7 December 2025

What is The Blood of the Dawnwalker, the Upcoming RPG Developed By Witcher Devs?

By newsgame

The Blood of Dawnwalker will be the debut game from Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by former CD Projekt Red developers. As one might expect, this has led to numerous comparisons between The Blood of Dawnwalker and previous CDPR games, specifically The Witcher 3. It would seem that Rebel Wolves welcomes such comparisons, to an extent, being quite transparent about Blood of Dawnwalker‘s CDPR alumni.

It’s not just pedigree that links Blood of Dawnwalker and The Witcher 3. Dawnwalker is a third-person action-adventure-RPG set against a medieval-fantasy backdrop, designed around structured quests, NPC interaction, and sword-and-magic combat. Even the music, art design, and user interface (based on public, pre-alpha footage) is reminiscent of The Witcher 3. But make no mistake, Blood of Dawnwalker isn’t trying to just ride the coattails of The Witcher, nor does it seem to be aping that seminal RPG’s fundamental design. Indeed, Blood of Dawnwalker promises to be thoroughly unique, introducing novel ideas through both its gameplay and narrative.

The Blood of Dawnwalker’s Story Explained

June 21 is Going to Be a Big Day for The Blood of Dawnwalker Fans

One of the most striking differences between The Blood of Dawnwalker and The Witcher, or most high fantasy franchises for that matter, is its setting. Dawnwalker isn’t set in a fictional country or theoretical civilization, but actual 14th-century Europe, in a region called Vale Sangora, which has been taken over by vampires intent on subjugating humanity. These vampires, led by one called Brencis, impose a blood tax on the populace of Vale Sangora, much to the people’s discontent.

Vale Sangora itself is fictional, but it’s meant to be nestled in the very real Carpathian Mountains, which would place it somewhere in Eastern or Southern Europe. Worth noting is that much of Dawnwalker‘s folklore, naming conventions, and traditions seem inspired by Romanian culture.

Players assume the role of Coen, a peasant suffering from silver poisoning. In the Blood of Dawnwalker cinematic reveal trailer, Coen is shown fleeing from a local government, which is razing villages in search of bubonic plague sufferers, whom they execute on sight. Coen’s sister Lunka has the plague, and the siblings are caught during their flight. But before Lunka is killed, a group of vampires led by Brencis intervenes and brutally dispatches the would-be executors. Brencis subsequently cures Lunka of her illness.

But this is no act of altruism: Brencis uses this favor as leverage against Coen, and takes his family hostage. Brencis and his crew also attempt to turn Coen into a vampire, but the transformation fails, and he becomes a Dawnwalker, a rare being that is human during the day and a vampire after dark. Though the circumstances are unclear at this point, Coen will be given 30 days to save his family from Brencis’ ruling vampiric class.

It’s possible that Coen’s silver poisoning is what caused his Dawnwalker transformation, though this hasn’t been confirmed.

Is The Blood of Dawnwalker a Choice-Driven Game?

Blood of Dawnwalker Monk — The Blood of Dawnwalker Cathedral Monk

In terms of broad-strokes design pillars, such as an open-world with NPCs, quest and mini-quest progression structure, dialog options, and non-linear storytelling, comparing Blood of Dawnwalker to The Witcher is quite apt. But Dawnwalker‘s aforementioned narrative premise shakes things up.

The Blood of Dawnwalker will have a day-and-night cycle, adhering to Coen’s unique Dawnwalker curse. As one might expect, Coen’s abilities and limitations depend on his form at a given time, and this can have both narrative and mechanical effects. In one Blood of Dawnwalker gameplay showcase, a human Coen is able to enter a cathedral without any issues, speak to the priest and deacon, and continue along a quest path. Later, he finds a corpse and is able to reanimate it with magic, an ability he would not have had access to if he were in vampire form.

But this quest can be approached quite differently when Coen is a vampire. At night, he can scale buildings with ease, which allows him to gain access to the cathedral’s catwalk, providing a vantage point for a secret vampire ritual. By sneaking around the cathedral’s upper level at night, Coen and the player gain unique insights into the vampire opposition, and can eventually even fight one of Brencis’ primary allies, an undertaking that Rebel Wolves describes as “possible, but hellishly difficult.”

This “narrative sandbox,” as Rebel Wolves calls it, is driven by Coen’s vampire-human duality, but this isn’t the only variable. Blood of Dawnwalker‘s story can be impacted by a number of factors, including NPC relationships, dialog choices, and progression in other quests. All in all, The Blood of Dawnwalker‘s choice-based sandbox seems to be its most ambitious, affecting world, narrative, and mechanical aspects.

Blood of Dawnwalker‘s main quest does have a time limit, though time is described as more of a resource than a “ticking clock,” decreasing after completing certain tasks, like in the Persona games.

The Blood of Dawnwalker’s Gameplay

Vampire and Human Combat

The closest anchor points for Blood of Dawnwalker‘s combat would arguably be the following three games:

The Witcher 3
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Like The Witcher 3, players fight with a combination of blades and magic, tackling small groups of enemies at a time and selecting special abilities through a radial menu. But combat is also a bit more grounded and less acrobatic, which is where the Kingdom Come: Deliverance comparison applies. Like that game, The Blood of Dawnwalker features directional combat: players must select one of four directions before attacking or defending. When parrying a blow, the enemy’s stamina will decrease, which can culminate in a stun-enabled powerful blow. Like Sekiro, this combat system gives defense an offensive edge.

Just like in the narrative sandbox, combat will be defined by Coen’s current form. When he is a human, he will have access to special hexes and spells; when he is a vampire, he will grow claws and have increased agility. Swords can still be used when Coen is in vampire form.

Coen’s Vampiric Traversal

While in vampire form, Coen will have access to unique locomotion options. For instance, he can use a skill called Shadow Step, allowing him to teleport to a location within range, and Plane Shift, which lets him walk up walls and across ceilings. These skills, along with Coen’s other vampiric abilities, are dictated by his hunger level, which needs to be assuaged by feeding on humans, animals, and other creatures.

The Blood of Dawnwalker Release Date

Rebel Wolves has yet to issue a firm release date for Blood of Dawnwalker, though it’s expected to launch sometime in 2026. Great vampire games can be few and far between, as evidenced by disappointments like this year’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2; Hopefully, The Blood of Dawnwalker manages to offer the blood-sucking thrills so many gamers have been thirsting for.