Not long ago, the monster hunter Van Helsing and his sidekick let us enjoy the third part of their story. Now, the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is back with old material that has been updated cleverly. Thanks to Neocore Games we have the luck to test this game. We want to show in this review what is really inside the so-called ‘Final Cut’ edition.
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On the first look we could say that ‘The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut’ is one of these ‘Definitive Editions’, that become so popular in the last time. But you will realize very quick that this game is much more than just an enhanced or visually upgrade version of the ambitious Action RPG from the year 2013. We noticed that Neocore Games has used all their expertise and the feedback they get from the two following continuations. What we like is that the Final Cut not only includes the first part of this game series. Neocore also included the two following games of this series that has been released in 2014 and 2015. That means, owners get with this edition instead of three individual campaigns (each about 10 to 14 hours long), one huge story. Thumbs up!
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Neocore Gamnes decided to include in this game six different character classes, that offer a lot variation because players can pick from the melee class up to the crawler or distance fighters. What we love is that this game offers more than 20 skill with more than hundreds of modification-options for each playable class. Additionally, they used the known technical engine, which has been optimized for years also with great effects and with many enemies attacking at the same time without repeating the mistakes from the first chapter of this series. We think that it is a great experience to play the adventures with the updated classes once again. Yes, they kept the basics of the simple but very effective combat-system, but because of the new content and characters’ skills it is a lot of fun and not the same adventure, especially if you play the first two parts again. What we love is Neocore Games’ service. Veterans, that means owners, that have all three parts of the game in their Steam-Library will get a Final Cut Steam Key free. That is a really great service. 2x Thumbs up!
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Great is also that this game is not made only for veterans, but we think that they will notice and like the updated loot quickly, that is focussed more on quality rather on quantity. We are convinced that the massively filled missions-library, the high number of secrets in every section, the combat system which is easy to learn and the hunt for great loot will catch every new player of this steampunk-fantasy-game for hours. We also like the storm of enemies that tries to beat us down. We think that this game has a great story about scientists, rebels and vampires which is an ordinary base and laid to go out to fight and to collect loot again and again. Unfortunately, the story is not well staged.
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We love the mix of the classic hack & slay mechanics, special abilities and tactical useable premiums for them, that offers an interesting and dynamic gameplay. We think that it is clever to fall back strategically if you have to fight a high number of enemies at the same time. You can also use the time to recharge your health or mana. The complete game is also playable via Pad. Not only the controls, but also the entire user guide is set for the gamepad controls and offers custom menus, screens and more.
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What we like is that companions like Katarina are not anymore only a partner to talk to. You can use her for example to sell your loot with a win at the next dealer. But you should plan these trips carefully. As long as she is gone you are on your own. What we also like is that we finally see how good Katarina fights. We like it that you can command her to attack enemies or how she should behave – and she is doing it very effective. What we also like is that her three skill trees are directly connected with the active and passive abilities of the main character. This offers a higher level of personalization.
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The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut offers in addition to the high number of skills a lot of different loot. Players can incorporate essences in the laboratory, which roughly are like crystals or gemstones other Hack & Slay games. Players can merge objects in the smithy together, in the hope that the final product has some major bonuses for the equipment. And if that is not enough, players may also try to attach enchantments, of course for a price. that means, whoever would like to can equip modifications with a little bit of luck or upgrade their own abilities.
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To enjoy all these great modifications there are not only the extensive campaign, which is expected to take 30-40 hours to complete with his very successful active tower defense sections. In addition to that the developers included the new ‘Adventure Mode’. You can find some mini-missions on the map that leads the player through the known sections which include new tasks and that waits with randomly spawn enemies.
Quests like as a boss hunting or finding and erasing certain groups of enemies are just only a few examples. In addition to that players can here deal with daily new special quests.
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Let’s talk about the Multiplayer-Modes. On the one hand, this game includes a co-op gameplay for the single player, the adventure mode, and the PvP-Modes ‘Battle Royal’ and ‘Touchdown’. This all offers a lot of variation in this game. On the other hand, we think that this modes are just a boni. We think that the focus is set more on the huge campaign and the adventure-mode. And we loved it how great they entertained us.
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Lets talk short about the game’s sounds. We think that the sounds are great. Despite hundreds of strikes, explosions, magic spell and attacks the sounds are not overloaded and you can enjoy every explosion. The Syncronistaion is definitely a great success and great is that you can hear a little joke from time to time. The music is epic and inspires us to get back into the battle between good and bad. We not only used you speakers to test the game’s sound. We also used our Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum 7.1 Surround Gaming-Headset that has played the sounds really great. For more about the Headset take a look at jadoRendr’s REVIEW or rake a look at the official homepage HERE.
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All in all we can say that we love it how much work Neocore Games invested in the ‘Final Cut’ after the game was finally released a few month before. Not only because they included the adventure-mode that offers to hunt more enemies and get rare and special loot. This reboot is so great because they did not release the game as a ‘Definitive Edition’ without working on it. They invest a lot of time and work so that also veterans will have a lot of fun with this game again. All six upgraded classes are great to play with and we love it that it is possible to play the whole three stories with all of them. They also included new skill trees for this classes which offers a new gameplay experience. Unfortunately, we wished they would present us the game’s story better. They did not use the potentials of this great storyline. But this is not the point. We think that the Final Cut is at the same level like other high end Hack & Slay games. This game, with its huge content could be very dangerous for games like Diablo if Neocore Games would release it for consoles.
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