The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Extended Edition PlayStation 4 Review

The developers at NeoCoreGames have really outdone themselves since the initial release of their Diablo inspired RPG game The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing for PC back in 2013. Recently they announced that not only would this be considered a “relaunching” of the game for the PlayStation Pro, but would reap the benefits from all the visual upgrades the hardware provides and include all the DLC from the previous games.

So, if you aren’t familiar with the game, let us take you on an epic adventure… oh, and don’t forget your crossbow!

The Adventures of Van Helsing: Extended Edition is an Action-RPG that features the son of the famous vampire-slaying hero. The game takes place in the grim city streets where Van Helsing (Jr.), partnered up with his ghostly companion Lady Katarina, investigate what happened to the land of Borgovia. Right away players will notice that even in her spectral form, Katarina still loves to crack a sarcastic joke or two while putting boots to asses.

The game starts off in the Hunter’s Lair, which players familiar with Diablo will associate this as the “Tristram” of the game where players will gather most of the main storyline quests from. As you walk around town, you begin to discover that land of Borgovia is not what it once was.

The storyline is very well written and ties in all the goodness of what true action RPG’s are all about: weapons, gear, leveling up, skill trees and quests. Careful planning and spending of skill tree points serve you well in your adventure.

Weapons in the game have their own skill trees and will force players to strategically choose their own skill trees as it could affect additional weapon bonuses. Each weapon set (ranged and melee) only offer two skills at a time. Even though you can’t use both at the same time, you can switch on the fly. As you progress through the game and battle enemies such as werewolves, vampires and demons, switching between the weapon set starts to make sense instead of trying to bumble your way through changing your setup.

Combat seemed pretty solid for the most part. With a creepy storyline full of gothic era monsters to slay and tons of loot to sort through, if you can forget about the clunky mechanics, one could almost mistake this for a triple-A title. The degree of difficulty isn’t too bad and certain missions will require that you make a few adjustments, but is never usually a chore. The leveling is quick and even when players reach further levels it doesn’t seem to slow down your progression.

Multiplayer is something that needs to be addressed. Clearly it was added on and not much love was given to this mode of play. We aren’t going to compare this to Diablo 3 but with as many cues this game took from their inspiration, they still have much to learn. With a lack of community, server issues and no local multiplayer option, this game might be a hard sell.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing does have some pretty good visuals for a PS Pro game and reluctantly, once you look past a few of its flaws, is a pretty addicting game. The voice acting needs desperate help and maybe the game would have been tolerable had they not tried so hard to focus on how funny it could be.

This extended edition is a little different from the previous versions released on the PC including all the original DLC with three playable characters playable from the start. The PS4 extended edition features a Platinum Trophy, new sound effects, DualShock 4 support and of course a welcomed visual upgrade thanks to the PlayStation Pro’s hardware capabilities. Hopefully, with NeoCore’s intent to release the other sequels in the future, this title can give fans something to look forward to.

Also, check our reviews on:

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut

Tao Dawkins, NoobFeed
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