The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

🎮 Steam ⏳ 3 hours ⭐⭐ (2/5)

Promising First Impression #

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.

Repetitive Gameplay Issues #

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.

Clunky Systems, Weak Hook #

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.

Genre Preference Mismatch #

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.