Game review
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
7 / 10
- Developer
- NeocoreGames
- Publisher
- NeocoreGames
- Released
- 22 May 2013
- Platforms
- Windows
- Genre
- RPG
- Monetisation
- One-time purchase; a Blue Blood story DLC sold separately
- Players
- Online co-op alongside a single-player campaign
The short version
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is NeocoreGames' action RPG, released on 22 May 2013, pairing Van Helsing's monster-hunter son with a sardonic ghost companion across a steampunk-gothic world. It sits at 80% positive ("Very Positive") across 4,236 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews alongside the 100 most recent English reviews.
Reviewers marking the game down consistently praise its early hours: attractive visuals, witty dialogue between the protagonist and his ghostly companion Lady Katarina, and a well-realised gothic-steampunk setting. What this review found recurring across the sample is a shift in tone partway through most negative reviews — difficulty and balance draw sustained criticism, with difficulty appearing in 22 of the 100 negative reviews read and balance specifically in 17. "This game is not a bad game, it's an average Hack and Slash RPG... It's polished. It's entertaining, but only until midgame when it" becomes frustrating, reads a representative 2025 review. Bugs and crashes are a substantial, recurring secondary complaint, appearing in 28 and 16 of the 100 negative reviews respectively, spread across every year sampled rather than concentrated at launch. This review also found a single, specific allegation — that ability and stat point balance was quietly worsened sometime after 2017 without corresponding patch notes — but found it only thinly corroborated in its wider sample, and reports it here as an attributed claim rather than established fact.
Biggest strengths
- Attractive, well-realised gothic-steampunk visuals and a distinctive setting that reviewers on both sides of the score consistently praise
- Genuinely witty writing and dialogue, particularly between the protagonist and his sardonic ghost companion, that draws sustained praise even from critical reviewers
- A well-designed early-to-mid game experience that gives a strong first impression before any of the recurring complaints set in
Biggest weaknesses
- The single most consistent complaint across this review's sample is a decline in difficulty balance partway through the campaign, appearing in some form across roughly 22 of the 100 negative reviews read
- Bugs and crashes are a substantial, recurring secondary complaint spread across every year this review sampled rather than concentrated at launch, appearing in 28 and 16 of the 100 negative reviews respectively
- A single, specific allegation that ability and stat point balance was quietly worsened after 2017 without patch notes appears in this review's sample but is only thinly corroborated — reported here as an attributed claim this review could not independently verify
Who it's for: Action RPG fans who want strong presentation and writing over the genre's usual power fantasy — go in aware several reviewers describe the difficulty curve and balance souring in the back half of the campaign.
Our recommendation: Worth playing for its early hours' style and writing, which even critical reviewers consistently credit — just temper expectations for how the difficulty curve holds up as the campaign progresses.
7 / 10
Introduction
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is NeocoreGames' action RPG, released on 22 May 2013 at US$14.99. It follows the son of the famed monster hunter into the gothic-steampunk city of Borgovia, accompanied by the sardonic ghost of a former countess as he battles monsters, mad scientists and political intrigue. It sits at 80% positive ("Very Positive") across 4,236 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of 834 total, plus a sample of the 100 most recent English reviews.
Style nobody disputes, difficulty many do
Reviewers marking the game down consistently praise its opening hours. "The scenery is great, the graphics look nice, and clearly there was a lot of attention to detail put into this game," reads one review before pivoting to its actual complaint. This review found that pivot recurring throughout the sample: difficulty and balance draw sustained, specific criticism, appearing in 22 and 17 of the 100 negative reviews read respectively. "This game is not a bad game, it's an average Hack and Slash RPG... It's polished. It's entertaining, but only until midgame when it" turns frustrating, reads a representative 2025 review, describing a shift many other reviewers make in similar terms.
Bugs that never really went away
Bugs and crashes form a substantial, recurring secondary complaint this review found spread across every year sampled rather than concentrated at launch — appearing in 28 and 16 of the 100 negative reviews respectively. "The glitches in this game make it impossible to play. The very first boss I came across... will not drop its damn shield," reads a 2025 review. This review also found a single, specific and more serious allegation worth flagging cautiously: one reviewer claims ability and stat point balance was quietly worsened sometime after 2017 with no corresponding patch notes. This review checked how widely that specific claim recurred and found it only thinly corroborated — a single detailed report rather than a pattern — so it's noted here as an attributed claim this review could not independently verify.
Verdict
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing remains a stylish, well-written action RPG whose early hours draw consistent praise even from reviewers who ultimately can't recommend it. What holds the score back is a recurring complaint about difficulty and balance souring as the campaign progresses, compounded by bugs and crashes this review found reported across a full decade rather than settled at launch. Worth playing for its presentation and writing — just go in with tempered expectations for how the experience holds up in its back half.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Attractive, well-realised gothic-steampunk visuals and a distinctive setting that reviewers on both sides of the score consistently praise
- Genuinely witty writing and dialogue, particularly between the protagonist and his sardonic ghost companion, that draws sustained praise even from critical reviewers
- A well-designed early-to-mid game experience that gives a strong first impression before any of the recurring complaints set in
- Online co-op adds a way to share the campaign, with some reviewers specifically praising the multiplayer experience
Cons
- The single most consistent complaint across this review's sample is a decline in difficulty balance partway through the campaign, appearing in some form across roughly 22 of the 100 negative reviews read
- Bugs and crashes are a substantial, recurring secondary complaint spread across every year this review sampled rather than concentrated at launch, appearing in 28 and 16 of the 100 negative reviews respectively
- A single, specific allegation that ability and stat point balance was quietly worsened after 2017 without patch notes appears in this review's sample but is only thinly corroborated — reported here as an attributed claim this review could not independently verify
- Some reviewers describe the story losing momentum in its second half, a pattern distinct from but related to the broader difficulty complaint
Screenshots
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The Incredible Adventures of Van HelsingImage: NeocoreGames via Steam -
The Incredible Adventures of Van HelsingImage: NeocoreGames via Steam -
The Incredible Adventures of Van HelsingImage: NeocoreGames via Steam -
How the review scores each part of the gameWanderer Editorial -
The essentials at a glanceWanderer Editorial -
The short versionWanderer Editorial