IAoVH:FC Something to play while I wait....

for Divinity: OS2 to hit Early Access on GoG (due October)- no particular reason I’d just prefer to get it on GoG instead of on Steam.


So I decided to start playing through The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: The Final Cut; the wonderfully philanthropic PeaceLeon gifted it to me through his epic game share & I thought it was only fair to play this & review it to make use of the gift.

I requested the game as I’d played the original 1st chapter on release & had the 2nd sitting in my library unplayed, but no 3rd chapter. I really enjoyed the 1st chapter, but found the whole single playthrough(no respawning enemies) with such an awful cliff hanger ending a bit of a let down. The entire point of a loot RPG would be the looting & the original game made it a bit pointless with no end game & making you restart new characters to complete gear sets etc. it was a bit … strange, but enjoyable.


So I was hoping that with the “Final Chapter” the game would be more sorted out & streamlined.

So onward with another first impressions post.


So The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is an isometric Action Loot RPG that would be best described as a combination of Torchlight 2 & Path of Exile. It has PoE’s gritty brown aesthetic & Torchlight 2’s pet system (in this case your companion ghost the marvelous Lady Katerina).

I like how Lady Katarina is implemented & how you can choose how she asists you - melee, ranged or support(buff & boost essentially) so she has a set-up to suit your play style. She can also be set to pick up treasure automatically, and you can set what level she picks up (by rarity or value). She has her own equipment loadout (like Diablo 3’s companions) but also her own loot inventory & you can order her back to town to sell all of her loot & return with the cash, this works well & prevents the awful portal & return systems of other games.

Speaking of working well I can sum these up in the characterisation/levelling of the game. The skill trees are varied & reasonably in depth. You always play as VH but your character class sets your play style - from tank-like Protector, ranged glass cannon Bounty Hunter, Elementalists, engineer Constructor class there’s bound to be a play style to suit. Your class also adjusts the loot so you always pick up loot geared for your class, unless it’s a legendary from one of the set-secrets or hidden quests. Now it’s been a while but I had the thought that this is different from the original & you had the opportunity to use any gear irrespective of the chosen class & so you could fit a sword to a ranged class if the melee cam to you? Can anyone confirm/deny (I can’t be bothered reinstalling the original to find out :P). There a set of Auras that give you passive buffs such as increased damage at range or heal on hit etc.

The abilities are split into 3/class and one essentially will be your health, another your accuracy/damage & the 3rd protection/critical. By completing quests you can gain reputation to gain perks, these are major buffs to your character granting more skills, inventory pages, or boost abilities when Rage or Mana is full etc.Your behaviour in game seems to unlock the perks that can be chosen & I like this little touch as it seems to indicate VH improving based on his actual actions.

There’s also quite a bit of hidden content that rewards you for exploring.

Now for what I haven’t enjoyed so far.


Graphically the game seems to be a bit crap. There’s a lack of decent animation for the effects and how VH moves etc. I can’t confirm this but my gut tells me this either looks worse than the original or since the original there’s been a bunch of games that have made the iso ARPG genre a heck of a lot prettier. The emphasis on brown & grey doesn’t help either.

Story & dialog is bit all over the place, bouncing between earnest & snide contemporary comments… some of the voice acting is good but a lot of it isn’t. If the story is run-of-the-mill and cliched; having characters state that it is, doesn’t stop it from being boring, it sort of just makes it more obvious that you could’ve done better.

Controls are a bit shit. Mouse movement is primary (there is controller support but I’m not sure if it’s worth it) but you have no way of easily moving while attacking. Q & W are your potions (full heal with cooldowns) and 1-6 are your alternate skills with the mouse buttons being your primary skill attacks. It’s just a bit clunky & difficult to get any real finesse with the controls.

Gameplay - spammy click fest with all the annoyances that shouldn’t exist, escort missions, fetch quests that the stilted mission requests don’t help.

I finished the first part in about 12 hours & I’m now onto the 2nd part (which is all new to me) and it’s made me miss the first part! This second installment is disappointing and drudges on and on with even worse missions and running around.

I will push on to completion unless the 3rd part is even worse than this second.

I played only the second Van Helsing and ehhh, I liked the humor in game. I think that’s pretty much it. It’s a bit too much linear and if I remember correctly, the tower defense mini game was a bit annoying. If I was about to rate it from 1 to 10, I would give it a 6.5. It just was a time killer and that’s all. It’s not good but it’s not bad.

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I played the first and the second game. Not bad I think, but I am prejudicial, because this a 100% hungarian game and that is rare, so… :smiley:
The hungarian dub was okay :smiley:

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yeah - it’s not bad, but for a re-release I don’t think it added much to the original. I was hoping for a bit more I think.

If you like the setting then “Victor Vran” is a must aswell :slight_smile:

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MeFFFlenn Yeah played that one too! Enjoyed Victor Vran much more than I am with this one.

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