The Blood of Dawnwalker continues to be an ambitious RPG, but fans worry if it will all come together

The director behind the upcoming RPG, The Blood of Dawnwalker, has shared more about the game in a recent interview with Eurogamer. With this game’s director previously working on The Witcher 3, there are plenty of reasons to be excited, but the response on Reddit has still been more cautiously optimistic than fully optimistic. How powers change between night and day, and the overall sandbox open-world approach, even caused some Reddit users to compare this game to certain Legend of Zelda titles. But there are game design elements that players can’t help but worry about.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is an ambitious RPG, but fans still worry if all its ideas will work out

If you’re not familiar with The Blood of Dawnwalker, this RPG has a fascinating premise. As a half-human, half-vampire, you are uniquely positioned to undermine the powerful vampire lord that has taken over the city. Your family has been captured, so you only have 30 days and 30 nights in-game to save them. Add to that the director of this game, Konrad Tomaskiewicz, has previously worked with CD Projekt Red on the often-lauded open-world RPG The Witcher 3. This will be the debut game from the new studio, Rebel Wolves.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Tomaskiewicz explained that “there’s no main quest” in this game. Reddit users were quick to draw comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In both games, you can head straight to the castle to fight the antagonist immediately. Chances are, it won’t go well for you, but that’s still a choice that’s available. The other option is to explore the world, take on quests, build up your equipment and skills to better prepare for the fight.

The Blood of Dawnwalker revolves around its core time limit. You have 30 days and 30 nights to save your family, and every action you take will have a clearly presented effect on the passage of time before you decide. This also means that you’ll have 30 days as a human and 30 nights as a vampire, so you’ll have to utilize both sets of skills and abilities at various points, rather than just focusing on one or the other. Balancing both sides of your existence will be key to the overall gameplay.

The top Reddit comment praises the design choices, writing, “It’s a clever way of avoiding ludonarrative dissonance. Instead of the side content not making any sense to do amid the ethical urgency of the main story, the side content could become the main character’s means of acquiring the resources needed to defend and save his family.” A common joke in games like The Witcher 3 or Breath of the Wild is that players take on ridiculous tasks and quests while the dramatic main story waits. For example, the more you think about it, Link taking on the shield surfing challenge down the mountain is a kind of silly thing to spend time on while Zelda continues to struggle to hold back Calamity Ganon. Giving a finite time period to save your family makes taking time for side quests feel more like a step towards a goal than a silly distraction.

But not all users are completely convinced. Another user wrote, “I generally like games less when they impose a time limit. I want to play games – especially single-player games – at my own pace, but the time limits make me feel rushed all the time.” Other users worry about the lack of a main quest as well, with one user writing, “I also hope the writing isn’t compromised for the freedom they offer in quests, it would suck to have a bad story because of that.” The Blood of Dawnwalker is an exciting and ambitious upcoming RPG. Of course, the hope is that all of the ideas come together well, but it’s never easy to create a game, let alone one as ambitious as this. The Blood of Dawnwalker is planned to launch sometime in 2026, so the wait may not be long.

The Blood of Dawnwalker

2026

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• Overview

• action RPG
• Rebel Wolves