The Blood of Dawnwalker preview: I want to lose myself in this world

Domagoj Belancic

7.7.2026

Translation: Natalie McKay

The Blood of Dawnwalker is the ambitious debut release from Polish studio Rebel Wolves. I tested this year’s most anticipated role-playing game and fell in love with its dark vampire world. But I have some reservations about the technical execution.

There are high hopes for The Blood of Dawnwalker. This is due in no small part to the creative minds behind this project. Rebel Wolves is a studio founded in 2022 by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who was game director for The Witcher 3. Joining him are numerous former developers from CD Projekt Red who also worked on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

In the lead-up to its September launch, I had the chance to play The Blood of Dawnwalker for four hours and talk with Ariana Siarkiewicz, an author at Rebel Wolves, about this ambitious role-playing game.

My first impression is positive, for the most part. I love the dark game world, the immense freedom when it comes to quest design and the innovative time system. But this open-world game falls short on the technical front.

Note: at the end of this article, you’ll find a competition where you can win awesome The Blood of Dawnwalker merch.

A world you’ll fall in love with

There are games that immediately draw me in with their exciting premise. The Blood of Dawnwalker is one of them.

It’s the 14th century, somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains. People are suffering from the effects of wars and the plague. Ancient vampires exploit this moment of human weakness. They take control of a kingdom and cut it off from the outside world.

Under this new vampire regime, led by Prince Brencis, there are no more wars. The plague has been eradicated thanks to the healing powers of these bloodsuckers.

So did everyone live happily ever after? Not quite. Because the vampires treat their subjects like livestock. The country’s inhabitants are forced to attend the Blood Mass once a month. There, the vampires draw blood from them. After all, these bloodsuckers are hungry (or should that be thirsty?). But it gets worse – during these ceremonies, the old, sick and weak members of the herd are culled.

«It’s a world devoid of hope,» Ariana summarises. The bloodsuckers’ repulsive design perfectly complements this oppressive atmosphere: «We wanted to create a dark fantasy game, not one with sparkly vampires. Our characters go back to the roots of the vampire myth. To an image that leans heavily into Nosferatu. Vampires are supposed to be eerie and terrifying.»

After my first few hours of playing the game, I can safely say that this mission has been accomplished. I want to lose myself in this dark game world.

Superior worldbuilding

I play as Coen, a young resident of the mountain village of Laslea. I spend most of my preview demo in the prologue, which ends with an ominous blood ritual – more on that later. First, there are everyday tasks to take care of in Coen’s hometown. I get medicine for my mentally ill mother, go fishing in the river and help a weaver find a stolen banner she made for the vampire rulers.

In The Blood of Dawnwalker, even these mundane activities are an important part of worldbuilding. Each time I interact with an NPC, I learn more about the brutal vampire rule. With every conversation, my fear of the impending Blood Mass grows. For instance, one of Prince Brencis’s henchmen describes a child as a «calf.» A clear indication that these bloodsuckers view humans as living prey that will be slaughtered sooner or later.

But not all of Laslea’s residents consider the vampires to be «the bad guys.» After all, the people ruled by them live in peace, free from disease and without having to pay pesky taxes.

The developer studio wants me, as a player, to think about «good» and «evil.» I ask Ariana for her take on the vampires: «I’d side with the vampires because I’m afraid of diseases. Keep the plague away from me at any cost – take my blood, for all I care.»

Opinions vary within the studio: «There’s no consensus. And that’s exactly what we’re going for. We want there to be compelling arguments on both sides – humans and vampires.»

Quests with consequences

I especially like how flexible the quests feel, even in the prologue. In every mission, I face decisions that influence the development of the story.

This is most apparent in the case of the medical mission I mentioned for my mother, who suffers from delusions and panic attacks. I go to a witch to get some herbs for a potion that should calm her down, at least for a while.

When I get home, I make the medicine. The witch did tell me how many spoonfuls of herbs I need and how hot the water has to be. But damn… I forgot. Was it two or three tablespoons? Does the water have to be boiling or lukewarm? Does she have to drink it right away, or should she wait?

I brew the potion wrong. The medicine isn’t strong enough, and my mum loses it during the Blood Mass. She screams, lashes out and tries to escape. The vampires know no mercy. There’s no place in the herd for sick livestock. She’s sacrificed in front of the assembled crowd.

Talking with other journalists and the developers, I learn that I could’ve saved my mum if I’d paid attention during the witch’s lesson and brewed the potion correctly. The game punishes me harshly for skipping through the dialogue too quickly.

Ariana explains why freedom of choice and consequences are so important in a role-playing game like The Blood of Dawnwalker: «This might sound mean, but I hope players regret their decisions. You tend to forget individual actions, characters or abilities. But when you grapple with a decision on an emotional level, that, to me, is where video games really come into their own. I hope players take this exact feeling away with them.»

A «narrative sandbox» under time pressure

What sets The Blood of Dawnwalker apart is its time system – a feature that has already sparked heated debate online even before its release. The game treats time as a resource. Completing certain quests or unlocking new abilities in the skill tree makes in-game time pass.

This is important because, after the Blood Mass, Brencis and his vampire buddies kidnap the rest of Coen’s family. They’re going to be sacrificed at his grand coronation ceremony. I only have 30 in-game days left to find them and save them.

With its time system, the studio aims to stand out from similar role-playing games: «The time pressure was a narrative choice from the very beginning. We wanted to create a sense of urgency that we think is missing in other open-world games. The game world should feel as if it isn’t waiting for you.»

I already feel this sense of urgency in the prologue. I only have a few hours left before the Blood Mass begins. That means I can’t complete all the quests and have to decide which ones I consider truly important. I like this approach. The time constraints make my decisions more significant.

According to Ariana, though, I shouldn’t let myself be too constrained by the time limit for saving my family. After the prologue, I can let the 30 days pass and leave my loved ones to their bloody fate. This doesn’t cause the game to end. But I do have to live with the consequences of my inaction – somewhere out there, my father and sister are being sacrificed right now, while I’m wasting my time on a fun quest.

Rebel Wolves describes this flexible storytelling as a «narrative sandbox.» Ariana explains: «The idea behind the ‘narrative sandbox’ approach is that you play the game however you want. You write your own story, deciding which quests interest you and which ones you’d rather skip. You can head straight to the end and fight Brencis. Or you can ignore your family and just have some fun.»

Human by day, vampire by night

After Brencis kidnaps my family, he curses Coen and turns him into a vampire. Well, almost. Something goes wrong during the transformation, so Coen remains a normal person during the day. But as soon as the sun goes down, he turns into a bloodsucker.

This leads to some exciting gameplay twists. Coen, as a vampire, gets some really cool special powers. In true Spider-Man style, he runs up vertical walls – he can even walk along ceilings upside down. Later in the game, Coen can also transform into a wolf to travel through the world more quickly. I’m excited to see what other abilities the finished game has in store.

Unlike human Coen, vampire Coen doesn’t need potions or herbs to restore his health – instead, he drinks blood. People and large animals work best for healing him, but rats will do in a pinch.

What’s especially neat is that if Coen gets too thirsty, he loses control. If I approach an NPC when my energy is low, Coen’s vampire cravings might get the better of him, causing him to drain the person dry. Even important quest-givers can be killed unintentionally this way.

Combat system – better than expected

Before I got to play the preview, I was sceptical of the combat system. In the gameplay videos released beforehand, the fights didn’t make a good impression. Fans complained about stiff animations and a slow pace of play.

I can assure you there’s nothing to worry about here – the combat plays out much better than it looks in the videos.

The combat system’s based on directional attacks – think Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I have to block incoming strikes depending on the direction of my opponent’s attack. At the same time, I can also change the direction of my own sword strikes and attack enemies from different angles.

But that’s easier said than done. After the prologue, I leave Coen’s village and explore a relatively large area of the open-world game environment. On my travels, I take a real beating from Brencis’s soldiers and giant bears. I could also switch to more traditional hack-and-slash controls – but my pride as a gamer won’t let me. As the game goes on, I get the hang of directional attacks. When I’m facing multiple opponents, I get into a flow state – it almost feels like a rhythm game. Block, attack, lunge, block.

Coen’s vampire powers also affect the combat system. While I spend my days slicing up enemies armed only with a sword, at night I have the option to fight using sharp vampire claws. During a battle, I can also slow down time and activate special attacks from a radial menu. For instance, vampire Coen can bite his enemies to quickly regain health.

The combat system is sound, but I’m curious to see if the directional attacks and unlockable special moves will be enough to keep me entertained even after dozens of hours.

An open world with rough edges

What I’ve seen so far of the open world outside of Coen’s hometown hasn’t impressed me. Rebel Wolves seems to be taking a conservative approach to the open game world.

One of the first things I see is a tower. Guess what it’s for. Exactly. I climb it, which unlocks quest markers on my overview map. That’s how I discover a bandit camp, a bear’s den and a mysterious treasure. Not because I’m just running in a certain direction out of curiosity and letting the interesting surroundings guide me, like in Breath of the Wild. No, I discover these places because they’re marked with a «?» symbol on the map. Yawn.

I haven’t discovered any major settlements or side quests outside of Coen’s home village yet. Rebel Wolves reveals that the open game world’s designed to feel completely different depending on the time of day, partly because of Coen’s vampire abilities. So I remain cautiously optimistic, and hope that the open-world setting of The Blood of Dawnwalker will still manage to pleasantly surprise me.

What worries me even more is the game’s technical performance. Here I’m talking about the PC version I tried out. The game world in the preview is certainly impressive, with its rich detail, dense vegetation and atmospheric lighting. But against this top-notch backdrop, some NPCs seem like low-budget misfits. Stiff animations and lifeless faces lend cutscenes unintentional humour – a major problem for a narrative-driven game with emotional storytelling.

I also experience constant stuttering during my gameplay session. This is particularly noticeable when I activate Coen’s Focus mode. This works like the Witcher Sense in The Witcher 3 – I see clues like footprints, hints and interactive objects. Every time I activate it, the game starts to stutter. These performance issues are annoying and pull me out of the game world.

Some of Coen’s other abilities also feel a bit rough around the edges and somewhat buggy. Running along walls as a vampire can go wrong. For instance, I get stuck on a wooden platform near the observation tower and am only able to free myself by sheer luck.

Rebel Wolves emphasises that this is a beta version. The bugs and performance issues are expected to be addressed by the time of the September release. Let’s hope that not only Coen, but also the studio, can make the right decisions even under time pressure. It would be a real shame if such an ambitious role-playing game with a unique world were to fail because of lacklustre technical execution.

The Blood of Dawnwalker will be released on 4 September for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Bandai Namco invited me to the preview event in Mainz and covered my travel expenses. I tested the PC version.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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