on some maps that you can't even see what is going on.
• Respeccing costs gold and the cost goes up each time.
• Teleporting back to base doesn't leave a 'town portal', you have to go back to a waypoint.
• Magic Find exists. I've hated Magic Find since Diablo 1.
• Poor colour coding for items. You can't even easily distinguish set/unique items.
• Only 3 classes.

The Ugly

• Respawning locally costs a percentage of your gold. Respawning at the base is free, so i always did that, because i'm from the Netherlands.
• There is a bizarre difficulty spike in the lab where you find the Chimera. I kept dying over and over despite the difficulty being mostly fair until that point. I even lowered the difficulty because it was so absurd.
• You can't lock onto a target by holding a mouse button, you have to manually follow them.
• The cursor is microscopic and completely blends into some environments and enemies. It actually gets even smaller when targetting an enemy.

Conclusion

I had more fun with Van Helsing than i expected. Having the characters slag off Gandalf for being a wizard who uses a sword and then actually finding Glamdring on his corpse was fun. At some point the 'stone faces of the mountain' give you classical riddles where they 'right' answer is sometimes rejected because the correct answer is always rock or mountain was unexpected and nice. The various minigames actually provide variety and more fun text instead of getting in the way like minigames usually do. Van Helsing 2 does have things going for it. I was even planning out my build a bit.

And then i got so frustrated by the combination of not being able to find my cursor, losing track of enemies and dying repeatedly. I was just done with it. But if you like the genre and you've already played Diablo 3, Grim Dawn and Path of Exile, this is a decent alternative comparable to Victor Vran or Wolcen.

Screenshot

I will admit this one made me snigger:

If you're someone who couldn't get past the first few hours of second entry to The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing franchise, you're not alone. Many people found the game's introduction to be a stumbling block. Gameplay-wise, the early hours introduced mechanics that felt derivative of other action RPGs, such as Diablo III. While the combat system was functional, it didn't offer enough innovation to captivate you into seeking a fresh experience.

The game's reliance on familiar tropes without adding unique twists may have contributed to the initial disengagement. Additionally, the game's pacing and progression system were slow to unfold. Without a compelling hook in the early stages. In summary, this game is presented a challenging start that may have deterred people from continuing. Its complex narrative introduction, derivative gameplay mechanics, and slow progression created an experience that didn't resonate with everyone from the outset.

This is more of a personal gripe that I simply cannot enjoy these Diablo-like action RPGs anymore, so take this with a grain of salt. For me, the action RPG genre has gone past the "Diablo-like Era" and it is now living in the "Soulslike Era", and this is why I'm so harsh to these titles. But I can totally see somebody that still enjoy this approach to the genre, to have at least a good time with this one.