The Blood of Dawnwalker: Dead and Loving It

A lot of the vampire’s enchantment is that it’s equal components horrible monster and alluring energy fantasy. Certain, you need to sate a bottomless starvation for the blood of the residing, however you get to be immortal, have cool powers, and look attractive whereas doing it. It’s thus stunning that in video video games the stability is skewed so closely in direction of killing vampires over being them — avid gamers are all about a violent energy fantasy. For each Bloodlines or V-Rising, there are a dozen RPGs the place vampires are simply thoughtlessly thrown into the combination of chaff monsters that you just grind for expertise.

Luckily, The Blood of Dawnwalker is right here to proper that stability as an upcoming vampire-focused RPG, arriving September 3, 2026. It’s the debut challenge from Insurgent Wolves, a Warsaw-based studio shaped by a core of veterans from CD Projekt Crimson (Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3), devoted to creating single-player RPGs which can be wealthy in each story and mechanics. I acquired to play the opening prologue of Dawnwalker at a current preview occasion, together with 4 hours of gameplay and a gaggle interview with a number of builders. Realizing little or no coming in, I left very excited for each this sport and studio.

I, For One, Welcome Our New Vampire Overlords

You play Coen, eldest son of a peasant household within the Vale Sangora, an remoted valley nestled within the Carpathian Mountains of southeastern Europe within the center of the 14^th Century. You had been dominated by an ordinary oppressive human noble (a “knyaz”), however firstly of the sport he’s overthrown by Brencis, a vampire (“vrakhir”) and his immortal cabal.

The isolation of the valley permits the vrakhiri to rule brazenly, with out drawing the eye of bigger neighbors. In some ways, it looks as if Brencis guidelines with a extra simply and even hand than the deposed knyaz. In fact, there’s the entire ‘feeding in your individuals like cattle’ factor, however we are able to’t let politics be slowed down by purity exams, proper?

By way of the occasions of the prologue, Coen’s household is taken hostage by Brencis and in 30 days’ time they may die in a blood sacrament. Coen is remodeled right into a vrakhir, however solely partway: his powers manifest at evening, however in the course of the day he reverts to being a human, unhurt by the daylight (therefore Dawnwalker). That implies that Coen has one month to grasp his new powers, tackle his historic and highly effective maker, and rescue his household.

It’s a enjoyable and traditional premise for a righteous heroic revenge fantasy with a well-recognized form, however the open-ended method by which you may get from A to Z is what has me actually enthusiastic about The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Tempus Fugit

That 30-day clock isn’t simply an summary conceit to supply narrative stakes so that you can promptly ignore when you go and full each facet quest. The passage of time is a central mechanic, with every day and evening being divided into 8 models every. This clock doesn’t advance in actual time as you’re operating round and exploring, however somewhat taking quest actions will eat one or a number of models of time, as denoted beforehand within the UI by hourglass icons. “We wish gamers to really feel pressure. We wish them to consider time actively like a useful resource,” stated Senior Quest Designer Patryk Fijalkowski.

The prologue largely coated at some point main as much as an eventful midnight mass, at which the vrakhiri deal with the group. Coen’s father tasked him with going to the village herbalist, Anca, and getting one thing stronger to assist his traumatized, anxious wreck of a mom endure the mass. Alongside the best way he bumped into his youthful sister and brother, who requested him to escort them to the river for fishing, the place wolves have been noticed. I couldn’t have Coen’s siblings eaten by wolves, so I accepted the immediate, which ticked the clock ahead, then once more later to assist them arrange the fishing traces. After visiting Anca, additionally staying longer than deliberate for an impromptu flirtatious Latin lesson whereas it rained – and then serving to when a tree fell by way of her storehouse roof – I had time to assist a neighbor discover and then butcher one of their pigs.

The price of time meant I couldn’t comply with my normal compulsion of scouring the map and accepting each quest I got here throughout, and as an alternative I needed to be deliberate with how I spent Coen’s day. It additionally eradicates the same old distinction between essential and facet quests. Somewhat than having essential quests that advance diegetic time and facet quests to be checked off at your leisure, there’s simply the stress of a looming deadline and no matter you select to do and fill the intervening hours.

That open-ended construction of the primary day is microcosmic of the entire sport, which they described as a “narrative sandbox.” There isn’t a golden path of essential quests to comply with, however a valley full of narrative threads to drag at when you pursue your bigger goal of bringing down Brencis. He has three essential vrakhiri lieutenants, every of whom has their very own related tales so that you can uncover as you strive and take them down, however whether or not or the order by which you accomplish that is as much as you.

Many quests or areas are solely accessible to Coen as both vrakhir or human, offering additional limiting construction on how one can spend his days and nights. As somebody who loves procedural narrative simulations like Dwarf Fortress or The Sims, I’m very excited to see this sort of systemic and frictional method to single-player RPG storytelling, which ought to produce a a lot wider vary of particular person journeys throughout the similar sport than the style typically permits.

“There’s years of my work that you just received’t see in the event you kill sure individuals,” quipped Atmosphere Artist Adam Payet about how a lot variation the narrative accommodates based mostly on participant motion. The total sport will proceed as soon as the 30 days are up (although I can’t think about it goes effectively for Coen’s household), however you may also, like in Breath of the Wild, finish it at any time by simply exhibiting up at Brencis’ fortress.

“You possibly can end the sport within the prologue — have you ever gotten to combating Brencis?” Payet requested the group. “You possibly can defeat him. Watching our QA individuals combat Brencis is one thing to see. They’re like machines: each blow parried, each assault dodged, each hit a important.”

Sword and Claw

I had, in reality, fought that climactic duel with Brencis on the finish of the prologue, and he completely whupped my ass. That was in no small half as a result of The Blood of Dawnwalker has an fascinating directional fight system that I used to be nonetheless wrapping my head round. When somebody swings a weapon at you, an icon seems over their head indicating one of the 4 cardinal instructions for the incoming assault. Simply urgent and holding the block button alone will defend you, however on the price of stamina. Shifting the thumbstick within the corresponding route on the proper time as effectively, nevertheless, will parry the blow with no stamina price. It applies to your assaults as effectively, and attacking in a single route too typically will grow to be simpler to dam.

It’s an fascinating little tactical twist on commonplace action-RPG fight that makes it really feel extra lively and embodied. The system is non-obligatory, however gamers will likely be rewarded with larger fight efficacy for mastering it. Preventing jogged my memory of The Witcher 3 in as far as one commonplace man was fairly manageable, however being surrounded felt far more harmful. I used to be unhealthy at it, however in a enjoyable method the place I can stay up for growing mastery. I like that it’s not only a reduce and paste of a extra acquainted fight system and has its personal distinct taste.

After turning, Coen might combat together with his naked claws in addition to together with his sword. The different main anticipated distinction is that he now not healed from consuming meals, however from consuming blood. He can prime off with rats and different small mammals, however clearly that’s not as enjoyable as selecting off unsuspecting troopers earlier than they’ve the prospect to kill you.

I realized the arduous method, nevertheless, that Coen doesn’t get immunity in the course of the feeding animation, or from freaking out their close by allies – biting one guard too near his squad simply meant getting instantly hacked aside by swords. The world feels harmful firstly of The Blood of Dawnwalker, which can make it all of the extra enjoyable to show the tides as Coen accumulates energy.

These powers embrace strolling up partitions, opening up rather a lot of new traversal choices at evening, and turning right into a wolf for transferring shortly throughout the countryside. There are in depth ability timber for each vampire talents and regular human swordplay. Assigning a ability level typically prices a unit of time, nevertheless, which is one other fascinating option to give your decisions a bit extra weight.

As a way to stability out the expertise so that you don’t simply really feel underpowered half the time, one of the final issues that occurred within the prologue was Anca the herbalist instructing Coen follow blood magic as a human, which has its personal ability tree. In context, it was to interrogate a useless soldier of Brencis for clues about what had occurred to Coen’s household, that means it should assist with investigations, however there are additionally extra concrete functions like quicker operating for traversal or direct injury spells for fight.

Pals and Household

Anca and Coen’s ongoing relationship brings it again to the true particular sauce that elevates all of these fascinating system design concepts: the wonderful character writing and performances. Coen and Anca had a enjoyable, pure chemistry (and the devs confirmed that there will likely be different romance choices current).

I used to be surprisingly engaged by the saga of Coen discovering a pig and then being somewhat dismayed when requested to assist slaughter it (accepting a shot of liquor to assist regular his nerves). When minding his siblings by the river, troopers of Brencis approached – a human and an ogre-looking fellow known as an uriash – and the uriash was truly the a lot nicer of the 2, speaking about how good it was to be residing brazenly and taking part in society now underneath the vrakhiri, as an alternative of lurking within the shadows.

At each flip, the writing was empathetic, particular, and fascinating, and additionally pleasantly reactive. When checking again in with Coen’s father on the finish of that first day, he smelled the liquor on Coen from the pig slaughtering and gave him a tough time. Coen additionally knowledgeable him that he’d realized from the uriash that Brencis suspects his father of fomenting unrest. Apparently, the midnight mass can go fairly a couple of alternative ways, relying on how Coen spends the previous day. Notably when the sport is so open-ended about what precisely you possibly can select to do, it feels further rewarding for it to be so reactive to these decisions.

This excessive degree of narrative execution for a brand new studio is smart within the context of the founders’ earlier work on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, each of that are famous for his or her writing and performances, just like the broadly praised Bloody Baron facet quest. Means again after I reviewed The Witcher 3, I used to be struck by how the ending known as again to a collection of at-the-time smaller character choices I had made in Geralt’s relationship to Ciri, which had mainly amounted to him being a cool dad, informing her final choice. The Blood of Dawnwalker builds on that legacy to broaden that sort of narrative reactivity all through the entire sport.

Insurgent Wolves have put an extremely robust foot ahead with their debut, and I’m desirous to play within the sandbox they’re constructing when The Blood of Dawnwalker involves XBOX on September 3, 2026.