Adventure games haven’t changed much over the years, and many of the recent entries in the genre are heavily reliant upon item use and illogical leaps of faith rather than true thought. Dracula: Origin in its preview state doesn’t differ too radically from the adventure game norm, but it is set up to require more analytical thought rather than a string of “Use item A on doorknob B” puzzles.

This is also a polite way of saying that it’s entirely possible for the previewer to get stuck looking for a solution, only to find it and feel pretty stupid for not thinking of it sooner. It is specifically due to these moments however that make the game stand out as an adventure title to look forward to, as it doesn’t hold your hand while at the same time solutions aren’t very obscure if you just sit down for a moment and think.

You play as a professor who has hunted vampires for quite some time, amassing vast knowledge of how to deter, subdue, and kill them. The professor receives a letter from a friend asking him to watch over a friend of his in London, who as of recently has been the site of a string of strange murders in which the victims were almost always drained of their blood. Thus, the professor arrives in London and immediately begins to unravel the mystery as to who or what is murdering these people and try to put a stop to it. (Guess who it is!)

Dialog in the game is fully voice acted as far as we can tell, and often have branching conversations that allow the professor to ask a variety of questions to whomever he is speaking with. Like any adventure game speaking to people may yield clues as to what to do next or about how to solve a nearby puzzle. The professor is also capable of picking up items and documents to use and refer to in his investigation, all of which are kept in the menu screen. A nice feature of the menu screen is not only can the player see all of their items, documents, and objectives but they can also bring up every conversation they have ever had with an NPC.

The very first room is a good test to get your brain into gear for the rest of the game. Starting off you can pick up and read newspaper articles detailing all of the latest murders, each of which detailing where the murders took place. Behind a curtain on the wall is a map of London, with key landmarks noted all across the map.

To proceed with the puzzle one must realize that they can use the mouse to draw lines on the map, and then proceed to reread the articles and draw lines from where the event took place to the direction in which investigators or witnesses believed the assailant fled. As you would expect each line intersects a nearby plot of land, which the professor then decides to investigate and the game continues from there.

While with the solution spelled out the puzzle isn’t difficult, it also isn’t made incredibly apparent either. This isn’t a game that has any hand-holding mechanisms such as plainly making items you can interact with stand out or feature any sort of hint system. At first this can be supremely frustrating, but then you solve your first real stumper and that wave of gratification makes up for it. Given that the puzzles themselves make perfectly logical sense once you figure them out, the inclusion of any sort of crutch mechanic to help stuck players would cheapen the experience.