Dracula: Origin Review

Dracula: Origin puts you into the drivers seat as Van Helsing. The game borrows heavily from the original work by Bram Stoker. As Dr. Van Helsing you are on a quest to save the lady Mina, and of course stop Dracula from finding a way to resurrect the dead and plot world domination. Far from just the traditional story however, this adaptation will take you to places that the original story did not. On your hunt for evil you will get to visit locales like ancient Egypt, Vienna, and London. The game is half detective story and half puzzle with a delightful horror twist.

The puzzles are a stand out aspect of this game. Some of them are traditional puzzles that you will find in many games. Others are translations puzzles and some are just next to impossible puzzles. If you are stuck after about 5 minutes of fiddling, then you will be stuck for quite awhile and should just break out the walkthrough. Plan on needing it at least 3 times during the game. Be prepared for having them dropped on you with little to no warning.

Where you can go and what you can do is greatly limited by having the right items, and not just the items that you will think that you need. Some of them are the most strange items you will ever encounter. If you never considered that a jar of flies could help you slay a vampire, then you should think twice. No matter what it is, grab it. If you can find them that is. Some items will be hard to find. Don’t worry, you can always cheat and use the space bar to make them glow.

The visuals are good, but not the high quality 3D rendering many games have become accustomed to. That being said, they are surprisingly detailed and you will not be disappointed.

This area is a bit over done. You will be surprised when our would be vampire hunter jumps at the slightest discovery. To be honest though, if you watch a lot of soap operas, maybe you won’t notice it that much.