‘The Blood Of Dawnwalker’ Trailer Shows Off New Medieval Vampire-Themed RPG From Ex-Witcher Devs Rebel Wolves

The first trailer for the highly-anticipated RPG The Blood Of Dawnwalker just dropped and it’s pretty great. The new game is being developed by Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by ex-Witcher devs including Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the game director for The Witcher 3. It’s the first in a planned “Saga”.

The story takes place in an alternate 14th century Europe, in a kingdom called Vale Sangora tucked away somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains. War has ravaged the land, and the Black Death has overrun the population. When the game begins, feudal lords have been overthrown by a cabal of newly-emboldened vampires. Players take on the role of Coen, a “Dawnwalker” who can traverse both day and night, using both classic fighting skills and a suite of vampiric powers. Depending on the time of day, Coen’s powers and abilities change—as do story outcomes.

Choice is heavily emphasized here: Will you choose to embrace humanity or the curse of the vampire? Time itself makes a huge difference in how quests play out as well. Coen only has 30 days to save his family, so you’re not only exploring an open-world but racing against a ticking clock. This adds a really fascinating twist to the classic RPG format.

“Time is a resource and with each quest progressing its passage, it is impossible to complete all stories and arcs before the dreadful deadline, making each playthrough unique. We call it a narrative sandbox,” Tomaszkiewicz, Game Director and Co-Founder of Rebel Wolves, said in the press release.

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Another interesting design choice in the game is the blurry line between main and side quests. According to Tomaszkiewicz, “We want players to feel the sense of urgency in an open world game. There are multiple approaches to saving Coen’s family with no clear division between main and side quests, you decide on how you spend the time.”

Here’s the trailer, which is also the game’s opening cinematic, set two years prior to the events of the game itself. In it, you meet Coen, his plague-ridden sister, Lunka, and the vampire clique and its “ruthless yet charismatic” lord, Brencis. There’s a brief in-engine gameplay teaser at the end:

This looks great, and the story and setting are compelling. Clearly, Rebel Wolves took some inspiration from The Witcher 3’s Blood & Wine DLC and perhaps even the old Legacy Of Kain games. My only gripe—and it’s a small one—is the game’s name. I want to say Blood Of The Dawnwalker not The Blood Of Dawnwalker. Either title lacks the simple catchiness of The Witcher. Perhaps The Dawnwalker would be better. It’s basically Blade in a Medieval setting—Dawnwalker is awfully close to Daywalker, after all.

I’m also a bit worried about Rebel Wolves using Unreal Engine 5. While this game certainly looks distinct and not like so many Unreal Engine 5 games (which often feel oddly generic) it’s still something that I’ve been noticing lately. We shall see.

There’s no word on a release date yet. The game will be available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A full gameplay reveal is slated for this summer.