The Blood of Dawnwalker: Gameplay, trailers and everything we know

Almost a year since it was first revealed, The Blood of Dawnwalker is finally picking up momentum and revealing more about what players can expect when it does release.

The dark action-RPG is the first title from fledgling developer Rebel Wolves, with the studio formed by ex-staff at CD Projekt Red, including Witcher 3 Game Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.

With that kind of pedigree, expectations are understandably high for their first release, and with more concrete details out in the wild, excitement is building. With the backing of publisher Bandai Namco, Dawnwalker’s potential seems limitless.

Here’s everything we know about The Blood of Dawnwalker so far.

Trailer

On January 13, Bandai Namco published the first cinematic trailer to their official YouTube channel. Though there’s no gameplay to look at yet, it does offer a great window into the dark direction the development team has taken.

Setting and themes

The game itself is set in 14th-century Europe, a continent that continues to be ravaged by the worst of a plague that would come to be known as the Black Death. This persistent misery is the ideal ground for the reappearance of vampires, who emerge from the darkness to claim their freedom.

They don’t appear alone, accompanied by as-yet-unknown beasts described as “creatures of the night” on the game’s website. Brief clips of the monsters in question immediately evoke The Witcher 3, and the influence of that game is immediately evident in what we’ve seen so far.

The blend of the genuinely historical with the fantastical is also set to be a significant feature. The game’s website claims that “Legends turn into reality and history as we know it will never be the same,” further hinting that the historical elements will play a significant role.

Gameplay

Rebel Wolves

With no official gameplay trailer or devstream currently available to the public, what we know about what it will actually be like when it arrives is limited. You will be playing as Coen, a Dawnwalker who treads the line between day and night, human and vampire.

Players will be able to draw on unique powers as a result, and the overall package sounds similar to the protagonist in Don’t Nod’s 2018 effort Vampyr, in which a doctor has to toe the line between his Hippocratic oath and his newfound bloodlust.

The website also states that players can “combine vampiric strength with human resolve”, while the worst of enemies may be found in the day and the strongest allies found at night. This hints at a more morally ambiguous approach than we might be used to seeing.

In an interview with GamesRadar, developer Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz (former The Witcher 3 Game Director) revealed that The Blood of Dawnwalker will allow every single NPC to be killed, even those vital to central quests later on in the journey.

“It’s a sandbox, meaning we’re trying to maximize the options of your choice in the game,” he began, before later revealing how part of this means all NPCs will be able to meet their fate.

“Sometimes this can lead to alternate outcomes or even cut off certain questlines…You being a Dawnwalker means that you have this blood hunger during the night time, so this can actually lead to these NPCs dying if you’re not careful.”

That’s all we know about The Blood of Dawnwalker so far. Make sure to check back into this hub regularly, as we update it with all the available information.