"World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap is now available for purchase by XBox Live Gold users. It is the first Games With Gold for January 2017 and it came earlier than expected. This video game is a tower-defense title with elements of action-RPG that was initially launched for PCs in 2015. Finally, it made its way to game consoles through XBox Live."
- itechpost.com on the game's recent XB1 launch
What do I expect from the game?
Before the game's release in December, and it's inclusion in Games With Gold this month, I had not previously heard of it, but decided to download it and add it to my (increasingly large) collection/backlog of Spontaneous Sunday games! As its part of the Van Helsing franchise, I expected it to have similar themes and visuals i.e, fantasy, gothic and mythology.
The game promises a "truly unique mixture of tower defence and action RPG". My experience with tower defence games is really just playing casual browser games while I was bored in high school, so I was intrigued to see how a console tower defence game would work. I am a fan of action/RPG games so this also gave me high hopes for Deathtrap!
First Impressions - What did I think of the game in its first few minutes?
Upon reaching the game's main menu, I was instantly presented with a choice of character class, out of Sorceress, Mercenary or Marksman, and a short paragraph about the class' abilities and strengths. I thought it was odd that it jumped straight into this choice, and wasn't sure which one to go with, so I looked away from the screen and picked at random and ended up with Marksman.
A video then played in which a narrator explained pretty much everything about the game in a couple of minutes, from gameplay, to the different traps, to the customisation and upgrade systems, while accompanying visuals and gameplay showed on screen. This video went on for a while and explained things fairly clearly, and I managed to follow it for the most part, but it really did give a lot of information very quickly and made my head spin a little.
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| Shot from the intro cutscene |
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| Shot from the intro cutscene. |
I started a new game and another, much shorter and less dense video played, explaining the game's backstory and lore. The game is set in another realm, and the player character's mission is to stop the invading monsters from reaching gateways to the real world (the game's "tower" equivalent), by creating gauntlets of traps in different strongholds (levels). The emphasis is on the different traps, and its clear that a lot of thought has gone into their design.
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| First view of the world map, from which you start levels. |
Now I was presented with the world map, which shows the realm which is made up of floating islands. It looks pretty cool! I also noticed the game's music, which soon became one of my favourite things about it. I was less fond, however, of the UI and menus. They look a bit dated, like they're straight from a B-list RPG from the mid-2000's, and the text is too small to comfortably read from what would normally be a reasonable distance. I also checked out the inventory and upgrade menus, which looked daunting at first but were actually pretty easy to grasp.
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| Character inventory/stats menu |
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| "Darkmoor" - the first level. |
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| First view of a level |
I started my first battle, and felt like I wanted a challenge, so chose to play on Hard. There was a few tutorial messages about how levels play out, how to place turrets etc, then I got to work setting up for the first wave by placing a couple of turrets and traps, launched the first wave, and the chaos began.
Enemies approach from different angles, and you must work with both your traps and your character to stop them. It's a simple premise, but makes for some fun and rather frantic gameplay. I made the right choice going for Hard difficulty - it is fun and rewarding but not impossible. I finished the first level with 2/3 stars and just one enemy got through, so I replayed and got 3/3 stars. The action is fluid and satisfying, and theres just the right amount of RPG and strategy/planning elements involved.
Having completed the first level, I gained access to the first tier of customisation options and character and trap upgrades, and the game began properly!
What do I like about the game? What does it do well?
After the first level, I completed 4 more, some of which took a couple of attempts, unlocked some gear, and upgraded a bunch of stats and traps. The level of content and customisation is really impressive for a tower defence game, and the action RPG elements really add a lot. The addition of these features is probably essential, as the core concept of a tower defence game is pretty simple and the game might not stand up in the current gaming market without these features to flesh it out. Having a character to move around and play as gives a greater sense of agency and a much deeper gameplay experience than tower defence games where you simply place the towers.
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| The upgrades and customisation add more depth to the game. |
The game's general look and feel is also a positive point. There's not much that really links the game to the Van Helsing universe, but the themes and visuals are reminiscent of it, at least. Neocore Games have made several Van Helsing games and probably chose to create this game as part of that franchise to "stick with what they know" and capitalise on an already established franchise rather than risk a stand-alone. The graphics, environments and game art are all visually appealing and interesting to look at it. Everything is generally well designed and thought out, from the core gameplay, traps, enemies and level design, and its evident that a lot of effort went into it all.
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| Some levels have areas outside the main gameplay zone, and bonus objectives. |
The lore has also been well thought-out. Each level has a backstory and there is an encyclopaedia of enemies that includes artwork and details about their strengths and weaknesses, abilities and stats. The traps are incredibly varied, with turret, ground, poison, and summoning types, amongst many more, all of which can be upgraded. The enemies are equally varied and interesting. Enemies vary in speed, size, whether they walk or fly, how they attack, whether they are humanoid, beast, demonic or ghost-like etc. Every level also has a unique boss, all of which are unique and need to be approached in different ways to be defeated.
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| One of the early-game bosses. |
One of my favourite things about the game was its music. The music suits it perfectly. The game could have gotten away with the standard generic RPG music seen in many games, but Deathtrap's music has a bit more about it than that. The menu music is dark, dramatic and haunting, with plucked strings, interesting percussion and subtle vocals. In levels, the music is dynamic and fitting to the action that is occurring.
What don't I like about the game?
I only have a few minor negative points to mention about the game. As I mentioned earlier on, there's the somewhat generic, retro-looking UI. It doesn't do much to set itself apart from other game's of the genre and it looks dated. The text is also far too small - though I do have pretty poor eyesight!
As I was playing on the hardest difficulty, I failed a few times, mostly on the final waves during the boss fights. When you fail the level, you have to start the whole thing again, which seems slightly too punishing. I feel like the player should have the option to start from the previous wave, or at least a point halfway through the level rather than restart the whole thing.
One final very small thing that I'd like to note is that Deathtrap doesn't feel terribly accessible. The gothic, otherworldly setting might not appeal to more casual gamers who aren't into that sort of genre, which could limit the breadth of the game's accessibility. While having an established name behind your game is usually a good thing, I find myself wondering if creating a game within the Van Helsing franchise might serve to alienate people who are not familiar with it? Just a thought.
Final Thoughts
World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap really has a lot going for it and I'm glad that I decided to play it today. In my mind, its a perfect example of how a tower defence game should be made in the current gaming market.
There's a lot more content and features than I was expecting, and the game could probably be forgiven for having less, but the developers really fleshed the game out and created an interesting and unique gaming experience. The ability to approach levels strategically while also getting stuck right into the action at ground-level is something rarely seen in games, but Deathtrap achieves it well. Deathtrap is charming and stylistically appealing, though the UI seems to be lagging behind and needs to catch up with the gameplay in terms of modernity!
World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap has only recently come to Xbox One, and is Neocore's first release on this platform. I wish it (and them) well!
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