The punishing time limit in The Blood of Dawnwalker was originally much stricter, but developer Rebel Wolves ultimately loosened it due to player concerns, according to game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.
The game features a 30-day and night cycle to save the protagonist's family from vampires, a mechanic that proved divisive. Tomaszkiewicz confirmed that the team rebalanced the time limit before the game's release in response to "fear" that it would be too restrictive.
"Obviously!" Tomaszkiewicz responded when asked if the mechanic had been softened due to public reaction. "We had at first a more restricted time where it was harder to beat the game, but after all of those voices, before release even, we knew that it can be a problem and we rebalanced it this way to give the buffer for the people to not fear this."
The game's prologue, however, retains the original, harsher time constraints to provide players with a taste of the intended experience. "The prologue was the first small test-field for time," Tomaszkiewicz explained, "and we didn't change it because we wanted to give this experience for people and show them what they can expect."
In the main game, time progresses only when players engage in quest-related activities. Running around the world, battling incidental enemies, or managing inventory does not consume in-game time. With 16 time segments available per day and most quests costing only a few, players have considerable leeway.
Tomaszkiewicz elaborated on the original vision, stating, "You needed to think about everything even more carefully." The team, however, decided against making the time limit the primary challenge. "We figured out that we don't want to create a mini-game from it. We wanted to give the player the proper feeling and proper emotions in the main story. This is the purpose of the main story, not to create a challenge for it."
An interesting aspect of the time mechanic is its interaction with skill point allocation. Upgrading skills can consume time segments, a design choice Tomaszkiewicz defended by explaining it prevents players from simply farming enemies to level up and immediately defeating the main antagonist, Brencis. "They're learning the perks and then they just go, on the first day, to kill Brencis," he said.
Discussions were also held about implementing world events with fixed schedules that players might miss. Ultimately, Rebel Wolves opted against this approach, fearing it could frustrate players by making them aware of events they could not participate in. Instead, players encounter events dynamically and can choose whether to engage with them or pursue other activities.
Despite the developer's adjustments, the time mechanic remains a significant talking point. A popular mod released after launch aims to remove it entirely. Rebel Wolves is also preparing its first major post-release patch for early October, which will address combat, difficulty, performance, and traversal issues.
Regarding the future of the Dawnwalker series, Tomaszkiewicz indicated that Rebel Wolves is exploring various ideas to innovate within the RPG genre. "We are also considering and researching some other crazy ideas which can make the RPG genre different to surprise people in the future."