Darkness has fallen upon the faraway land of Borgovia. In this fictional take on 19th century Europe, the land is now overrun with magic, monsters and evil technology torment its once happy citizens. They need a hero, a hero who goes by the name Van Helsing. You are the son of the well-known monster hunter Abraham Van Helsing, trying to follow in your father’s footsteps, in this soon-to-be-released game from Neocore Games (who also brought us the King Arthur series for the PC).
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing sports an isometric 3D view, similar to the Diablo or Torchlight series. Right from the start you are eased into the controls and all of our character’s skills. Combat is pretty similar to other games of this ilk, where you point and click at who you want to attack. There are two types of attack, melee and ranged attacks. Deciding which weapons to use in each situation is a key part of the gameplay’s strategy.
When enemies come after you, they will be swift and brutal… and many. It was quite intimidating at times when you see a mob of thirty or more enemies charging at you. So what do you do? Pull out your large sword or your duel pistols? Either way, I felt a huge rush when this takes place and my frenzied sword swinging took out the waves of monsters. With all the enemies on screen at once, I was really impressed that I experienced no slow-downs whatsoever. As you slay your way through the countryside you also find a lot of loot, with all the equipment, gold, and potions dropped by defeated enemies and found in random destroyable containers. I love collecting loot, and this game does not disappoint. You will come across all sorts of gear to make your character unique in terms of look and fighting style.
You won’t be travelling alone on your journey either. A noble ghost by the name of Lady Katarina will be joining you. She will be more than just someone to keep you company, as she will aid you on the battlefield in many ways. You can have her help attack enemies or have her hang back and fight with long range attacks. Another cool feature is that you can have her pick up certain loot drops automatically without worrying about missing something, in case you need to make a hasty retreat. If your inventory becomes too full, you can send Katrina back to town to sell items, and also restock items which can be extremely helpful. It takes a few minutes for her to go to town, so you have the option of waiting in your current spot or venture on without her.
While slaying huge hoards of wandering beasts, you gain experience points to put towards your stats to raise your health, mana and other traits. You also have a huge set of skill trees to allocate points to as you level up. These skills will be much needed to enhance your melee and long range attacks. You also have spells to choose from to aid you in battle that use up your mana points. Let’s not forget about your companion as she also has a set of skills and stats that will need your attention as she levels up with you. She will have her own set of experience points as she helps you take down foes. I would love to list all the skills and perks that were laid out for me at the start but there were simply so many to choose from. Players should have ample choice on how they play, and there’s great potential for replayability with a different set of skills.
Dying in these types of game is almost inevitable, but you have a few choices if and when it happens. You can choose to respawn back in town, respawn back at your last checkpoint, or respawn right where you died but that normally requires you give up a certain amount of gold. Your companion can also fall in battle, but she will automatically respawn after only a few minutes.
Once you get to a certain point in the game you will come across your first main town. Here you will find shopkeepers to sell and buy your wares, a blacksmith to forge items, a teleporter to help you fast travel to other areas in the world, and people that will be giving out quests. I found the townsfolk to be rather chatty but also very amusing. Everyone has voiceovers, and often had me chuckling. You are also offered a chest to store items for later use, in case you find something that is of too high of a level to use yet.
In terms of the visuals, I really enjoyed the overall look of the game. The graphics are beautifully rendered and well animated. The enemies you will encounter on your quest are awesome and unique enough to stand toe-to-toe with other big-named dungeon crawlers. The world is large but you need to take your time as you never know when a huge group of monsters is just hiding around the bend. The different areas you encounter are lush and varied, featuring plenty of places where loot may be hiding. I did like how once you have cleared a region of all foes they don’t seem to respawn, so it was safe to head back to explore in case you missed something.
The audio in the game works perfectly with its environments. You will be greeted with haunting gothic melodies as you explore the lands and battle the beasts within. The voiceover work for the characters you meet can be very amusing at times, so I tried to make sure I talked to everyone. You never know who is going to say what. Even the NPC animals get into the act.
One thing is certain after I spent some time with the preview build, yhe Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is going to be a fun romp for any experienced player who enjoys a good dungeon crawler. The game has life, personality, and most of all plenty of loot. So sally forth and dive deep into the action when it is released.
