The main hook of The Blood of Dawnwalker, an open-world role-playing game with a strict 30-day time limit, is being bypassed by a popular mod. The "Better Story Timer" mod, available on Nexus Mods, has been downloaded more than 115,000 times since its release shortly after the game's launch last week.
This mod directly addresses player frustration with the game's core time-management mechanic, which advances with every completed quest and depletes the player's limited in-game days. The Better Story Timer mod removes this time cost entirely, allowing players to progress through the main story with an adjustable 90-day limit, triple the default.
Beyond extending the main quest timer, the mod also increases the number of time segments available each in-game day. This change is particularly beneficial for players investing in character upgrades, as learning new skills can consume multiple segments. For those who wish to retain the quest-based time progression but still want more flexibility, the mod also offers an option to remove time costs solely for skill acquisition without impacting other time-advancing events.
The mod has been updated to remain compatible with The Blood of Dawnwalker's patches, ensuring it works with the latest version of the game. While the mod supports the game's prologue, its creator suggests disabling it for the epilogue. Some players have reportedly completed the game with the mod installed.
The Blood of Dawnwalker, developed by Rebel Wolves—a studio featuring veterans from CD Projekt Red and The Witcher—has achieved significant commercial success, selling over one million copies in its first three days. The game has maintained healthy player numbers on Steam alone.
In a review, the game was praised for its bold approach to the open-world RPG genre, introducing novel mechanics like the time limit, even while acknowledging that some elements did not fully cohere.