The Blood of Dawnwalker Let Me Be a Vampire, Detective, and Witch Lover in the Space of 4 Hours

Polish developer Rebel Wolves has worn a assured look since it archetypal revealed The Blood of Dawnwalker aboriginal past year. The blood-soaked uncover trailer featured a gorgeously grisly cutscene, an unmistakably Slavic score, and a snapshot of a sprawling medieval unfastened world. Crafted by galore of the minds down The Witcher 3, including its manager Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, everything we’ve seen since has efficaciously proclaimed that this caller vampire RPG intends to combat successful the aforesaid league arsenic CD Projekt Red’s best.

My caller sojourn to Rebel Wolves was thing of a proving ground, then. Until now, each entree to The Blood of Dawnwalker had been hands-off. But for this IGN First objection I’d beryllium playing for 4 hours straight, opening with selecting “Start New Game” from the main menu. 240 minutes later, my long-held feelings were (mostly) confirmed: The Blood of Dawnwalker has plentifulness of that Witcher magic, but it fuels thing with its ain arsenic absorbing identity.

By starting from the game’s precise beginning, the archetypal 3 hours of this demo covered overmuch of the aforesaid crushed arsenic my erstwhile hands-off preview. Protagonist Coen lives a small-town beingness successful the Carpathian vale of Vale Sangora, an country ruled by vampires who person freed the radical from plague and taxes successful speech for a monthly humor tithe. The adjacent is owed tonight, and Dawnwalker’s attack to clip – there’s lone truthful overmuch of it, represented by a benignant of “currency” you walk to propulsion guardant quests – means you tin lone implicit truthful galore objectives earlier the ominous Blood Mass begins. But playing this prologue connected my ain presumption allowed maine to research overmuch much of Coen’s colony than I’d seen before, and adjacent rearrange the details of his story.

Blood and Love

Whatever Rebel Wolves had shown maine previously, I did the implicit opposite. This began with Gremla, a distraught pistillate whose cries had been ignored during the hands-off. She’d been sewing a tapestry banner successful honour of the vampires’ leader, Brencis, and it was owed to beryllium displayed astatine the evening’s Blood Mass. But it’s been stolen. Thus begins what is efficaciously a circuit of the village, introducing a fig of characters who would different person blended into the inheritance arsenic you interrogate suspects, cross-examine their statements, and usage a absorption imaginativeness quality to measure footprints and trails. As a tutorial quest, it’s practically on-rails, bouncing you from villager to villager arsenic you constrictive down the blameworthy party, but it’s a wide objection that, similar Geralt earlier him, Coen volition request to play detective from clip to time.

After narrowing down the clues, I find the thief, and arsenic you’d expect from designers who antecedently worked connected The Witcher, determination are complications. Tired of enduring vampire rule, this different humble labourer stole the banner arsenic an enactment of rebellion. The cloth is woven with images that, successful days gone by, would beryllium considered heretical to bent successful a church, but present the municipality does truthful willingly. It’s hard not to sympathise with his cause, but to fto him get distant with it surely means a miserable punishment for Gremla. Fearing for the aged woman’s life, I instrumentality backmost the banner. It’s hung successful the church, and the “peace” with our overlords is kept. Does this marque maine a hero, oregon a coward? I fishy galore of Dawnwalker’s hard questions – and the consequences they manifest – volition yet marque it clear.

Is it worthy spending clip that could beryllium utilised elsewhere to deepen my narration with a paramour? “

While The Blood of Dawnwalker makes nary favoritism betwixt “main” and “side” quests, the prologue does person 1 storyline that feels much critical. A quest that tasks maine to find medicinal herbs for Coen’s sick parent takes maine to the location of Anca, a section witch who appears destined to go 1 of Dawnwalker’s romanticist options. While the penning is beardown crossed the full breadth of this preview demo, the dialog betwixt Coen and Anca is notably good crafted. There’s genuine affection betwixt the two, delivered without ever dipping into corniness oregon obnoxious flirtation. As I excavation deeper done the quest’s dialog trees, Anca makes aggregate references to being an “old woman”, contempt looking nary older than 30. It’s a subtle operation of some quality and worldbuilding – plague and hardship mean nary 1 lives agelong astir here, and Anca’s relation arsenic the section healer has made her omniscient beyond her years.

A abrupt tempest forces the 2 of america inside, and I’m fixed the enactment to walk other clip with Anca by studying her books. I cannot beryllium precocious for the evening’s Blood Mass, and truthful I lone person the daylight hours to implicit Coen’s chores – a play represented by a HUD constituent divided into 8 segments. Most of the prologue’s quests devour 1 segment, but choosing to widen my enactment with Anca volition efficaciously treble the outgo of this task. I was already fascinated by Dawnwalker’s “time arsenic a resource” system, but it’s present wherever I tin truly spot however it volition request absorbing choices from us. Is it worthy spending clip that could beryllium utilised elsewhere to deepen my narration with a paramour? For now, I entertain Coen’s awkward infatuation, and adjacent invitation Anca to survey immoderate salacious lit with me. Perhaps this means I won’t person clip for a quest that provides a much important worldly reward aboriginal successful the day, but emotion ne'er did travel without sacrifice.

With a pocketful of herbs and a bosom afloat of butterflies, I permission Anca’s storm-ravaged hut and caput backmost location to administer the remedy to Coen’s mother. Completing the task has a important interaction connected the prologue – it doesn’t precisely subdivision the narrative, but the resulting events successful my demo are notably antithetic to what I witnessed successful the hands-off. It’s each excessively important to spoil here, but it seems similar Rebel Wolves has recovered a mode to alteration the story’s stakes and Coen’s affectional transportation to them without having to wholly rewrite The Blood of Dawnwalker’s halfway plot. I fishy immoderate players volition comprehend this arsenic a spot of communicative trickery that makes nary genuine impact. I’ll reserve specified a judgement until I spot however the result of this quest ripples done the full campaign, but for present I consciousness beauteous affirmative astir however the consequences of your actions are handled here.

Death Valley

By the prologue’s end, Coen has go the titular Dawnwalker – a antheral by day, a vampire by night. And with the archetypal elements of his toolset unlocked, I’m thrown into the unfastened satellite of Vale Sangora. From what I tin see, the vale is ample without threatening to overwhelm. There’s a batch of crushed to screen – which you tin bash truthful by magically expanding your tally velocity during the time oregon by transforming into a wolf erstwhile the satellite rises – but the satellite doesn’t look ample capable to crook this into a Skyrim that you’ll beryllium exploring for hundreds of hours implicit aggregate years.

In presumption of ambiance and wide approach, unsurprisingly the closest examination constituent is The Witcher 3, but my hour-long sensation of the satellite suggests it whitethorn run a small differently. My archetypal larboard of telephone is simply a crumbling ceramic tower, which poses a elemental climbing puzzle to scope its peak. There, with the skyline successful wide view, I’m capable to survey the portion for points of interest. It’s a small Ubisoft-ish, and portion I don’t judge that’s shorthand for a rote unfastened world, determination is astatine slightest immoderate of that tried-and-tested loop to however you research Dawnwalker’s world.

It besides seems similar there’s a fig of unfastened satellite “activities”, arsenic opposed to everything being quest-driven. For instance, I stumbled crossed a luminescent wisp that led maine to the country of a lovers’ decease atop a elevation – a small spot of biology storytelling offered arsenic a reward for defeating the mound’s grizzly carnivore guardian. On a roadside, I butchered immoderate soldiers who were transporting barrels for their vampire overlords, disrupting the proviso chain. In the depths of a swamp, a miniboss conflict pitted maine against a leaping undead carnal that could occurrence projectiles with its scream. None of these captured my involvement successful the aforesaid mode the prologue's narratively-driven storylines did, but that’s not to accidental they’re of mediocre quality. Provided these ideas aren’t repeated excessively often crossed each region, I tin spot them adding invited texture to your task list.

Combat is simply a small tricky to maestro and demands a batch of concentration.“

All of those errands progressive Dawnwalker’s antithetic combat system, which is afloat directional akin to games similar For Honor and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. When an force swings their sword from the left, you propulsion the close analogue instrumentality to determination your leaf to conscionable theirs. When your foe guards low, you hoist your limb supra your caput and onslaught downwards. It’s a small tricky to maestro and demands a batch of concentration. Thankfully, you tin efficaciously interruption down the strategy into pieces and postgraduate done it – by tapping conscionable the artifact oregon onslaught button, Coen volition onslaught oregon support from each angles astatine the outgo of much stamina. You tin commencement determination and, erstwhile you’ve go confident, statesman to present the directional elements, and aboriginal yet commencement tapping the artifact fastener astatine the past 2nd to people immoderate precise satisfying cleanable parries.

When it each comes together, there’s a existent bushed to the combat, particularly successful azygous hostile duels. But an unexpected stroke oregon further assailant joining the melee could easy sound maine retired of that rhythm, and the consequences were fatal. It’s precise hard to heal mid-battle – I was exploring astatine night, and truthful had entree to my vampire abilities, but the neck-chomping quality lone restores Coen’s wellness by a tiny fraction, and its chill down feels similar an eternity erstwhile you’re connected the knife-edge betwixt beingness and death. Combine this with enemies that each consciousness similar they person wellness pools 15% excessively deep, and repetition encounters against six oregon truthful soldiers astatine a time, and I recovered the combat system’s beardown foundations yet became arduous. It feels similar a small balancing whitethorn beryllium needed successful this respect up of its September 3 launch. Later inventory items and unlocks whitethorn good equilibrium each this out, and nary uncertainty acquisition volition sharpen your skills, but by the extremity of my hr successful the unfastened satellite I was feeling reasonably burnt retired connected Dawnwalker’s swordplay.

Depending connected the situation, determination are options to mitigate the magnitude of slaughter. The demo concluded astatine a ample fortified encampment, its gross guarded by a stern nightshift worker who refused to fto maine in. I tore his cervix isolated successful response, resulting successful a gauntlet of battles that I recovered insurmountable. Searching for alternate methods, I tried to usage Coen’s Shadowstep quality to teleport to a rooftop wrong the courtyard and bypass the guards, but this simply triggered the combat brushwood – Dawnwalker truly isn’t a stealth game, truthful don’t expect immoderate sneaky infiltrations and soundless backstabs. However, I aboriginal learned from the developers that determination is simply a backdoor that allows quiescent introduction into the camp. Even better, if I’d returned the adjacent morning, the time displacement guards whitethorn adjacent person fto maine in. It's these kinds of options that I look guardant to discovering erstwhile I tin yet play The Blood of Dawnwalker without a four-hour timer.

That’s not to accidental I privation to debar combat entirely. The fundamentals of conflict are strong, and portion the demo’s aboriginal encounters felt drawn retired acknowledgment to galore assailants with precocious HP, there’s each accidental that improved balancing oregon further acquisition with the systems whitethorn lavation those worries away. But adjacent if swordplay remains iffy… well, that was the thorn successful The Witcher 3’s side, wasn’t it? And truthful it’s the prime of the quests, the writing, and that “time arsenic a resource” operation that interests maine most. And, aft having experienced it each for myself, I stay assured that The Blood of Dawnwalker is the adjacent RPG worthy paying precise adjacent attraction to.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.