The Blood of Dawnwalker might just be a sicko RPG, and I'm here for it

When Bandai Namco invited us to an early preview event for The Blood of Dawnwalker, I didn't know what to expect. Hands-off demos aren't exactly rare for general trade shows like Summer Game Fest and Tokyo Game Show, but inviting the press to an in-person event at a venue just to have the development team walk us through a gameplay session absolutely is. Usually it's hard for these sort of demonstrations to give a good overview of what a game is; it's gameplay loop, what drives its gameplay, and anything specifically unique about the project. I say "usually", because this was absolutely an exception to the rule.

If you aren't already familiar with it, The Blood of Dawnwalker is an RPG from Rebel Wolves, a development team founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz - a Director formerly of CD Projekt, who had worked on The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. The crux of the game revolves around Coen, a man turned Vampire in medieval Europe who is forced to figure out a way to save his family within 30 days. We didn't get to see too much of the story setup for the game during our hands-off session, but what we did get acquainted with was the core gameplay loop.

Coen isn't just a Vampire, but more specifically a "Dawnwalker" - a Vampire that can live as a human during the day, alongside some magical perks. Since Coen's quest tasks him with saving his family within a month, time is a resource that must be spent wisely. While time won't pass while exploring, each day is represented by a bar - with hours as a sort of currency that is expended upon progressing quests. Since Coen's abilities differ depending on the time of day, and there's some elements of the game world that you can only discover via exploring as either a human or a vampire, players have to consider how they want to tackle the quests laid out before them. The order in which they tackle them can and will determine what form Coen will take.

As a vampire, Coen can make use of vampiric claws to attack enemies. Combat takes a sort of Chivalry or For Honor approach, where you choose which direction to attack from. This is the same whether you're a vampire or a human, but what differs depending on the time of day are some of the abilities available to you. During the night, Coen can dash from rooftop to rooftop with ease, and even walk on walls and ceilings - allowing him to reach areas that he would never hope to access as a human. This also means that stealth is a big focus; obviously as a vampire he stands out, and can't exactly talk his way through most situations.

During the day, things change. You can consult with NPCs to figure out a way forward; what might have necessitated finding covert entry points into locations as a vampire instead asks Coen to gather information by talking with characters and solving their problems. The game's development team showed the same mission tackled both at night and during the day to illustrate how radically different a single mission can feel, and why players might have to decide when to prioritize missions as a vampire, and others as a human.

Investigating matters while as a human isn't just limited to talking to other humans; as a residual side effect of his vampirism, Coen can briefly raise the spirits of the dead for an inquiry. While he can glean a basic level of knowledge by default, uncovering items that were owned by the deceased can offer additional knowledge that can be put to use later and make your life easier. All the while as you're completing quests, the timer is ticking down for your final confrontation.

While it's not the most obvious comparison, The Blood of Dawnwalker's time management reminds me of the earlier Atelier titles, and how they informed the player's actions. During a round table discussion after the live gameplay presentation, the developers noted that some quests have timed elements, if it makes sense within the confines of the story - if you start a quest that would reasonably be time-limited in reality, you can't just leave it be for a week and not expect any consequences for doing so. The other obvious comparison is, of course, The Witcher; though the specific vibe I'm getting is The Witcher 1 and 2, and not necessarily 3.

Regardless - I didn't have The Blood of Dawnwalker on my radar, but I can't deny what I've been shown has me eager for a chance to play it for myself. I've got no clue when exactly that will be, but hopefully the wait won't be too long. The Blood of Dawnwalker launches next year for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC (Steam).