The upcoming action-RPG, The Blood of Dawnwalker. is a new type of dark fantasy adventure created by the former developers of The Witcher 3. On the surface, this brutal, supernatural RPG channels the grit and scope of The Witcher or the Gothic series. Surprisingly, it’s also got a darker edge, focusing on protagonist Coen’s morally ambiguous descent into his new life as a half-vampire and the race against time to save his family.
Developed by new studio Rebel Wolves, The Blood of Dawnwalker is an action-RPG that centers on player choice within its dark fantasy realm, where vampires have already taken over, and civilization has embraced a grim fate. We recently got extended hands-on time with The Blood of Dawnwalker during its opening hours, which not only eased us into the structure of its choice-driven adventure but also showed us the harsh consequences of how we spend our time and how inaction can lead to drastic shifts in Coen’s story of vampire awakening.
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Taking place in a supernatural spin on medieval Europe, a mysterious coven of vampires has conquered a region of the continent, bending all the villages and their people to their whims. After a violent encounter with the coven, young adventurer and family man Coen discovers that he’s been afflicted with a strain of vampirism that allows him to retain his human side, but with severe side effects. Using his newfound strength and powers, he vows to dismantle the vampire army to save his abducted family and eliminate the tyrannical leader who orchestrated it all.
The Blood of Dawnwalker puts player choice first in its dark fantasy story.
Vampires and the mythology surrounding them have been the subject of role-playing games for some time, particularly with the likes of Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines or Vampyr, and The Blood of Dawnwalker is certainly adding to that larger tapestry. Playing as Coen, he’ll be able to navigate both the human and vampire worlds, expanding his swordfighting and supernatural powers independently.
However, the world is well aware of the presence and threat of vampires, which adds a new social wrinkle to navigate. This turned out to be such a cool spin on a traditional vampire story because you now have to figure out how to engage with characters understandably upset about fascist vampires taking over, while also keeping your particular vampirism in check.
Combat also focuses on the balance between human and supernatural abilities. Coen’s abilities are very similar to Geralt’s from The Witcher series, but with the added layers of switching between different forms and focusing on enemy weak points.
In a similar vein to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, you’ll be able to strike at specific angles, and in turn, you can also defend against strikes in the same way. It could be a bit disorienting to keep up with the flow and angling of attacks in the heat of battle. However, I really did appreciate that there’s still a considered, tactical approach to fights, which kept me on my toes and made me less comfortable relying on Coen’s new abilities.
But where The Blood of Dawnwalker really shines is in its unique setting and Coen’s story, which plays out across both day and night. With only 30 days to save his family from the vampire coven, while also expanding his vampire and human skills, Coen has to make the best of his time by taking on missions for allies or taking riskier quests for more enticing rewards.
A good sign of an RPG grabbing players with its setting is in how easily they’re able to venture off of key objectives to explore the world at their leisure. However, when playing The Blood of Dawnwalker, there’s a noticeable emphasis on time management, as there’s a cost to taking on all kinds of activities.
Time is a resource, and taking on quests, side-activities, and even leveling up certain skills will move the clock forward for Coen, which can help or hinder his quest. It’s a very intriguing spin on the day/night cycle, in that your choices move the clock forward rather than time moving without you.
It’s an interesting spin on an action-RPG, and seeing it all in action showed that it’s not just another day/night cycle, but a focused way for players to engage with scheduling their activities and being mindful of their choices. In an interview with senior quest designer Patryk Fijalkowski, he explained that Rebel Wolves wanted to build an action-RPG that kept players feeling the story’s tension while also being mindful of what they wanted to emphasize.
“We wanted players to feel the weight of the world and to feel the tension of the stakes of the story, but at the same time, we didn’t want players to feel actively stressed,” he said. “That was a huge part of why we designed the time system of the game. We had to really look at how we present the passage of time in this game – was it going to be real time, or not? We were thinking about a lot of different approaches.
That’s why we went with a system that wasn’t real-time but more objective-based. We wanted players to feel free to explore and interact with the world without feeling stressed about having to ignore the less important things. Players are always in control of the time based on objectives and actions to invest in, and to get stronger, you have to make those decisions count to fulfill their quest.”
Even with just the prologue, Coen’s community came to life.
Our hands-on time focused on the opening prologue, which offered a clear view of how life in Coen’s community has devolved following the vampire coven’s takeover. Acting as a caregiver for his ailing mother and guardian for his family, Coen has several tasks to accomplish ahead of the town’s evening ritual to appease the vampire coven.
As it goes with choice-driven RPGs, which activities you take on and how you interact with key characters will influence the story, and The Blood of Dawnwalker features some of the most engrossing and consequential choice-driven story shifts I’ve seen in a game in some time.
The core goal of the prologue is to get medicine for your mother before the town ritual. While this seems simple enough, the prologue presents several side activities and events that can easily distract and influence your day’s events. For instance, while walking down to pick up medicine from the local healer, Anca, his siblings wanted his help with fishing. Not wanting to leave them alone and feeling I had enough time, I decided to join them, which led to a tense encounter with guards from the vampire coven who accosted the family. This moved the timeline forward.
Not long after, a heavy storm was slowly approaching as I grabbed the medicine from Anca’s home, who also instructed me on how to use it. With the timeline moved up, I also had the option to stay at her house to wait out the storm and keep my conversation going, but I decided to head out to return home to get ahead of it. However, on my way back, I encountered a concerned merchant looking for his friend who had ventured into the nearby swamps.
Not wanting to pass up on doing another good deed, I took on the quest and found an abandoned tomb with the lost merchant, opening an encounter with a revived ancient warrior. After defeating him in combat, I acquired new armor and a special weapon to power up Coen.
After returning home, I administered the medicine to Coen’s mother, and the family headed out to the church for the evening’s ritual. Unfortunately, this is where my choices really came into play. What followed was a brutal and tragic turn of events, which saw the death of his mother, which then triggered the events leading to Coen’s pursuit of revenge. It’s a really effective and heartwrenching opening, but it also plays well to The Blood of Dawnwalker’s focus on causality and blurred lines between the human and vampire worlds.
If The Blood of Dawnwalker can stick the landing, it’s going to be a more than memorable debut for Rebel Wolves.
While speaking with other journalists and content creators at this media event, I heard how different things could play out – such as Coen’s mother surviving the ritual. As it turns out, I made a critical error during my delivery of the medicine that resulted in the incredibly violent ritual.
It’s an interesting approach, and while The Blood of Dawnwalker will always focus on revenge and Coen’s vampire story, the foundations of that can vary for many players. During our press interview, environment artist Adam Payet spoke about the focus of building the prologue, which was key to properly onboarding players into the world.
“It was a long process to build the world design, especially with the prologue and keeping focus on the objective with Cohen’s mother,” said Payet. “We focused a lot of care and attention on making sure that there were enough things to distract you in that portion of the game to draw your attention.”
Adding, “Everything was balanced with the time cost, so we wanted players to feel how easily they could be distracted by other objectives, like helping the villagers. Initially, you don’t know how easy it could be to get the herbs to help her, but then it becomes clearer that there are so many ways that you can get distracted and lured elsewhere. That’s where you realize you have to find your focus and carefully pick what you want to do.”
My favorite detail from the opening of The Blood of Dawnwalker was seeing Coen’s struggle to balance his human and vampire sides. During the more harrowing moments of the prologue, Coen slowly gives in to his hunger for blood, which plays out as intrusive thoughts within the actual dialog choices, the word “feed” replacing typical replies. It’s an incredibly effective moment. It was nerve-wracking to see it during conversations, but it also stems from your performance in combat.
During one of the more gruesome scenes – which was my fault for playing out – I was able to save Coen’s friend from a burning building following a rough fight with vengeful guards. However, I took too many hits from the fight, which made Coen desperate to feed. Once his friend was coaxed out of hiding, Coen’s hunger took full control and devoured his friend. If I had fought better, his life would have been saved.
Therein lies what makes The Blood of Dawnwalker such an interesting take on a vampire RPG. It’s not just dark and brutal; it also casts a keen spotlight on how a character evolves or devolves in a setting that accepts a grim fate, with its protagonist struggling to either give in or push back against dark forces.
Still, with player choice being the focus, you can still be something of a light shining in the dark if you choose, and that’s what got me so excited to see what’s to come with Rebel Wolves’ upcoming RPG. Based on my hands-on time, The Blood of Dawnwalker could end up being one of 2026’s most engrossing RPGs, and if it manages to stick the landing for its dark-fantasy revenge fable, then it’ll make for a memorable debut for its new developer.
