Sometimes a game comes along that takes a familiar formula and adds just enough of its own ideas to make it feel genuinely fresh, and The Blood of Dawnwalker does just that. It delivers a dark, ambitious RPG that wears its The Witcher 3 influences proudly, but manages to carve out its own identity thanks to its vampire setting and a genuinely clever approach to player choice.
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Developed by Rebel Wolves, a studio formed by several former CD Projekt Red developers (that’s why you can feel the The Witcher blood in the game), this is clearly a game made by people who understand what makes a good RPG tick.
Set in a grim, plague-ridden vision of 14th-century Europe, you play as Coen, a young man who finds himself transformed into a vampire while trying to rescue his family from the vampire ruler Brencis.
t’s a dark setup, no question about it, but what makes the story particularly interesting is the way it constantly forces you to think about how you spend your time.
Getting Real
You have 30 days and 30 nights to save your family, with almost everything you do eating into that limited window. It’s a brilliant idea on paper, and for the most part it works, creating a constant feeling that there are things happening elsewhere in the world while you’re busy dealing with your own problems.
The downside to having a time system is that it doesn’t always have the impact you might expect. There are moments where it feels genuinely important, but there are also stretches where the countdown fades into the background. That said, it is a very clever mechanic that perhaps just doesn’t go quite far enough with the overall idea it brings to the table. Where Dawnwalker really shines is in its storytelling. The main quests are strong, but it’s the side stories and characters that often steal the show.
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Decisions can lead to different outcomes, while the game frequently makes you choose between helping one character or doing something else entirely. You’re never going to see everything in a single playthrough, which gives the world a satisfying sense of consequence.
This will also drive you nuts. If you’re like me and you like to have all the boxes ticked and everything wiped off your to-do list, the game makes a point of showing that your choices do have an impact and will change the tale and the world for better or worse.
Swords and Spells
As for combat, Rebel Wolves has tried something slightly different from what you may expect. Swords and spells rule the daylight, with well-timed parries rewarding you with openings for much heavier attacks.
Once it clicks, there’s a satisfying rhythm to each encounter, while the script gets flipped when the sun goes down. As you become a vampire, blades are swapped for claws and fangs, giving you a completely different set of abilities.
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Mainly, by day you battle one way, but at night you are a totally different beast in more than one sense. Depending on which quest you undertake and when, it will change how people see you.
The only problem with the combat is that it can become a little repetitive. Enemy variety isn’t particularly strong, and some encounters can feel more like grinds than a true test of your skills. It’s also worth saying that the camera and lock-on system can have a mind of their own, especially when fighting in tighter spaces.
A Mood
Visually, there is no question that Dawnwalker gets the atmosphere spot on. The world is bleak, oppressive, and packed with gothic vibes, while the contrast between Coen’s human and vampiric forms gives the game a strong visual style.
And yes, for a game like this, there are some technical rough edges, but that’s par for the course. These range from performance issues and bugs to awkward animations and occasional glitches, although post-launch updates have already started addressing some of these problems.
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The Blood of Dawnwalker is an impressive debut from Rebel Wolves. Its combination of strong writing, an atmospheric world, and a genuinely interesting approach to both time and choice makes this one difficult to put down. Even more so, it encourages you to run through it all over again to see how different choices play out.
It may not completely reinvent the genre, but it fully embodies the legacy of its development team’s past work, and that is very much to its benefit. If you’re a fan of the The Witcher series, Baldur’s Gate, or Crimson Desert, there is more than enough here to sink your teeth into. Plus, Dawnwalker feels like the beginning of something truly special.
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