Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has formed a new studio, Rebel Wolves, and their debut title, The Blood of Dawnwalker, is shaping up to be a significant RPG release. After a four-hour hands-on preview, the game demonstrates a compelling blend of combat, narrative intrigue, and a unique time-management system that sets it apart.
A Race Against Time
The core of The Blood of Dawnwalker's gameplay loop revolves around a strict 30-day, 30-night in-game time limit. Players step into the shoes of Coen, a character not fully turned into a vampire, who must rescue his family from the vampire rulers of the Carpathian mountain valley known as the Vale of Sangora. Time progresses not through idle exploration, but by spending segments of time to advance quests and make narrative choices. This mechanic inherently limits the player's ability to experience everything, forcing strategic decisions about which paths to pursue.
This urgency was palpable during the prologue, a contained area designed to introduce the game's mechanics. Even simple quests, like fetching a calming tonic for Coen's mother, could consume significant in-game time. An unexpected interaction with Anca, a local healer, led to a budding romance subplot and a moment of intimate character interaction. While the decision regarding Anca's attire may sound suggestive, the scene focused more on character development and Coen's growing connection with her, highlighted by the game's particularly expressive character models.
The prologue demonstrated the weight of choices. By prioritizing the interaction with Anca and a mishap during the crafting of the tonic, the player missed the opportunity to prevent their mother's fate, a consequence that others at the event were able to avert. The director confirmed that saving the mother triggers a distinct epilogue event, showcasing the far-reaching implications of player actions even in the early game. This dynamic prologue offers significant replayability and narrative potential.
Evolving Combat Mechanics
Addressing a common criticism of The Witcher 3's combat, The Blood of Dawnwalker introduces a more layered system with directional attacks and parries. Enemies telegraph their incoming strikes with a shield icon, indicating the direction of the attack. Successfully timing a parry opens enemies up for counter-attacks, rewarding skillful play. While initially fiddly and demanding, the system aims to provide a more engaging experience.
A hybrid approach allows players to forgo directional inputs for simpler parries and attacks, a strategy even employed by the game director. This flexibility, combined with an enemy AI that ensures combatants attack one at a time rather than overwhelming the player, fosters a sense of flow. This design philosophy, drawing inspiration from games like Batman: Arkham and Insomniac's Spider-Man, aims to create a rewarding sense of player skill progression, akin to mastering a rhythm game like Guitar Hero, as described by Tomaszkiewicz.
Unlocking active abilities from skill trees for vampirism, sword mastery, or witchcraft adds another layer, though assigning and executing them mid-combat can feel awkward given the control scheme. Despite these minor complexities, the combat system's depth and responsiveness appear to be a significant improvement.
A World of Freedom and Infamy
The Blood of Dawnwalker eschews a traditional main quest, offering players the freedom to pursue their overarching goal of family rescue in their own way. Venturing beyond the prologue area presented an immediate challenge: a lack of clear direction in a vast, swampy landscape. This initial disorientation, coupled with tough early-game enemies, demands that players actively fight for their progress and discover their own path.
This hard-won sense of accomplishment is a deliberate design choice. The game features an Infamy system, where actions taken within specific territories aggravate local vampire lieutenants. For instance, disrupting a lieutenant's blood supply led to an increase in Infamy, highlighting areas of interest on a 'Court' menu reminiscent of a detective's investigation board. As Infamy grows, the lieutenant becomes more aggressive, eventually confronting the player.
Exploration also revealed opportunities for social manipulation, such as using dialogue to gain access to guarded encampments, engaging in daytime magic trials for rewards, and utilizing vampire abilities like super-speed and wall-climbing. These elements, combined with the narrative choices and the vampire's bloodthirsty nature contrasting with Coen's personality, suggest a rich and complex RPG experience. The Blood of Dawnwalker, with its innovative systems and engaging narrative design, has the potential to be a breakout hit in the RPG landscape.