Video Game Review: Dracula Origin

The major sale line for Dracula Origin is the game is "faithfully recapturing the world created by Bram Stoker." For many aspects that claim is true. Anyone who has read the book Dracula will recognize Van Helsing, the main character in the game, as the same character in the book; a polite professor who has uncanny knowledge about vampires and how to hunt them. The game begins with Van Helsing receiving a letter from Jonathan warning him about Dracula and asking him to protect his fiancée Mina. What follows is a battle of wits rather than physical combat.

Dracula Origin is all about solving puzzles and Van Helsing is one step behind Dracula all the way. This game is not at all fast action. The player has seven ways to make Van Helsing interact with his environment: move to another screen, talk with a character, use inventory items on the environment, combine inventory items together, pick up items, activate doors and levers, or look at objects for clues which may also reveal an interactive puzzle that must be unlocked in order to advance. One element the game creators included is the ability to press the spacebar so the player can see everything which can be interacted with on the screen, which cuts down on time spent scrolling the mouse over the screen searching for those interactive items. The game play is very much investigative and although Van Helsing does not get physically attacked, except in cut scenes, the player will feel that his life is always in danger. Dracula is out to kill Van Helsing by setting traps and sending assassins.