Yesterday evening, Polish developer Rebel Wolves finally unveiled its debut project, a single player open world roleplaying game titled The Blood of Dawnwalker. During a livestreamed event, fans were able to learn more about the game, watch the gorgeous CGI trailer, and even get a brief sneak peek at in-game footage.
Rebel Wolves was founded three years ago by former The Witcher III: Wild Hunt director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz following his departure from CD Projekt RED. After securing investment from NetEase, the studio signed a deal to publish their first title with Bandai Namco.
The influence of The Witcher III is pretty clear, although there are more than a few twists. The Blood of Dawnwalker is set in 14th-century Carpathia, in the fictional region of Vale Lenora. While not a high fantasy game, the setting definitely supports magic and supernatural inspired by dark fantasy universes. The story begins when, at the height of the Black Plague, a group of powerful vampires leaps out of the shadows to overthrow the feudal lords and take the Vale for themselves. They’re led by an old and very powerful vampire called Brencis, who promises security to the battered inhabitants. Of course, that protection comes at a heavy cost – regular blood masses where humans have to donate their blood, no matter the consequences for them.
In the CGI trailer, we see protagonist Coen’s first encounter with the vampires. Just as the human lords are about to burn Coen’s sister, who is infected with the Black Plague, the vampires arrive and slaughter them all. Then, they hear Coen’s plea to save her and proceed to heal the little girl with their blood (which does not turn her into a vampire).
The game begins around two years after that event. Coen has since been turned into kind of a vampire himself, but as you might have guessed from the title, he’s a special one. Due to his argyria, a silver poisoning he got when working in the silver mines, he is weaker than a regular vampire but also not fully transformed, which means he can still walk among humans during the day.
The Blood of Dawnwalker will reportedly feature two different loops for day and night. During the day, Coen will essentially fight like a human (barring some occult magic he’ll be able to learn throughout the game); however, during the night, he’ll be able to use his vampire powers. He’ll need them, as there are other supernatural foes than just vampires that have come out since Brencis took over: undead, Kobolds, and some creatures called uriashes.
Being an open world roleplaying game, it’s not surprising to hear confirmation that players will be able to befriend or become the enemy of various characters. The former would probably be smarter to further Coen’s ultimate goal of taking down Brencis and freeing his family, though he can go entirely solo as well. However, players will only have 30 days and nights to make him succeed. This also inevitably means they won’t be able to complete all the stories (which Rebel Wolves is not splitting traditionally into main and side quests) in a single playthrough. There’s one more mechanics that needs to be monitored at all times: blood hunger. Not only will Coen be weaker in combat if not fed, but he might lose control and kill even a friend, potentially also failing a quest.
All of this sounds very interesting, to say the least. This Unreal Engine 5 powered game will receive its full gameplay reveal this Summer. There’s no release window yet, but we already know The Blood of Dawnwalker will be available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
