Impressions: The Blood of Dawnwalker levels up and left us thirsty for more

As you, my dear RPG lover, might or might not remember, when I had my first look at The Blood of Dawnwalker at Gamescom last year, it was a hands-off demo. So when Gamereactor was invited to visit the office den of the Rebel Wolves in Warsaw the other day, I assumed I'd finally spend some hands-on time with the game as mage-at-day and vampire-at-night Coen. Alas, we were pre-briefed: you won't be allowed to play this time either.

What first sounded like a bummer quickly turned into the opposite. The game remains scheduled for 2026, with a release date likely revealed when you're reading this, so the fact that it still wasn't playable did raise some eyebrows. Yet the guided demo went from "worrying, something must be wrong or broken" to "wow, it has progressed a lot, I now know much more and I need to play this asap".

Because what this new preview build gave us was, first and foremost, proof of the significant evolution from last year's early beta. And secondly, much more context about its lore and the so-called "narrative sandbox": its characters, its branching storytelling and quest design, and how it works. Could we have grasped all that on our own while learning the smoother graphics and multiple choice-consequence scenarios? I don't think so, at least not fully, and therefore I kind of appreciated the guided demo.

With this seen and notes taken, two big question marks still hover over the project. Can it maintain this fascinating variety of consequential missions and quests across the 30 in-game days while keeping the same level of intrigue and reward? And, as this is still described as an open-world dark fantasy action RPG, what about that open world?

We only caught a few details on that front during the demo and our time with its directors and devs. There'll be shrines acting as teleportation points and skill-honing stations, no mounts, as Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz confirmed to Gamereactor during our interview, but Coen will be able to shapeshift into a wolf (why of course) for faster traversal. We also glimpsed the larger overworld map which, besides being beautifully hand-drawn for clarity, we're promised is "full of ancient ruins", but still got no real clue as to how the adventure will spread across it once you leave the village of Laslea.

Now, let's cut to the chase. This was the game's prologue, so unlike last year's Day 9 demo, which focused on setting, abilities, combat, and the investigative side, the first hour and change of a new game served a different purpose. After the same prerendered intro we saw last year we got to meet Coen and his full family, had our first rush of FOMO with the different choices you can make, and saw just how harsh and story-changing the consequences can be. In the meantime, we revelled in the much more polished graphics (aside from a few stiff dialogue animations, this one's a looker already) and approved of a fluid directional combat system that seems fully transformed based on last year's feedback and corrections.

And this is why I wonder if it'll keep the quality in the long run, because for an open world with ever-changing outcomes, the first few steps into the game looked so damn well directed. It almost feels like your typical God of War-type single-player, rigidly scripted action adventure.

Coen is a young lad living through difficult times of pestilence and famine in the Valley of Sangora, in the Carpathians. He used to work at the mines, where he contracted Argyria due to exposure to silver dust. This single element seems key to his special condition as a Dawnwalker and to the story overall. He's tormented by how his little sister's episode with the Vrakhiri (the intro, described in our earlier preview) might affect her, but Coen himself ends up infected by the vampires. Soon enough the big call becomes apparent here:

"Fight for your humanity or embrace the curse to save your family"

And this is not something you'll decide towards the end of the 30 in-game-day adventure, but constantly from Day 1. Your sister, Lunka, disappears in the tutorial, hinting that something is wrong with her, and perhaps with you, in a deliciously twisted reddish vision. Your mum, Esme, is ill, and the moment you're given control of Coen you must decide whether to fetch herbs for her. If you don't (and the Rebel Wolves didn't, as they deliberately spent time on other errands), she'll be brutally murdered, eaten alive before your eyes after showing weakness to Knyaz Brencis, the Vrakhir lord of this land. He might have done away with taxes and cured the villagers' illnesses, but he rules with a thirsty iron hand and "only" asks for one regular donation in return: "A pint of blood, once every Moon".

"Blood so thin it tastes like water" - Brencis on Esme's weakness

This single fact showed real consequence. You can kill important NPCs, decide how to tackle quests, and choose who you support. "Uncover secrets, fight the night alone or with unlikely allies - Experiment and watch the world respond, exploit each form's strengths". That's the philosophy here, which to me sounded and felt like my beloved Dishonored, but in a much more RPG-ish fashion.

And what did you do, you bad ADHD son, instead of healing your poor mother? As the main goal, if you want, is to save your family, we were told that you can make the right choices each day to keep them all alive, including your dad Pieter, your little brother Mirto, and your immediately younger sister Yanna. But as the ominous quote above teases, it looks like it'll be much easier if you give in and embrace your vampire abilities at night.

Instead of collecting herbs at the local doctor Anca, we saw several tempting side quests pop up around Coen as he walked through the village. Completing those objectives, as well as learning new abilities, moves the in-game clock forward. They ignored a well-paid offering and a lady in distress called Gremla (later irremediably executed at Father Florin's Blood Mass), and instead opted to save a missing pig (because why not, if only to illustrate consequences) and an acquaintance's missing brother.

Leaves, light, shadows, architecture, and nature details in Laslea's outskirts now look beautiful, full of added personality despite the tension and despair in the air. Soldiers keep a constant eye on villagers, Vrakhiri come and go as they please. Only nearby quests show on the map or compass, while a Batman-like Focus Mode reveals lootables, interactables, and clues on screen.

A castaway had the pig in custody, and the hourglass icon in the first dialogue choice showed that it would move time forward by one segment. It then triggered combat, with the directional attacks, manual dodges, and stamina-consuming auto-parries I explained last year. With the guy punched down and the pig chased down came wolves, showing no sympathy for Coen despite any remote kinship. Too bad the pig still ends up slaughtered and eaten for dinner by its true owner Iorgu, who was already sharpening his blade when we delivered it, an ironically hilarious touch made better by the fact you can also choose whether or not to join the meal.

The missing brother? The name's Lazar, and as we arrived soon enough in the day's timeline, he's still alive. But it could've been worse. His rescue, including some detective work, leads us to one of the ancient ruins, which naturally sets the stage for an alternative mini boss, The Forgotten Guardian, a dead man somehow brought back to life whose attacks are unblockable, for those who rely on auto-parry. "If I had to fight that thing, I'd piss myself", says our rescuee. Such a different mission you'll miss entirely if you spend your time elsewhere.

Instead of the more generic vessel we saw in August, Coen gained a lot of personality for us with this new showing. Given the many ways you can shape him, we understand he'll need to maintain some sort of "player-created character" space, but he also needs to hook us with the story and his motivations. The new artwork dedicated to him already says a lot more, and this prologue showed how he'll go from a very inexperienced, weak young boy prone to getting scared to a stronger, more confident protagonist.

Cinematography has also improved, in and out of cutscenes. The Blood Mass events feel tense and believable. We get to know a bit more about the other vampires introduced in the original sequence, and it looks like they'll act as Brencis' Koopalings for the duration of the game.

The Mass came later in the prologue so we could see what happens next, which pits Coen against his silver mine colleagues and puts his grieving, and thus reckless, father in danger. I won't spoil more, but suffice it to say he ends up missing too, and it's here that Coen starts to struggle with his newly acquired Vrakhiri powers, something linked to how Brencis put a fang in his heart. And I have to say we loved the moment he feels tempted to devour his friend Kostel as he lies covered in tasty, smelly blood. A full leg will satiate for now, as a tapa appetiser. Interestingly, there'll be decisions you will or won't be able to make depending on your Blood Hunger, which can actually decide for you when you need a refill, signalled by a red frame on screen. And yes, you will unwillingly kill friends and foes like this.

With more vampire powers at our disposal, it was the perfect section to show off the familiar abilities. Coen looks less human, uses his claws in combat, and grows fangs. He deals swiftly with Gollum-like annoying Kobold creatures in the caves, and puts Shadow Step and Plane Shift to practice, the latter letting him walk on walls like Spidey and, we're told, always available in the open world. A new vampire ability was Claw Ride, allowing Coen to slide down walls instead of walking on them.

The Vrakhiri Banneret featured in the last (night) combat showing as tougher enemies guarding a burning house alongside former friend and now untrusting colleague Vladimir. "Would a monster reason with you?", tries to humanise a Coen that can actually give in to the hunger if you choose to before it becomes automatic.

The icing on the cake? The final showdown with Brencis in the prologue, where he scratches Pieter's face to exploit his own son's thirst. Will Coen quench it on his father? Even this early in the game, it's time to face Brencis, the Knyaz of Vale Sangora, a thousand-year-old, experienced Roman soldier. Coen is no match for him, but then something happens: his silver-dusted Dawnwalker blood tastes bad and the sun is about to come out. "I should slice you open and study your entrails!" And our protagonist ends up pinned to a tree with a stake. How will he be saved?

We'll know that and beyond in a few weeks when we'll hopefully play the game ourselves to learn more about more advanced powers and mysteries, perk and ability-filled skill trees such as Swordmastery, the role of potential allies in the longer adventure, and of course the true open world scale we can expect from the full game when it releases later this year. For now, I can only applaud the many unique, but genuinely role-playing things The Blood of Dawnwalker is bringing to the table. If it holds up throughout like in the prologue, it can become something very special for genre fans.