World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap

 Xbox One
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 17
  3. Negative: 3 out of 17

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  1. jamiepoole
    Jan 27, 2017
    8
    You know what? i expected nothing more than a minute blash of this gold membership free bee and couldn't of been more wrong!. am i a giant tower defense fan? no not really. but the van helsing monsters and ghouls theme really makes it interesting and stand out. plus the rpg element has some surprising depth! ive even taken to a few coop online games which heighten the manic fun. a real gem
  2. juliankennedy23
    May 1, 2017
    7
    World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap: 7 out of 10. Sometimes free is the sweet spot price for a game. Not that Deathtrap is a worthless game or some sort of free to play fluff. Far from it. It is I just imagine a large portion of people who play this game are doing so after getting it free with the Games with Gold promotion. Promoting this game beyond the hardcore Hack and Slash and TowerWorld of Van Helsing: Deathtrap: 7 out of 10. Sometimes free is the sweet spot price for a game. Not that Deathtrap is a worthless game or some sort of free to play fluff. Far from it. It is I just imagine a large portion of people who play this game are doing so after getting it free with the Games with Gold promotion. Promoting this game beyond the hardcore Hack and Slash and Tower Defense fans certainly work in the game's favor.

    If Deathtrap has a major fault it is that it definitely does not put its best foot forward. For a game that is based on an established fiction (World of Van Helsing natch), the threadbare story could not be less engaging nor more muddled that is presented here. Now I hardly need a deep fiction for my Tower Defense play through. A simple cartoon with a princess, a dragon and some orcs with a tepid voiceover would easily foot the bill. What we get here is the Apple videos from Assassins Creed, mixed with Lovecraft and what could be some lesser known Hindu deity.. If that sounds interesting do not fear. It is truly muddled in such a way to prevent any attempt to care about the narrative.

    In addition to the opening narrative, the opening levels also fail to impress. This is not unusual for many games let alone Tower Defense games. There is barely a hint of the delights to come. The game is a combination of real-time Hack and Slash and Tower Defense. Where the game shines is the delightful choices in traps that start becoming available about a third of the way through the game. This really opens up the strategy and fun and, unlike some of its Tower Defense brethren, there is no situations where only one path/choice is the right one which often turns a fun strategy game into a boring puzzle game.

    While it takes its time to get its hooks in you and its story is a missed opportunity Deathtrap eventually does get its hooks in one and with a decent amount of content. Deathtrap provides very fun hack n slash and Tower Defense entertainment. Especially if you got it for free.    … Expand
  3. night4
    Mar 11, 2018
    9
    Better played as coop, but still fun solo.

    This is one of the best tower defense games I've ever played, if not *the* best. You have unmatched control over how much damage you want your hero to do vs how much you want your towers to do. Also, the towers are very unique, including floor traps, summons, suicide units, etc.
  4. Manikese
    Feb 7, 2017
    10
    This game is amazing. My brother, best friend, and I picked this game up last week. We were going to play for a couple hours Saturday morning. A couple hours turned into all day and night until 3am! We couldn't put this down. The next day I couldn't wait to play again. After many hours of play, I really don't see me playing something else for at least a month. I'm a FPS guy, but theThis game is amazing. My brother, best friend, and I picked this game up last week. We were going to play for a couple hours Saturday morning. A couple hours turned into all day and night until 3am! We couldn't put this down. The next day I couldn't wait to play again. After many hours of play, I really don't see me playing something else for at least a month. I'm a FPS guy, but the mix of amazing RPG elements and great real-time strategy in the form of Tower Defense makes me wish I had more time to play. Darn work.… Expand
  5. Broyax
    Jun 20, 2023
    4
    Les gars qui ont pondu les Van Helsing machintrucs, c'est-à-dire les jeux haque et slache vite vus et vite oubliés se mettent au "tower defense". Voilà qui n'est pas forcément pour déplaire d'autant que la licence à base de monstres s'y prête tout naturellement.

    On reconnaît la patte graphique assez jolie et les mêmes menus ouvragés et soignés bien qu'un peu manièrés. Le jeu s'inspire    Les gars qui ont pondu les Van Helsing machintrucs, c'est-à-dire les jeux haque et slache vite vus et vite oubliés se mettent au "tower defense". Voilà qui n'est pas forcément pour déplaire d'autant que la licence à base de monstres s'y prête tout naturellement.

    On reconnaît la patte graphique assez jolie et les mêmes menus ouvragés et soignés bien qu'un peu manièrés. Le jeu s'inspire nettement des Defense Grid avec des tourelles bien sûr mais également nombre de pièges que l'on peut poser. Contrairement aux Defense Grid, on reprend son souffle après chaque vague (jusqu'à 6 en tout) le temps de reposer des cadeaux de bienvenue aux cohortes de monstres qui envahissent le niveau, jusqu'au boss final...

    On contrôle son héros sur la carte, lequel construit directement les défenses mais participe activement aux combats eux-mêmes : c'est ici l'héritage haque et slache que n'a pas abandonné le développeur, car les tourelles et les pièges ne suffisent pas à endiguer les invasions, il faut mettre la main à la pâte et massacrer -via ses pouvoirs et capacités- les hordes.

    Ce n'est clairement pas si désagréable : brutal et sanglant, sanguinolent même avec de beaux effets sonores ad hoc et l'interface est dans l'ensemble bien pensée. Dommage que la lisibilité reste perfectible, les pièges ne sont pas très identifiables sur le terrain : est-ce là un piège déjà installé ? ou ici un emplacement de piège ou bien un élement décoratif ? tout cela n'est pas très intuitif et dans l'action, le bordel ambiant n'aide pas vraiment pour s'y retrouver.

    Des niveaux de difficultés sont proposés sous forme d'étoiles, de quoi s'entraîner et appéhender comme on le souhaite le jeu au fur et à mesure, puis plus tard après la campagne, des niveaux bonus plus carabinés deviennent disponibles. Mais le caractère répétitif devient trop flagrant -trop de haque et slache bourre-boutons- tandis que le souci de lisibilité du champ de bataille est de plus en plus irritant. Un jeu prometteur mais tout à fait médiocre finalement.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

50
#50 Best Xbox One Game of 2016
66
#66 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. CD-Action
    Mar 6, 2017
    80
    You don’t have to be a tower defense junkie to appreciate Deathtrap. [03/2017, p.57]
  2. Generación Xbox
    Feb 11, 2017
    80
    Deathtrap is a great combination of the Tower Defense genre with the RPG elements that will make us have a good time if we give it the opportunity it deserves. It has many hours of fun and a multiplayer cooperative mode in the campaign that we certainly recommend knowing the game offers a great variety of enemies. Surely we enjoy the game even more in good company.
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  3. TheXboxHub
    Feb 11, 2017
    80
    Although World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap looks very drab and appears to be just another tower defense game with a gimmick, playing it will cast these negative thoughts away because the enjoyment factor and depth to the whole thing cannot be ignored and really should be praised.
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