Throughout the game you will pick up a lot of documents that you can read through to understand more of the story as well as helping you figure out some of the puzzles. You will also pick up a bunch of items along the way and some of them are combinable in the inventory screen that is easily available via a right mouse button click or a push of the I key.

Early on things are pretty straight forward, although you feel very lonely walking through the screens with only minimal sound in the background. Each conversation in the game is accompanied by voiceovers. The voices themselves are actually quite good, although Van Helsing’s tends to overreact, especially when confronted with a locked door where he says very loudly, “CLOSED!” We get it Doc.

As you progress through the game you will find a number of puzzles that are very difficult—almost to a Myst-like level at times because there is no explanation of exactly what you’re supposed to do. Anyone who can make it through all the puzzles in this game without at least a hint of help should be commended.

The graphics and sound are quite good. Oddly, although widescreen resolutions can be chosen, the game screen itself is still shown in a 4:3 section with black bars on the sides. The game looks great but it’s unclear why the developer couldn’t expand it to a widescreen resolution.

Dracula: Origin is an enjoyable point-and-click adventure with a solid story, recognizable characters, and great atmosphere that is slightly betrayed by some truly difficult puzzles that are more frustrating than fun. .

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