"DRACULA 4: THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON":
SHIVERS AND INVESTIGATION IN THE ART INDUSTRY
Montreuil, June 19th, 2013. Microids’ adventure label (from French publisher Anuman Interactive) announces the launch of the fourth title of the adventure video game saga "Dracula" on PC and Mac. Mobile versions (iOS and Android) will be available soon.

More than ten years after the first episode was released, the Prince of Darkness is back in this first person adventure game, full of puzzles and mysteries. With more than one and a half million games sold throughout the world, the Dracula saga has conquered the players’ hearts.

Today, "Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon" strives after the same success as the first trilogy and uses the adventure games published by Microids specific ingredients, i.e. a catchy plot, quick thinking puzzles, charismatic characters and a supernatural atmosphere.
In "Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon", players embody Ellen Cross, an art restorer assigned by the New York Metropolitan Museum to identify a masterpiece that has just reappeared in Budapest. A few months earlier, this masterpiece along with its collection had mysteriously disappeared at sea.

The investigation begins and leads Ellen Cross on a journey around the world (Turkey, Hungary, England, USA…) where she will meet enigmatic characters such as Adam B. Stoker, the famous novelist’s great grandson…

At the beginning of the game, players can choose to run a Prologue (to learn the basic commands) or to directly start the investigation in Whitby’s Castle, in England.

Two game modes are then available:
 The Casual mode (for casual players) includes a help system in the adventure. Markers indicate the places to visit.

 On the opposite, the Adventure mode offers the opportunity to play without any help or indication, is more difficult and relies on more challenges.

Thanks to a 360 degree first person view, players move in 3D environments where they must observe and think quickly to solve the puzzles on their way.

For this, they can use a quick inventory allowing them to equip an object and use it during the game (for instance, the black light helps studying the masterpieces Ellen is about to discover).

The Full inventory lists all the objects that Ellen will pick up during her adventure and makes it possible to combine some of them together (associate wax with the Metropolitan Museum stamp, to seal an art work for instance).

Also, Ellen’s journal helps the players to register important information during the adventure (press clipping, goals, transcription of discussions…) as the first aid kit contains the heroin’s medication and specific dose.
Players will learn that Ellen Cross is affected by a severe disease that weakens her.

Consequently, they will have to regularly combine and use the medication to restore Ellen’s health, or they won’t be able to carry out specific actions. This constraint encourages players to pay close attention to their character and helps embody her.
Finally, players can unlock more than twenty trophies and try to improve their score during the adventure. Players who will finish the game quickly with as little help as possible will be rewarded.

"Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon" is available as of June 19th, 2013 on PC and Mac, in digital version and in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. Mobile versions (iOS and Android) will be available soon.

A JOURNEY AROUND THE GLOBE
During the adventure, the players and Ellen Cross will travel around the world to find answers to their questions, from the streets of New York, to the charm of England, with the mystery of Istanbul…

A real investigation around the globe awaits them!

Is "Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon" meant for a wide audience or only adventure video game fans?

« Unlike previous titles that were sometimes too difficult, we have been willing to create a game where each player can experience the adventure as he wishes. For all the adventure game casual players, a Casual mode allows them to enjoy the story without being stuck for too long, thanks to markers and the possibility to skip the puzzles. On the contrary, for the fans, an Adventure mode makes it possible to live the adventure without any help. This is why Dracula 4 is a “customizable” game that every player can enjoy.»

There will be a retail version eventually but at the moment it's download.

Of interest is that on the casual game website, Gamezebo, the reviewer gave the game five stars.

Ana, is it possible for adventure gamers to have no preconceived notions about the Dracula games? Anuman must have known very well what the reaction from AGs would be.

Cynical? Me?

Gil.

I just saw on adventureclassicgaming that they have just posted a review on Dracula 4. The writer pulled no punches on what he thought of the game and gave it a 2 out of 5. It was a good review and a fair one I thought. When GameBoomers release a review on Dracula 4,I would like to see the comparisons between them.

Dracula 4: Shadow of the Dragon follows on from the previous Trilogy and is based on the myth of the Prince of Darkness but is not a sequel.

Does rebooting mean leaving Dracula out? If this is going to be a vampire saga without the old man, they should leave him out of the title and stop misleading people, especially people who love the Dracula series and were looking forward to a new game about him. Gil.

Does rebooting mean leaving Dracula out?

You'll notice I left Dracula 3 out of my list of wonderful (to me) Dracula games. Dreary hardly describes it and I could honestly have done without the ugliest depiction of Dracula I've ever seen. Squat and brutish doesn't fit my image of Dracula.

I want my Dracula out there with fangs ready to puncture my swanlike throat

later, I know, he was talking to Renfield, the little guy in the asylum who liked to eat flies and wore the vampire glasses,