There’s a heavy, atmospheric dread that permeates every corner of The Blood of Dawnwalker. It’s a familiar and almost cosy feeling that fans of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will find instantly familiar, yet there’s a new, sharper edge here. The new game is being developed by Rebel Wolves, a new studio founded by the former architects of Geralt’s greatest adventures.
Swapping out the established lore from author Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories for a completely original one, which, after four hours hands-on with the game, shows that this studio knows how to create a detailed, rich environment with deep lore that pushes your curiosity to keep exploring further. The Blood Of Dawnwalker is a 14th-century dark fantasy RPG that feels less like a spiritual successor and more like a bold, blood-soaked evolution that you will be dying to sink your teeth into once it releases later this year.
We recently went hands-on with a preview build of the game, and if our time in Vale Sangora is anything to go by, developer Rebel Wolves is about to be in the conversation for creating one of the biggest and best games of the year.
The Duality of the Dawnwalker
At the heart of the experience is Coen, burdened with a dual nature that dictates the very flow of the game. The Blood of Dawnwalker utilises a striking day/night cycle that is far more than just a visual filter. By day, Coen is human, navigating a world of medieval politics, investigation, and classist tension.
By night, he becomes a vampire, satiating his need for blood and investigating the more supernatural elements of the game. You can drain the blood of your enemies in classic vampire style, teleport to other areas as a bat and use some very sharp claws to shred enemies to pieces. We get to witness the journey of his sister being turned before his inevitable transformation.
The kingdom of Vale is under the control of a master vampire who visits the local village, collecting coin in the form of taxes and a ritual sacrifice of blood to prove the villagers’ devotion to their vampiric overlords and ensure their protection against other forces continues.
What struck me the most about this is the character of Coen, he is just your average everyday guy, no special powers or training that make him exceptional, so when you play during the daytime, the class politics and everyday life family dynamics feel like a completely different game when you switch to vampire mode at night and play out the more traditional vampire tropes, is when the game really gets going.
A World That Won’t Wait
One of the most ambitious elements discussed during our session was the 30-day in-game clock. Unlike many open-world RPGs that allow you to hoard side quests indefinitely, The Blood of Dawnwalker features a living world that reacts to your procrastination. Some missions may move the clock along more quickly.
Choosing to ignore a plea for help or skipping a major questline has permanent ramifications. It’s a design choice that adds a genuine sense of urgency to the narrative, forcing you to prioritise your “human” responsibilities against your “vampiric” needs. It’s a high-stakes balancing act that ensures no two playthroughs will look the same. During our playthrough, we got to play the 4-hour prologue, so the time didn’t really come into effect here. The devs did confirm that the time feature won’t have any limit on your playtime or have any major story implications.
Visually, the game is a triumph for Unreal Engine 5. Vale Sangora is a masterclass in gothic art direction, from the rain-slicked cobblestones, looming silhouettes, and a sense of history etched into the mud. I played this on a fully loaded PC rig that didn’t stutter for one second during my lengthy four-hour playthrough. While the story offered a rich depth of lore, the visuals of this world are really distinct, and a detailed mid-sized map has me confident that the full game will be satisfying for RPG fans, but not so overwhelming that it feels too big to get through.
The game feels premium, polished, and possesses that rare “prestige” quality that usually only comes from the industry’s more experienced veterans.
Thoughts So Far
The Blood of Dawnwalker is shaping up to be a genre-defining entry for 2026. It respects the player’s intelligence, offering a complex narrative sandbox where choices actually matter, and the combat feels like a genuine struggle for survival. For those who have been waiting for a dark fantasy world they can truly lose themselves in, this feels like the perfect filler while we anxiously await the next instalment of The Witcher.
While it does feel a little unfair to compare the two, obviously with devs who worked on that game, the comparisons are inevitable. Fortunately, though, this game does enough to separate itself to stand out on its own and hopefully deliver a unique experience when it releases later this year. My four hours with The Blood of Dawnwalker are the best four hours I have spent with any game this year, and I cannot wait to dive deeper into Vale Sangora when the game is released.
The Blood of Dawnwalker launches on September 3, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
