You know, we’ve been starved of really good vampire games. I’m not saying there aren’t any, but there have been so few over the last several years. And looking beyond the horizon, the only Vampire game I know that is coming up is Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, which has its fair share of controversies so, yeah we really have been starved. Now, if you’re someone like me who wants to play as a blood-sucking creature of the night, then boy do I have some news for you. Recently, Rebel Wolves Studio, a pretty new studio, has announced a game that looks like a fully fleshed-out Blood & Wine Witcher 3 DLC, and in this article, I’ll explain why you should be excited about The Blood of Dawnwalker.
Who are the Rebel Wolves?
First off, let’s talk about the Studio behind the game. Though it might seem new, saying that they are an inexperienced group will be the most incorrect statement you can probably make in your life because these same people also worked on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Yes, they are, I guess you can say, CD Projekt Red Alumni. Heck, even the game director for The Witcher 3, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, is in Rebel Wolves now and he’s also working on this game. All the more reason to be excited, right? And if you’re familiar with their previous works (of course you are) then you know that most of their games are very story-driven while still having amazing gameplay, which is honestly a hard combination to get nowadays.
Now, Rebel Wolves is running their own studio the way they want it to be, and they’re quite ambitious with their plans. They say they want to make games that will give you an experience that you will remember long after the ending credits have finished rolling. They also want to create games that will let you easily understand the gameplay while keeping it complex enough to let you experiment with different kinds of builds and playstyles. That way, you could approach the problems you encounter with a lot of options. Almost like in real life. But enough of Rebel Wolves for now. We need to talk about The Blood of Dawnwalker, Rebel Wolves' upcoming Open-World ARPG.
Cinematic Trailer Breakdown
A cinematic trailer was released earlier which shows us a glimpse of what the game’s story is about. Let’s break that down. So it starts with some guy named Coen carrying what looks like a person in the dead of night with a village burning behind him, while some men with torches who I guess are the ones responsible for that village being burnt is looking for them. They run past a graveyard into what looks like an abandoned church before they are ultimately found by the soldiers. We learn that Coen’s sister, named Lunka, is sick with something. We also learn that they are killing the people who are sick with the plague and I guess burning the bodies too to prevent the spread, which is actually pretty historically accurate.
Before a soldier can kill Coen, his leg gets torn off by some sort of mist-like creature who turns out to be a vampire. And it’s not just one vampire, but a lot of them. One of them even has what looks like a Mongolian soldier outfit on, who proceeds to go full Arkham Batman on some soldier. One of the vampires uses a sword to fight off some soldiers before producing fangs and mauling one, and then there’s a female vampire who produces some appendages to kill a soldier and uses telekinesis to turn another one into a red puddle.
After the fighting dies down Coen realizes that his sister isn’t responding at all. Either because the plague is finally taking its toll on her body or because she’s been tossed around like a ragdoll, but one of the vampires, who kinda looks like Count Orlok from the movie Nosferatu puts Coen in a trance and takes her from Coen’s arms and apparently heals her with his blood. “I am life, I am death, I am everything in between” is a very hard line to drop after slaughtering a group of people. The vampire then announces that things will be changing around there which I guess is their way of announcing that they will be taking over.
We then skip to a new scene with Coen hanging onto a pole on a roof, with silver eyes which I guess hints at something vampiric. What I noticed is that while Coen’s pupils here are silver instead of his original dark brown, his sclera is still white, while the vampires we saw have black ones. I’m not sure what this means, like, is he in the middle of turning into a vampire? Maybe his transformation isn’t finished yet. We see him drop down from the roof, using his claws to slide down and slow down his fall while unsuspecting guards walk below him.
The cinematic trailer then shows us some very short combat sequences where Coen uses his claws to fight soldiers. He even teleports above a soldier and slashes down at him using his claws. The scene then shifts into daytime where Coen is fighting some mechanical glowing thing using a sword before the trailer ends with the words “Gameplay Reveal Summer 2025”. Honestly, that got me really hyped up, especially with the combat. I also think that since they’re planning on revealing the gameplay in a few months, the game has been really developed to the point that they are comfortable revealing them.
I think we can upgrade Coen to have all sorts of abilities he can do, and I think the scene where the vampires kill the soldiers is some sort of a showcase where they are hinting at some of the abilities you can use in the game. I hope it’s not a “Lies of P” type of game where you need to choose your upgrades carefully or else it will affect Coen’s humanity or something like that. I just want to go hard with my vampiric abilities and go on a massive rampage with them. I also think there are a lot of choices in this game, more specifically with how you can choose to ally with either the humans or the vampires. I mean, the vampires did heal his sister and saved them from the soldiers, but then again they sound like they’re going to be jerks who will rule with an iron fist so there’s that. If Witcher 3 was anything to go by, I’m guessing there will be a lot of morally grey-area moments in this game, where your choices aren’t necessarily good or bad.
What We Know So Far
We also have a video where the devs go into a bit more detail about the game, and they revealed more info on the game’s story and mechanics.
Day and Night System
It looks like they are saying that there will be a day and night system where the enemies you face in the day will be totally different from the ones you face at night. He can also use vampiric abilities that aren’t just for combat, but also for traversal as well. It also turns out that the vampires we saw in the trailer are actually trying to take over the world and Coen will most probably be at odds with them and will try to stop them. We also learn that the Vampire who looks like Count Orlok is actually named Brencis.
Decisions That Affect The Story
The game is set in a village in 14th Century Europe around the Carpathian Mountains near Romania, where the continent has seen it all. Plagues, wars, famine, the whole lot. And it seems that the vampires have been waiting for the perfect moment to emerge from the shadows and take over, killing the lords and taking over castles. Now it’s very confusing if this is a good thing or a bad thing because the lords were straight up just jerks who would go on to kill entire villages just to curb the plague, and the vampires did help Coen and his sister out, even going so far as to heal Lunka, but the devs went on to drop a bomb by saying they’re only doing that so they can use humans to feed on them. Is this a freedom vs security thing? Probably not, but it looks like there are a lot of things to consider when making choices in this game.
Time Restraints And Progression
The devs also mention that Coen only has 30 days and 30 nights to save his family, which is actually pretty interesting. Does the time limit affect the gameplay in some way? Like, will time progression be an actual game mechanic like in Metaphor ReFantazio and The Persona series' calendar system? Based on this interview, it seems that time progresses after completing an important quest, which means that you have to be smart about what sort of quests you’d want to finish. Also, the devs clarified that the sandbox experience they were referring to would be a narrative sandbox experience where you can shape the story the way you want. They also mentioned blurring the lines between main quests and side quests where every quest just builds up the story and shapes it based on what you do.
Vampiric Abilities
It also turns out that Coen has Argyria, which is a medical condition where there is a build-up of silver in your body, and it’s a double-edged condition because it weakens him, while also preventing him from fully transforming into a full vampire. I guess that answers the question on why he has vampiric characteristics without looking like an actual vampire. I wonder if Coen’s medical condition also translates into the game’s mechanics. Maybe he gets nerfed hard during the daytime where he can’t use his vampiric abilities while fully being able to use them at night. It also makes sense why you can see him use his claws at night but he sticks to using a sword during the daytime.
Different Enemy Types
Another thing the devs mentioned is that there will be multiple kinds of enemies, not just humans and vampires. There will be the undead when you visit tombs, Kobolds when you go to the mines, and Uriashes (I don’t know what these are) when you go to the mountains. The devs also hinted that these are also factions with their own motives and goals, and it would be best to get to know them before dealing with them. The devs are also implying that some of these can ally with humans, while others will simply be a headache-in-waiting for Coen. You will also reportedly encounter humans who side with the vampires and see them as some sort of messiahs. So yeah I think factions will be a huge part of how the story will play out.
Freedom To Handle Problems
Earlier I mentioned that players will reportedly have the freedom to tackle the issues they face in their own way, like there will be an option to just storm a castle alone, balls out and whatnot, and the option to recruit a rebel cell and strategically attack some key points that could weaken Brencis' influence. I hope it’s like Shadow of Mordor in that aspect, where you can choose to attack a keep with your own army and take out the leader of that place.
The Hunger Mechanic
And of course, since this is a vampire game, hunger management is a mechanic. The devs hinted that managing your hunger is very important because things can go south immediately if you start getting hungry. You might just accidentally maul and feed on an important NPC just because you talked to them while hungry. It also looks like you’ll need to manage your hunger to use your vampiric abilities.
Reactive Enemies
The devs also mentioned that Brencis won’t just sit around twiddling his elongated undead thumbs while Coen is actively trying to dismantle his rule. He could set up some military checkpoints to hinder your progress. I think he will be reacting to your every move and will progressively make things harder for you the more you succeed. And also, it won’t just be him who will try to stop you. He also has three vampire allies, the ones we saw in the trailer, who will also get in your way in their own ways.
Final Thoughts
I think this game isn’t meant to have long playthroughs, and will instead be replayed over and over so you’re able to experiment with the paths you take and the endings you get. The time progression mechanic and the multiple choices are just proof of that. I wonder how the game will be in terms of customization. I’m not asking for a character editor feature, but more of if there will be skill points for skill trees, or maybe attribute distribution. I guess we’ll need to wait until summer to see more.
What’s also worth noting is that this game is only the first in a saga. I know I’m getting too far ahead of myself here, but if this game does well, then it could turn into a series where we get more titles that explore the game’s universe. That’s it for this article, what do you guys think of the game? Does it scratch the vampire itch some of you have? What do you think about the time progression mechanic? Do you like longer games as opposed to shorter games with high replayability? Let us know in the comments below.
