The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is a Gothic-Noir Lootfest - Preview
by Jake Weston , posted on 11 June 2012 / 3,198 Views
The dungeon-crawler has seen a resurgence as of late, with the return of Diablo, the upcoming Torchlight 2, and established series such as Silent Hill and Infinity Blade spinning off into the genre themselves. However, one of the more interesting loot-fests present at this year’s E3 convention was Neocore Games’ The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.
It’s worth noting, however, that this is not the Dracula-slaying Abraham Van Helsing that is ingrained into the pop-cultural lexicon. Instead, players play as his son, who must venture through the dark streets of London, fighting an unknown, evil force that is resurrecting classic monsters via cybernetic implants. Aesthetically, the game effectively combines Diablo’s instantly recognizable gothic feel with classic steam-punk. As a result, it does end up looking quite a bit like 2004’s film adaptation Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman. Luckily, I find that to be an incredibly underrated movie, so that is far from a deal breaker.
Gameplay is also exemplary for the genre, with skill trees, loot drops, and clicking galore. In the demo, Van Helsing Jr.’s arsenal consisted of a sword and a pair of pistols; effectively switching between both close-quarters and long-range combat became necessary for survival, as players quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Crowd-control moves, such as shooting exploding fireballs with my pistols, gave myself some room to maneuver, then I would switch to my sword to focus on taking down enemies one by one.
The demo I played was strictly single player, but Neocore Games informed me that Van Helsing Jr. will be joined by various AI-controlled companions throughout the adventure, and that the game will support up to four-player online co-op (with local co-op remaining a possibility). In any case, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing’s combination of familiar yet refined gameplay elements and a unique, gothic-noir aesthetic makes it worth keeping an eye on. Neocore Games hopes to have The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing out in Q4 2012 for PC and XBLA.
