I recently spent the first few hours with The Blood of Dawnwalker, and I’m happy to say it’s shaping up to be something special. Everything I experienced was dark, moody and dripping with atmosphere. It left me with plenty of questions about how Coen’s vampiric journey will unfold, and I already have the feeling this is a game that will reward multiple playthroughs.
Living (and Unliving) Two Lives
Coen is our hero for The Blood of Dawnwalker. He is the son of a retired soldier, and the unwilling recipient of the vampire curse. The Vrakir are a group of powerful vampires who have staked a claim on the local region — putting its people to work and reaping the benefits of rulership. This is a dark and bloody approach to vampires, more Nosferatu than Interview with the Vampire. And even though Coen will be walking in sunlight, don’t expect him to sparkle.
In the first few hours of the story, which covered the tutorial and world-setting, it ended not long after the open world was laid before me. Coen is an ordinary guy, who finds himself suddenly as the only weapon that can defeat the vampire overlords. That play between humanity and vampirism is central to Coen’s story, and plays a huge part in the game’s mechanics.
As a human, Coen is a very capable fighter, but augmented with vampiric abilities, he becomes a walking blender. By giving in to corruption, Coen will gain access to new vampiric abilities. This creates a constant push and pull; to become more powerful in your vampiric abilities, you will need to kill and drain potentially helpful NPCs. I even saw how this can be as much a threat as a choice. As a vampire, you have Blood Craving, meaning if you’re on low health, Coen might lose control and drain an NPC he is speaking to, even friendly NPCs.
During my time, I decided to feed on an NPC farmer whose land I had just saved from soldiers. Doing so gave me access to the nighttime wolf transformation as a Shred ability that deals bleed damage with Coen’s claws. Between the twisting nature of Coen’s struggle with his new powers and the narrative’s timeline, I’m really excited to see where this goes next.
Sun’s Out, Swords Out
In human form, Coen feels very Witcher-esque. Which makes sense, as Rebel Wolves includes alumni from CD Projekt Red. There is a flow to the sword combat that kept me connected throughout the fights. Unlike Geralt, Coen is far more precise in his combat. You’re able to swing and block strikes mindlessly, but doing so will drain your stamina. By attacking and blocking directionally, you find gaps in the enemy defence, and open them up to parry and counter opportunities.
In Vampire mode, Coen is able to utilise all of his vampire abilities and fight with claws and teeth. Fighting with your claws is quite a bit faster than the sword, and there is a great feeling of fluidity to the combos that Coen works up to. The biggest standout isn’t the claws themselves, though — it’s the supernatural powers they unlock.
I developed a fang-tastic teleport-bite attack — a great way to start combat with an unsuspecting enemy. It also allows Coen to heal in the middle of a larger fight. Additionally, Coen can transform into a wolf to travel quickly at night, and one of the early Witchcraft skills that allowed me to boil an enemy’s blood mid-fight.
During the day you will only have access to Coen’s human abilities (and some Witchcraft abilities that I only just started to work through). But at night you are able to utilise the full extent of Coen’s abilities. I can see this really playing into the game’s time mechanics. It might be better to burn a few hours and wait until night when you can approach a town with your vampire abilities than walk in during the day
Time is Your Biggest Foe
From the outset of The Blood of Dawnwalker, time is of the essence. Coen has 30 days to save his family from the vampire lord Brencis. As you play through, each objective you complete ticks off a portion of time. But some objectives will only be possible at certain times of day. This, of course, means that it will be impossible to complete everything in one playthrough.
The first quest of the game threw me straight into Coen’s story. The Vrakhir are already in power, and the people are like animals being farmed. The villagers all have to attend Mass weekly, where they are drained and drink the blood of the vampires as a show of faith.
For this quest, you have to wait until nightfall when the Vrakhir’s Mass will happen, and all villagers must go to the church. You can spend more time on objectives around the town and help villagers, and gain more of their stories. I spent time helping the local butcher slaughter a pig (with obvious connotations to how the vampires are currently farming the villagers). I also spent time with the local herbalist, helping her gather ingredients for a potion to help Coen’s mother. There was also a quest to track down a thief and deal with a town bully. Each of these quests will take time to complete, and bring Mass closer. As you’d expect, there are outcomes for these NPCs whether you choose to help them or not.
This microcosm of small-town objectives really got my brain turning for how this would work in the larger world. There, Coen has to dismantle the Vrakhir’s operation throughout the region, and decide which portions of this vampire coven to put on the chopping block first.
Should I be excited for The Blood of Dawnwalker?
Should you be excited? I sure as hell am. The first few hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker were dark, violent and dripping with old-world horror. Brencis is a medieval Bond villain, strutting about, monologuing about his evil empire, and I can’t wait to tear it all down.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is scheduled for release on September 3rd for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Watch this space.
Thanks to Bandain Namco for providing us access to this early build of The Blood of Dawnwalker.
