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The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing Out Today With Significant Paid DLC
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is out today on Xbox One, more than a year after its announcement and more than two since the PC debut. The game is part of December’s Xbox Live Games with Gold, but if you want the full experience, it isn’t entirely free.
The game is listed for $14.99 for those that don’t have Games with Gold. Alongside the core game are two $3.99 DLC packs. Each includes an entirely new character class, different weapons, a new skill tree, different perks, three class-specific quests, and two additional maps for the single-player campaign.
The core game includes a single class that can be customized in different ways, but not to the extent that the Thaumaturge and Arcane Mechanic DLC allows. Xbox Live Gold members can grab The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing now as part of the Games with Gold program. For more on this month’s offerings, check out our previous coverage.
[Source: Xbox.com]
Our Take
Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus are great ways for publishers to reinvigorate communities, energize franchises, and revitalize monetization for add-on content. However, with only class in the core Van Helsing game and two years since PC release, this doesn’t feel great.
While not a universal rule, late ports typically bundle in some or all of the content released as paid add-ons for other platforms. Two years later, it would have been nice to see the full experience delivered without day one DLC that amounts to more than 50 percent of list price.
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