Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon is a 2008 point-and-click adventure video game developed by Kheops Studio for Microsoft Windows, and published by MC2 France under their Microïds label in Europe and Encore in North America. In 2010, an abridged version of the game developed by Tetraedge Games and published by Chillingo was released in a three-part episodic form for iOS (as Dracula: The Path of the Dragon). The full version of the game was ported to OS X in 2010, published by Coladia. Also in 2010, the three-part iOS version was made available for PC as the Dracula Series. In 2014, the abridged iOS version was made available as a single game on Steam.
The game follows 2000's Dracula: Resurrection and Dracula 2: The Last Sanctuary, although the storyline is unrelated to either game. Path of the Dragon takes place in 1920, and follows Father Arno Moriani of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, who is sent to the village of Vladoviste in the diocese of Alba Iula in Transylvania to investigate the possible canonization of a recently deceased doctor, Martha Calugarul. However, Moriani soon learns Calugarul believed herself to have been engaged in a battle with a vampire, possibly Dracula himself, and although initially skeptical of the story, he slowly comes to believe there may be some validity to it. A loose sequel to Path of the Dragon was released in a two-part form in 2013; Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon and Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy.
Path of the Dragon was most widely reviewed for the PC, where it received mixed reviews. Most critics praised the graphics, music, sound effects and voice acting, but the gameplay and puzzles received a more mixed response, with some finding the puzzles too esoteric and/or illogical, and others feeling they fit the nature of the game well.
Plot[]
The game begins in 1920, with Cardinal Felicio Briganti sending Father Arno Moriani of the Sacred Congregation of Rites to the village of Vladoviste in the diocese of Alba Iula in Transylvania to investigate a candidate for sainthood; Martha Calugarul, a physician and scientist who died several months previously. The process is being fast-tracked because Transylvania has recently been annexed by Romania, leaving Catholics in the minority, and the church feels a local saint may help the Catholics reaffirm their identity in relation to the majority Orthodox in the diocese.
Upon arriving at his inn, Moriani meets Ozana, the innkeeper, and Janos Pekmester, a professor in Medieval History, who is in Vladoviste to excavate the nearby ruins of the Castle of Twilight, Vlad Tepes' residence during his time as Voivode. Moriani learns of Calugarul's biography; after becoming a scientist she was badly burned, forcing her to wear a veil over the side of her face. Later, she worked with Professor Heinrich von Krüger investigating a blood disorder called the "P syndrome". During the War, she remained in Vladoviste and cared for combatants on both sides. She died in bed, apparently from exhaustion, soon after the war.
The next day, Moriani meets a reporter, Stephan Luca, who tells him Calugarul was murdered. He shows Moriani files in which Calugarul reports people dying of unexplainable blood loss, prior to which they were prone to sleepwalking and reacting violently to garlic. All of these patients had two small hematomas on their neck when they died, and all had the "P anomaly" in their blood. Luca claims Calugarul believed a vampire was at work in Vladoviste, and vowed to walk "The Path of the Dragon" to find and confront it. However, because Calugarul believed in vampires and engaged in occult practices to combat them, she cannot be canonized.
Moriani calls Briganti, who tells him to open an investigation proving vampires don't exist. He explains that since the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula, belief in vampires is at an all-time high, and the Vatican wants to put a stop to this superstition. Moriani calls von Krüger, who claims vampirism is actually a blood disorder called the "P syndrome", and is thus scientifically explainable. He then heads to Budapest to meet Professor Irina Boczow, an expert in vampire lore. She tells him the history of vampirism, beginning with Lilith, and much to Moriani's surprise, reveals she believes vampires to be real. She gives him a book, The Lords of Twilight, published by the Thule Society, which says that to become a vampire one must complete The Path of the Dragon, an initiation ritual, something Tepes did in his youth.
Meanwhile, Luca decides to walk The Path of the Dragon alone, believing he will meet Dracula at the end, who he plans to kill. Moriani writes his report refuting vampires, but the next morning, Luca is found shot dead, and Moriani decides take up Luca's plan. Amongst Calugarul's correspondence he finds evidence The Path begins where Tepes was held prisoner in Turkey, and so travels to the jail in the mountains, where he discovers prisoners were left as food for a creature living in the forest so she would spare the nearby villagers. Tepes, however, apparently escaped. Upon returning to Vladoviste, Moriani learns Ozana has been told by the Iron Guard to get him out of the inn, and the villagers no longer want to speak to him. He calls Boczow to tell her he plans to walk The Path to kill whatever he finds at the end of it, and she advises he come see her.
Upon arriving in Budapest, however, he finds her murdered. He returns to Vladoviste to find his friend, Dr. Maria Florescu, Calugarul's replacement, is missing. In a nearby shed, he discovers an unconscious Pekmester in a coffin. In the inn, he finds a bomb on his door. He disarms it, and Ozana tells him Pekmester and a man from Alba Iula had been in his room. He enters Pekmester's room, and discovers Pekmester and von Krüger are members of the Thule Society, and have been working with the Iron Guard. He also learns von Krüger has been in touch with a young member of the DAP, who he believes to be much more "enterprising" than Anton Drexler. As such, he has sent Pekmester an extract of a manifesto the young man is working on - an early version of Mein Kampf. Moriani ascertains von Krüger and Pekmester are attempting to walk The Path, which they believe ends in the Castle of Twilight, in an effort to become vampires. He also learns Pekmester has discovered Calugarul's grave to be empty.
Moriani is able to enter a secret passage in the hills leading into the Castle. In an underground labyrinth, he encounters Pekmester, who explains Florescu is a servant of Dracula. He went to see her in the dispensary hoping she would lead him to Dracula, but Dracula knocked him out, put him in the coffin and he woke up in the labyrinth. Eventually, Moriani enters the catacombs. Von Krüger arrives in the courtyard above, begging Moriani to let him down, but Moriani refuses. Florescu arrives, and reveals she is/was Calugarul. When she followed The Path with the intention of killing Dracula, he offered her immortality and her beauty back, and she accepted. She explains Pekmester killed both Luca and Boczow, and von Krüger is the head of the Thule Society, who wish for another World War. She wishes Moriani luck as Dracula himself approaches. However, Moriani ignites the bomb he disarmed at the inn, and the catacombs are destroyed. As Moriani dies, Pekmester laments they have lost their chance, but von Krüger assures him they will return. Unseen by any of them, a green vapour rises from the rubble into the air.
The game cuts to London 1942. In a bunker, Captain Cunningham of the British Army is interrogating Pekmester. Cunningham wants to know the nature of a secret Nazi operation in 1941 headed by General von Krüger codenamed "Operation D". Pekmester asks Cunningham if the name Vlad Tepes means anything to him. Cunningham is dismissive, and Pekmester asks "Don't you believe in vampires?" as the lights in the room go out.