I’m Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, Artistic Director at Insurgent Wolves, engaged on The Blood of Dawnwalker — a story-driven, open-world RPG set in 14th-century Europe. We lately showcased a more in-depth take a look at the gameplay at gamescom and wished to share some of the thrilling new particulars with you.
Getting into the narrative sandbox
You play as Coen, the sport’s protagonist and the titular Dawnwalker. Whereas the precise circumstances stay a thriller, an try to show Coen right into a vampire fails. In consequence, he exists between two worlds — human in the course of the day, vampire at evening. This duality sits on the coronary heart of the gameplay, with every kind providing distinct expertise and skills. Most quests will be approached throughout both day or evening, creating considerably completely different experiences.
One of the important thing mechanics is what we name the “narrative sandbox.” As soon as the prologue concludes, you could have 30 days and nights to rescue Coen’s household from Brencis, a centuries-old vampire and former Roman senator, and his interior circle. Solely main actions transfer the clock ahead, and you’re at all times knowledgeable how a lot time an exercise will eat. Roaming the open world doesn’t advance time, supplying you with the liberty to discover with out strain. Time works extra like a forex than a countdown.
What really defines the narrative sandbox is the liberty it offers you to form the story by yourself phrases. Quests will be accomplished in any order, skipped totally, and even by no means found in any respect relying in your selections. Many characters will be killed, with their absence reshaping occasions and relationships. There are sometimes a number of paths to attain the identical objective, and even inaction is a selection — one the world round Coen will acknowledge and reply to. The result’s a deeply reactive narrative construction that encourages experimentation and makes each playthrough distinctive.
Human by day. Vampire by evening.
The newly revealed quest takes place on day eight of Coen’s journey. By then, a number of quests have been accomplished and Coen is visibly extra highly effective. We first see him at evening, navigating the capital metropolis of Svartrau and utilizing vampiric skills like Shadowstep — a short-range teleport that lets him immediately reposition. It’s invaluable not solely in fight, permitting him to flank enemies or shut the hole on patrolling guards, but in addition for exploration and stealth.
With Shadowstep, Coen can attain scaffolding excessive on the cathedral’s partitions, leap between rooftops, or slip into in any other case inaccessible balconies and ledges, opening up new routes and alternatives to strategy aims. Fight stays fluid and dynamic, mixing bodily power with supernatural powers. His vampire kind isn’t overpowered, but it surely provides a definite tactical layer.
The quest entails infiltrating town’s cathedral, the place Coen encounters Xanthe — an historic Greek vampire and Brencis’ strongest ally.
To indicate how time of day impacts gameplay, we then reload a save to expertise a daytime model of the hunt. This time, the objective is to find the legendary sword of Saint Mihai, the cathedral’s patron. In his human kind, Coen leans extra on swordplay and darkish human magic, unavailable as a vampire. Fight is quick and responsive, with directional assaults and versatile blocking. You may block simply with a single button or use directional enter for extra precision and management, accommodating each story-focused gamers and these searching for a problem.
Combating the dwelling, the lifeless, and all the pieces In between
As soon as the enemies are defeated, Coen enters Svartrau in the course of the day. The streets are bustling with life — townsfolk fill the squares, retailers commerce items, and ambient conversations trace on the uneasy coexistence beneath vampire rule. After roaming the colourful streets, Coen goes to the cathedral.
Inside, we witness a chilling ritual known as the Blood Baptism, one of Brencis’ methods of twisting present traditions to keep up management.
After a tense dialogue sequence that almost exposes Coen, the sword quest resumes. This results in a battle with Muron, a creature born from a failed vampire transformation. Not like Coen, Muron doesn’t turn into a Dawnwalker however a wild, unstable monster with unpredictable powers.
One other hex in Coen’s arsenal – Compel Soul – permits Coen to talk with the lifeless, serving to him uncover clues and finally find a hidden crypt believed to carry the sword. What he finds is much extra disturbing: Saint Mihai, as soon as revered, had been entombed alive after villagers found he was additionally a Dawnwalker. Starved in the course of the day and regenerating at evening, Mihai slowly misplaced his sanity. When freed, he assaults Coen utilizing the complete vary of Dawnwalker skills.
Should you discover him at evening as an alternative, Mihai seems in his vampire kind, providing a wholly completely different encounter.
The almost 50-minute demo gives an prolonged take a look at The Blood of Dawnwalker’s design — from its dual gameplay loop and time-based construction to its concentrate on participant company and narrative depth. There isn’t a single path via this story, and each determination, together with inaction, shapes the journey. Slated for launch in 2026, The Blood of Dawnwalker goals to ship wealthy storytelling, immersive fight, and an open world the place narrative really takes the lead.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is coming to PlayStation 5 in 2026; wishlist it now to remain up to date and be among the many first to step into Coen’s journey!