NOTE-- I received this game as a gift from a Steam friend, not from the developer.

Dracula Origin is a classic point-and-click game from 2008 with many of the good and bad things that come along with it. It doesn't belong alongside the beloved classics, but I think it's a good game that's worth playing. Unfortunately it hasn't been in a bundle for almost 3 years. So on to the pros and cons:
(+) Pretty nice graphics for 2008, and it holds up pretty well, IMO. Animations are a bit stiff, but the still shots are very nice.
(+) Very good Dracula atmosphere. I don't consider myself a huge Dracula person (although it was my go-to trick-or-treat costume all though my childhood) but I thought it was well-done.
(+) Polished, and completely bug-free in my experience.
(+) Standard Dracula story, but executed well-- and with good length.

(+/-) All dialog is voiced, but the voice acting is spotty, IMO. Some of it's really overacted.
(+/-) Some reading is required; there are letters and documents and whatnot to sort through, most of which contain some kind of clue you'll need. This approach isn't for everybody.
(+/-) Puzzles range from very easy to quite difficult. I think this is a good thing, but some will be annoyed at the too-easy and too-hard puzzles. But IMO they are all logical, even if part of the puzzle at times was to determine what the logic was. In some cases, I gave up and looked for a solution online. In other cases, I persevered and got that fantastic feeling of solving a difficult puzzle.
(+/-) A fair amount of pixel-hunting. So much to mouse over, and while most are obvious, some are very well hidden. This doesn't bother me personally, especially because you can click spacebar to reveal hotspots.
(+/-) Extremely linear, as was often the case in 2008 point-and-clicks. You literally can't leave a room sometimes until you've done everything you need. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for...

(-) Several moments where you know what to do, basically how to do it, but you haven't looked at some hotspot and gotten a dialog confirmation, or you haven't fully combined some item, and you are completely blocked in your progress.
(-) There's some real "game logic" moments...you know, where you have to make completely bizarre item combinations, or the next step the protagonist takes seems completely out of the blue.
(-) Locked into 4:3 aspect ratio...hard to get used to these days.
(-) Sudden and confusing ending.

TL/DR:
I think if you like classic point-and-click games from this era, can put up with some of the drawbacks of such games, and aren't put off by some disturbing or gruesome visuals, then this will be a game you'll like. If Dracula is your thing, then you should pick it up even though it hasn't been in a bundle for years.

This game is a prequel to the “Dracula: Love Kills” (although “Love Kills” start contradicts the “Origin's” ending).

“Dracula: Origin” has a rather beautiful design and interesting story with some nice variations of the classic Stoker's novel, although I felt a bit bored in the beginning and, at one point, thought of quitting the game completely.

As to the puzzles, they are either too simple, or too difficult and rely heavily on trial and error and dialogue re-reading, which I personally found unconventional and inconvenient.

Also, it's easy to miss items, leading you to often re-visiting of the same spots and circling around, moving the cursor carefully across the screen.

As many of the puzzles do not follow a straightforward one path logic or any logic at all, this walkthough guide is highly recommended to save time and avoid frustration: http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcDd/draculaorigin.htm

I played it for the story anyway. Not the best puzzles and clues in the genre.

My overall rating: 6/10. The sequel is much better.

Such a bad, borring game.

It's a straight forward point-and-click adventure game, but the puzzles are easy for the player to figure out; at least they are when the obvious solution actualy works.
For example, you can't enter an area because it's dark. *use matches on lantern* Nope.
*Use lantern on matches* Nope
*Use lantern on dark cave entrance* Nope
The correct option is to light the matches and drop the lit pack at the entrance. Because ligthing all your matches and leaving them in a burning pile at the door makes perfect sense when you have a lantern.

The other problem is that you will figure out the puzzle and the solution to whatever your doing before your character does. If you don't scrape away every pixel from that tombstone, he won't read it and if you enter the answer to the riddle yourself it just won't work. The player character is dumber than you, and you're not allowed to play smart.

I paid about 99 cents for this game and still feel ripped off.

Started playing it and like the aesthetic, I can live with janky visuals and actually it looks quite good. It seems the puzzles aren't too hard so far. But I figured out the answer for one puzzle and couldn't continue until I figured out how to get the player character to know the answer, so can be a little stupid like that. Decided to give up when I had to look something up online and it said I had to collect bees in a cloth and feed them to a butler, in no way would I have figured that out because it doesn't make any sense. So I assume there will be more puzzles like this and won't be wasting any more time.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this game. While the story and puzzles are pretty good, and the graphics held up well, the mechanics were very frustrating. For many objects, the click area is so small that it creates unreasonable frustration. If you're willing to pixel-hunt, some of the puzzles are very rewarding.

(Also, loses points for having multiple dogs, but no ability to pet any of them)

I didn't have to force myself to finish this game like I find myself doing with many adventure games. Something new was always going on and nothing felt redundant or stale. The puzzles in this game are good and makes sense. With enough hunting of clues, you can solve them. I recommend it for those who enjoy puzzle adventure games!

This is an excellent Dracula game. I had a blast going through all the puzzles and trying to find out in what order you were supposed to do things. I strongly recomend this game for those who like puzzle games.

This game was a gifted to me in a bundle.

I think the game has potential but it was frustrating to play. The click area to pick up and examine items was very small and things were easily missed. The art style also made it difficult to distinguish if an item was back ground or not. Ended up using a guide to figure out where to click and it became so tedious that I gave up on finishing it; not worth the time.

I believe I got this game from a humble bundle. It would have been good if I didnt need to look at an online guide for most of it. It was a very complex game to the point I couldnt even enjoy it. There are no instructions or guides in the game when it comes to solving puzzles. It's just like here you go figure it all out. I usually love games like this. It got boring after awhile as well. So, if you want some frustration in your life get this game.

https://youtu.be/WSD0T-PK9_0

Far less sexy Dracula than promised by the title image but this aged point and click adventure game puzzles still hold up well by modern standards, excluding the QoL elements around pixel hunting.