Lilly Van Helsing: Freelance Monster Hunter Expert
Complete missions to earn a living as a monster hunter in the fun and quirky adventures of Lilly Van Helsing.
When I first saw the cover of Lilly Van Helsing, I wondered if this was going to be a somewhat scary adventure. Instead, I discovered a series of fun missions all about hunting monsters! This was certainly a different sort of experience than I expected, so I eagerly printed out a character sheet and got to work… Literally getting to work. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Lilly Van Helsing
Publication Year: 2018
Designer: Uncredited
Artist: Uncredited
Publisher: Van Ryder Games
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Over the course of these missions, money is earned to purchase items and talismans. Deciding the order to take on these monstrous jobs makes a difference, as does a careful consideration of how to manage any lost health. It’s all quite an exciting adventure, packed with action!
First Play
December 8, 2023
Complexity
1
Latest Play
December 8, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
16" x 18"
Low Score
N/A
Monster on Demand
The premise is an interesting one, presented as a sort of gig economy with freelance monster hunters. Rather clever, as it adds a little bit of an open world to the order.
My main gripe with getting started was the character sheet… There isn’t a low-ink version, and I had to use special print settings to get it correctly on a sheet of paper.
But with that out of the way, it was time to explore the city and decide where to begin! I rather enjoyed the humor.
Lilly herself is pretty great, never getting scared and just clearly out to pay some bills while protecting everyone!
Vroom, Vroom!
This little motorcycle may have made me laugh at first, yet it was a very handy mode of transportation! Definitely the perfect choice for a monster hunter on the move.
I decided to start with the mission labeled as the least dangerous. It was certainly a fun one, although I had plenty of trouble locating some hidden numbers.
That didn’t really detract from the experience, though, since this book was rather straightforward and easy.
This apparent walk in the park wasn’t all it was about to be, though… It turned out to be a surprising mission!
Stealthy as Ever
Not to spoil much about this mission, but I was delighted when I came across a panel that labeled me as stealthy!
Many may know about my Stealthy Elephants… Who are clearly on holiday break at the moment, but often show up in hidden places in my photos. So much fun!
I enjoyed this first mission quite a bit, although I noticed that it didn’t offer up many choices besides the order.
Note that this adventure is probably one of the quickest and easiest in the entire series. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, yet it definitely felt different from the others.
Running Into Surprises
Watch out! I thought everything was progressing without any danger, and then the whole idea of hunting monsters came to the forefront. Yikes! Run away, Lilly!
Or, maybe try some of the hidden numbers… If you look closely, you should find a couple of different options.
I loved some of these hidden elements sprinkled across the missions, as some of them were quite useful to me.
Alas, I’m not particularly in love with scouring every panel for a potentially hidden number. I need giant text and high contrast, which isn’t exactly a way to hide anything. Ha!
Adding the Unexpected to a Known Genre
I figured there would be lots of monster hunting involved with this one, but it was pretty neat to discover that it was set in a freelance sort of world! Taking on these missions didn’t feel like work… Although technically, that’s what Lilly was doing. Ha! I really enjoyed this surprising jolt from what I expected to be a mundane, standard adventure.
My desire to part with these adventure books doesn’t reflect on their quality. They’re excellent! I’ve had a lot of fond memories with the vast majority of the ones I’ve played, and it’s simply time to move things along. Definitely will remember some of these moments, though, as a lot of the missions had me laughing out loud over some developments!
Hilarious Reviews
During another mission, I found a fairly small number and figured it was a good idea to follow it somewhere else.
Entirely worth it! I found a phone that had Lilly’s own ratings pulled up with some scathing reviews… About how good of a monster hunter she was. Ha ha!
These are the sorts of things I love finding in these books. Even if it’s just for laughs and not integral to the mission, these little moments are a nice reward for searching.
I got a little lucky with randomly choosing the order of where to go during this mission, though. No surprises!
Action-Packed Panels
One of the things that stood out the most to me was the sheer amount of action across all of these missions. And it wasn’t just text-based: The artwork brought it to life!
When Lilly started to chase down a werewolf, the whole panel traveled up from the bottom of the staircase. Not to give away too much, but look at all that action!
This was a great example of seeing the graphic novel piece done so well. I felt like I was right in the middle of it all.
Yet it all ended too soon without many choices, and the inventory system was a bit of a letdown. Still, fun times!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Play Details: Missions 1-4
Outcome: 4 Wins
Without too much of a struggle, I made it to the end with no health damage. Maybe I overspent on some talismans, but at least that got Lilly to the very end! However, with a single path forward, it was a little too tempting to just go back and reverse a bad decision. Maybe Lilly would approve since it got her all the money? Ha ha! This book was a nice way to end my time with these adventures.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
2
+ Pros (Positives)
- Missions may be completed in any order, which offers a few fun choices throughout the experience.
- All of the artwork is awesome at conveying exciting action in a way that brings the whole story to life.
- Nearly every solution is pretty easy to find, yet this means that it doesn’t take forever to search for numbers.
- A good deal of humor can be found sprinkled throughout in a way that feels natural and tied to the adventure.
- Each mission presents different challenges, and none of them feel like repetitive copies of one another.
- There are some surprises to discover over the course of play, many of which are either funny or pretty neat.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The full set of missions goes by very quickly with little variability, as taking damage doesn’t really make sense.
- Most of the solutions come from finding a lone hidden number in a panel, which is relatively easy to do.
- Printing out a character sheet can be annoying since there isn’t a low-ink version and the sizing is unique.
- Not many decisions are present and each mission progresses in a single way, more akin to a story without choices.
Victory Conditions
Complete Every Mission
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete mission 1.
Complete mission 2.
Complete mission 3.
Complete mission 4.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Lilly Van Helsing? Are there any other solo games that are about freelance work, either with or without monster hunting? This moved along very quickly, yet I was happy to have experienced it! It was a great combination of action, humor, and story. As for me, I’m onto working on playing and enjoying more solo games!
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