Dracula: Origin Preview

Frogwares has made a nice niche for itself in a market where traditional point-and-click adventures are largely relics of the past. Basing their games on strong source material, like Sherlock Holmes and Jules Vernes’ novels, Frogwares continues its tradition of basing their games off of well-established works or characters with Dracula: Origin.  From what was available for play, it looks like Dracula: Origin will satisfy adventure fans, anyone who has a vested interest in the Dracula mythos, or both.

Set around the 1800s, the game kicks off with a professor recording ways to identify and kill vampires. That professor is the man who you will control, Van Helsing. In the middle of his work, he receives a letter from Jonathan Harker. It’s not quite clear what Harker means to Helsing, but the letter seems to imply that he’s Helsing’s apprentice of sorts. The letter details how he apparently (and quite foolishly) got into Dracula’s manor. It goes onto detail how Dracula’s incredible charisma and intelligence loosened Harker’s lips, revealing the existence of his beloved, Mina. Harker’s openness might have placed Mina in peril, because the letter mentions that Dracula has been gone for days. It is there when the game begins and you take control of Helsing, as you begin your search Dracula. Your objectives are clear: save Mina from Dracula, hopefully find Harker alive, and possibly kill The Count himself before he does more harm.

It’s certainly an intriguing and compelling premise and the execution of the story and characters is well done. This is true of Dracula in particular, because he’s mentioned only in Harker’s letter and the plethora of news articles that you’ll find in the beginning of the game. It really lets your imagination create the character as you learn more and more about him. It’s an effective plot device to be sure, and wanting to meet him is a strong motivation to keep on playing. That’s not to say that that’s the only motivation, however. Van Helsing is turning out to be a fairly interesting character, too. His stoic mannerisms are humorous, and, while how he chastises you for flubbing a puzzle can get grating if you happen to screw up a lot, ultimately he’s quite endearing.  

Speaking of puzzles, the ones that were presented were quite good. One of the earlier puzzles has you referencing newspaper articles to pinpoint the location of where Dracula acted and where he fled afterwards on a map. You’ll eventually figure out that all the routes cross over a certain location, which leads you to physically go to said location. How it’s used to transition and move the story is well-done. This sort of logical, common sense quality that permeates the puzzles is the best part about Dracula: Origin’s riddles. They’re all grounded in reason, and the item combinations used to overcome obstacles make total sense, so it never felt like some of the solutions were arbitrary or random, which can’t be said for a lot of recent adventure games. If you can’t seem to find a key item that’ll hopefully solve a puzzle, you can simply press the space bar to reveal all click locations, essentially killing pixel-hunting.

Visually, it’s shaping up well. The pre-rendered backdrops look good and the character models are so-so for the most part, but the static camera angles usually don’t get too close to the models, hiding their blemishes. Nothing is particularly standout about the visuals, but nothing is noteworthy-bad either. The audio, on the other hand, trumps the visuals quite easily. The voice acting has been outstanding across the board so far, and the beautiful soundtrack evokes an ominous mood that fits the setting very, very well. The power of the spoken word is in full effect in Dracula: Origin. The accents don’t sound forced, and the writing fits the time period. The audio is easily one of the best aspects of the game so far.

With an attractive $20 price tag, Dracula: Origin looks to be a no-brainer purchase from what was presented to us. Don’t let the budget price fool you; Dracula: Origin shows little sign that it was built on a limited budget, except maybe the main menu, which looks decidedly amateurish compared to everything else in the game because of generic typesetting. Dracula: Origin will be available on May 13^th. Adventure fans, you definitely have something to keep your eyes on.