The Blood of Dawnwalker Hands-on Preview: Clear The Witcher roots and a dark story left us pleasantly surprised

I'm seated in a private section of the Royal Armoury at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, ready to spend a couple of hours with the debut game from newly founded studio Rebel Wolves. The developer, incidentally, was established by a group of industry veterans who previously held senior roles during the development of The Witcher games.

The atmosphere inside the dimly lit hall is filled with anticipation, and those of us from the gaming press glance around with curiosity as rows of demo stations line the centuries-old stone walls. If you ask me, it's the perfect setting to dive into a medieval fantasy world of dark magic and vampires.

My adventure begins with the same opening sequence previously shown in the trailers, where protagonist Coen is desperately trying to protect his plague-stricken sister from a group of ruthless soldiers. Just when all hope seems lost, the attackers are ambushed by the vampire lord Brencis, who swiftly dispatches every one of the assailants before curing the sick girl with a few drops of his own healing blood.

The opening immediately establishes a dark and brutal fantasy world where neither humans nor vampires seem like particularly pleasant company, and my curiosity is once again piqued to discover what the former The Witcher developers have been cooking up.

Shortly afterward, I'm set loose in the open world with one pressing objective: to attend a vampire-led gathering at the local church later that evening. The very same Brencis who saved Coen and his sister at the beginning of the game has since seized control of the region and its inhabitants. In exchange for allowing him and his followers to feast on their blood, he promises protection from disease and outside threats. On paper, it may sound like a mutually beneficial arrangement, but in practice it quickly becomes clear that the relationship is far more akin to that between a cattle farmer and his livestock.

But that can wait. The day is still young, and Coen has a long list of things to take care of before nightfall. How much I manage to accomplish is dictated by the game's new approach to time management, where in simple terms, time is treated as a tangible resource that's spent on different activities. From the moment I first step into Coen's shoes that morning until the evening's vampire gathering, I have four time units at my disposal.

Exploring the world doesn't consume time, so I'm free to wander for as long as I like. However, if I decide to take on a quest or any other activity marked with the time consumption icon, one time unit is spent and the clock advances by one step. That means choosing which activities to prioritise requires a fair amount of careful planning. The Blood of Dawnwalker is also designed so that many of its side quests feed directly into the overarching narrative.

For instance, when I chose not to help an elderly woman recover a stolen piece of cloth that was somehow important to the vampires, I later found her hanging upside down inside the church, drained of blood, a grim reminder to the rest of the townsfolk of what happens to those who betray their masters.

No matter which direction I choose to wander, I keep stumbling across new things to do along the way. At one point, I'm drawn into the mystery of a son who disappeared from a hay wagon, a little later, I discover a dilapidated cabin haunted by a screaming ghost, and before long I find myself venturing into a cave where I'm ambushed by a ferocious vampire-zombie. During my relatively short time with Coen, I barely scratched the surface of everything the game had to offer, but it quickly became clear that The Blood of Dawnwalker is anything but short on activities.

When I asked the developers how many playthroughs it would take to experience everything the game has to offer, they couldn't give a definitive answer, but estimated that it would take roughly three, depending on how you choose to approach the world. Along similar lines, I couldn't resist asking whether an ambitious player could simply track down and kill the main antagonist, Brencis, early in the adventure and effectively bring the story to an abrupt end.

I was told that the vampire lord's location will be known almost from the very beginning, making such an attempt entirely possible, provided you can somehow guide your severely under-leveled Coen through a gauntlet of dangers, each of which could likely strip him of his life, honour, and dignity without breaking a sweat. I suspect speedrunners are going to have a field day with that.

Speaking of surviving dangerous encounters, the combat system in The Blood of Dawnwalker is built around mechanics reminiscent of games like Nioh and For Honor. Both attacks and blocks can be executed in four directions: left, right, high, and low, and whenever an enemy attacks, an indicator shows the direction of the incoming strike, letting you know which direction you should block to avoid taking damage. If you don't feel like engaging with the directional system, you can instead mash your way through fights with more generalised attacks and blocks, although that approach consumes a bit more of Coen's stamina.

Personally, I felt the combat lacked a sharper edge on the lower difficulty settings, which prompted me to switch early on to a more challenging mode where the training wheels came off in favour of more realistic and immersive battles. Here, it takes fewer hits for both me and my enemies to go down, placing far greater emphasis on defensive play. That, in turn, becomes more demanding since the game no longer warns me which direction incoming attacks are coming from. It was tough, and I died often enough that a kind member of the development team approached me twice to suggest lowering the difficulty. At the same time, it resulted in a much cleaner gameplay experience that relied less on large, flashing warning indicators and more on my own ability to read my opponents' movements.

I realise not everyone is as reckless as I am, but it's worth pointing out that when combat breaks out, the game offers plenty of options for both casual players and those looking for a sterner challenge.

But what happened that evening in the church, you might ask? Well, without spoiling too much, everything naturally went spectacularly wrong, and Coen's family was captured by Brencis. This is where the story of The Blood of Dawnwalker truly begins, as I learn that I have 30 days to rescue my loved ones before they are considered lost forever. In other words, 30 carefully spent time units stand between Coen and saving his family.

The developers were also keen to stress that the game doesn't necessarily end after those 30 days, but rescuing his family serves as Coen's primary objective at the outset. If players aren't particularly interested in pursuing that rescue mission, however, they're apparently free to ignore the main quest altogether, leave the family to their fate, and continue Coen's journey as an orphaned lone wanderer. The freedom to shape your own adventure appears to be remarkably extensive.

What's more, Coen is no ordinary man. Early in the adventure, it becomes clear that he is what is known as a Dawnwalker, a newly turned vampire whose transformation has deviated from the norm, allowing him to walk freely in broad daylight in a way that would reduce any other bloodsucker to ashes. This unique condition comes with a range of abilities that vary depending on the time of day.

At night, a far more demonic side of Coen emerges, granting him access to various forms of dark magic. The sword he wields during the day is cast aside, and under the cover of darkness he adopts a far more feral fighting style, tearing into enemies with elongated fangs and razor-sharp claws. Drinking the blood of both enemies and animals restores lost health, while additional abilities are unlocked as I level up, where two separate skill trees distinguish Coen's nocturnal vampiric powers from his human abilities during the day, and in classic RPG fashion, I earn new skill points by defeating enemies and completing quests.

Speaking of RPGs, combat is far from the only focus in The Blood of Dawnwalker. The game also places considerable emphasis on human (and inhuman) relationships, many of which unfold through dialogue choices. To make conversations easier to navigate, the developers have highlighted choices that advance the main dialogue in yellow, while all other responses appear in white. Personally, I'm a little sceptical about giving players such a clear indication of which option pushes the story forward, as it inevitably makes the remaining dialogue paths feel less significant.

That's ultimately a matter of personal preference, but it's worth mentioning. I raised the issue with the developers, who explained that their goal is to satisfy as many players as possible. Since not everyone wants to explore every conversation in depth—and some simply want to get through the dialogue and move on to the next fight—they felt this was a sensible compromise. Fair enough, I suppose. Even so, I can't help but feel that something fundamental to the role-playing experience risks being lost when I already know exactly which line of dialogue will move the story forward. Whether that actually proves to be the case is something I'll have to wait and see in the finished game.

The four hours I spent with The Blood of Dawnwalker absolutely flew by as I sat in the armoury, and overall I came away pleasantly surprised by what I saw. The story feels dark and compelling, with Coen embarking on his journey under incredibly high stakes. The developers' roots in The Witcher series are evident throughout, from the rich atmosphere and impressive visual details to the gameplay itself. There were moments when the controls felt a little imprecise, and I found the menu system slightly less intuitive than I'm used to. That said, with a couple of months still to go before the game launches, there's plenty of time to polish those final details, so I'm not particularly concerned.

There's something genuinely special about seeing the excitement of someone who's poured years of hard work into a passion project and finally gets the chance to show it to the world. It was clear the team at Rebel Wolves were immensely proud of what their studio has accomplished and deeply passionate about making The Blood of Dawnwalker the best game it can possibly be. They were already talking about how Coen's story could continue in potential sequels, which certainly speaks to their long-term ambitions for the franchise.

Personally, my hands-on session left me wanting more, and I've already started counting down the days until September 3, when The Blood of Dawnwalker launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. When I asked whether a Switch 2 version might be considered in the future, the response was simply, "no comment". Which, notably, isn't a "no."