Frogwares Studio has revealed new details behind Dracula: Origin, an upcoming adventure game. Here’s the scoop:

Young, charming and devout, but emotionally broken since the suicide of his wife, Count Dracula has been transformed into a monster, with an insatiable thirst for blood and vengeance, cursed to eternal damnation.

In the game, you play the role of Professor Van Helsing, the celebrated vampire hunter, on the hunt for Dracula, while Dracula himself is on a quest for a mysterious manuscript which will give him the power to raise the dead.

Your goal is to prevent Dracula from finding and using this manuscript, but also to kill him, in order to liberate the souls of all those who have had the misfortune to cross his path.

Using conventional point & click gameplay, Dracula: Origin is a superb adventure supported by impeccable graphics and a rich storyline, which takes you to London, Egypt, Austria, and of course, to Transylvania, in the famous castle of the great vampire. With a subtle combination of 2D environments and animated 3D characters, the game faithfully reproduces the world imagined by the celebrated author Bram Stoker, with all its associated motifs (horror, love, blood, crucifixes, stakes, garlic, etc.), in a disturbing, finely-realized and absorbing Gothic atmosphere.

They also released three screenshots from the game, showing off various environments:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is now available on the PlayStation Network as a $9.99 download, playable on both the PS3 and PSP. It is currently the highest priced game on the store where most games top out at $5.99.

The game will also be available as an unlockable in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP), an enhanced remake of the PC Engine game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.

Get ready to dig your teeth into next-gen consoles, all thanks to The Collective who announced Harker, a vampire-hunting game for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Inspired by ‘Dracula’, the classic horror novel, the game has players take on the role of a “very different” Jonathan Harker, who is vengeful against the creatures of the night after his wife falls victim to Dracula. The gameplay will see players tracking down and hunting these ferocious killers, making use of an “up-close and personal” combat system, using a variety of weapons and environmental factors.

“‘Harker’s’ goal is to bring an in-your-face, visceral, and personal style of combat to the survival horror genre,” said Nigel Cook, producer. “None of these vampires are going to die with one shot. They’re going to fight for their survival, which will give the player a huge level of satisfaction when they successfully execute one.”

“Harker” will bring to life the underbelly of the 18th Century World, taking players into diverse locations, areas never explored in history books, in a gritty, realistic art style that will fully immerse players in their environments. The game also features an incredible roster of blood-thirsty, shape-shifting vampires each with their own savage abilities, sometimes hiding in plain sight; the player may never know just how close they are.

Harker is set for release sometime in 2008. The Collective, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, is also working on Dirty Harry, as well as other unannounced projects.

The long running Castlevania series is back for another round - Konami has announced Portrait of Ruin for the DS.

Letting the player take control of two different characters - vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Orlean, a young girl with magical abilities - the game has them working together to thwart a plan to resurrect Dracula’s Castle within a World War II setting.

The new setting captures the chaos and suffering the era, with thousands of lost souls wandering the world in search of salvation. Desperate to escape the limbo within their exist, the misguided spirits seek to rebuild Dracula’s Castle from its ruins, and are lead by a pair of evil Vampire sisters out to resurrect their master’s home for their own nefarious plans. Thrown together, Jonathan and Charlotte must combine their unusual skill sets to defeat the plans and restore harmony.

Retaining the same 2D platform realms for which the series is famed, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin uses a side-on view to oversee the scrolling stages. Players can switch freely between Jonathan and Charlotte as they progress through the levels, using their skills when appropriate. In addition to Jonathan’s weapon expertise and Charlotte’s spell-casting, both characters can utilise all-new ‘Summon’ attacks to raise demons to assist them against the Vampire sisters’ army. Similarly, more conventional weapons can also be found on route, and saved for use against the hardier monsters that await in the shadows.

The game features all-new locations and over 100 different enemies. More information is set to be revealed during E3.