The Blood of Dawnwalker is a confident and uncompromising RPG, and I'm already in love with it
The chore was simple; my mother's medication was no longer enough to handle her outbursts. She was no longer eating, barely drinking, and if we couldn't prepare medicine enough to keep her calm through the next communion, it was an open secret what might happen to her. All I had to do was gather the herbs and prepare them to their instructions.
The opening movie for The Blood of Dawnwalker sets the stage for a region of 14th-century Europe, spared the horrors of the plague by inviting another in the way of vampires. Their blood can cure any illness when imbibed, and yet it's not all that much of a settling thought when they demand a regular supply of their new subjects blood as recompense, in addition to undying loyalty.
On the way to the apothecary, I'm beset with distractions. My siblings ask if I might help them fish; a farmer begs me to help him find his absconded pig. Another worries for his brother's safety, who he was sure should have returned home by now. A seamstress despairs that a banner requested by the vampires has been stolen - and fears that if it's not found, it's not just her life on the line. A delinquent steps in my path, practically begging me to teach him a lesson he won't soon forget with my fists.
Despite my better judgment, and I'm sure precisely according to the developers at Rebel Wolves intentions, I let my guard down.
My first distraction ended up being the pig. I tracked it across the river to a vagabond pitching his tent just outside of town. After the pig had wandered just far enough from home, he had spotted it and decided he'd like one of his own. After a few scenes and a quick chase, it was time to return the swine from whence it came. When the game shifted to a cutscene of delivering it back home, I couldn't help notice the framing of a sausage link on a table in the shot, and in a moment I thought I knew where things were going.
To a degree I did, but the depths of options available to me were greater than I'd anticipated. Indeed, the pig was destined for the slaughterhouse. If I'd had the coin, I could have offered to buy it off the farmer, and save it from its fate. Alas, I didn't have the cash to do so. Instead I had to choose between helping do the deed alongside him, or look the other way.
This mirrored an earlier segment of the story, where the severity of Coen's mothers mental anguish had become impossible to ignore. Coen's father suggested attempting to force her to eat, and it's up to you as the player to determine what the "right" choice of action was - to respect your mother's autonomy, or forgo it in an attempt of ensuring her health. The game doesn't judge you for the choice you make here; there's no set morality system in Blood of Dawnwalker, and while there are bound to be consequences, they're not always spelled out so black and white. Any judgment is more likely one that the player makes of themselves.
I'd decided to try and make my mother eat; a failure, hence the continued need for herbal remedies. Taking a swig of some alcohol, and speaking of his father's own alcoholic problems following his mother's ill health, my Coen opts to help do the deed. This takes multiple choice prompts - including choosing how to attempt to sooth the pig, whether to chicken out halfway through, and even a follow-up where you can disagree with the assertion that what you'd just done with the pig was no different from what the vampires do with humans. If you do, the butcher is quick to remind you that intelligent or not - the pig felt enough to be scared.
After I'd been distracted by both the pig and a few other diversions, I'd made my way in time to the apothecary - only for a storm to waylay me at the 11th hour. While the storm was always going to strike here, it wasn't scripted for me to run out of time. I'll spare the results, but speaking with others at the preview event; I messed up.
Without spoiling too much of the surprise for the rest of the game, my biggest shocker from Blood of Dawnwalker was easily the quality of the writing. It's tough to get across the appeal of nuanced writing second-hand, but there's a gravitas to it all that feels like it respects the player enough to come to their own decisions, make their own mistakes, and stew in what could have been - if they'd made the right choice in any given moment. It feels like the perfect companion to a game that so heavily focuses on time management, forcing your hand to make tough decisions about what to do, and when.
I'm under no illusions that the system won't prove divisive, but I'm in love with The Blood of Dawnwalker's core concept of the day and night cycle. Rather than the game running on a constantly passing timer, players instead choose where to spend time by completing quest objectives, learning skills, and more. For some, the idea that you'll be unable to see everything in a single playthrough - devs estimate a perfectly efficient playthrough may only reach 80% completion - might be a dealbreaker. If you're like me, however, and crave for the return of RPGs that force you to truly live with your choices? It's a breath of fresh air.
While much of The Blood of Dawnwalker's prologue is light on combat, once things get going you'll be faced with a combat system not unlike For Honor or Chivalry: Medieval Warfare; you defend and attack from one of 4 cardinal directions, and by default it's up to you to properly counter an enemy's actions. Certain attacks you'll only be able to dodge - and with perfect timing for counters you can both prevent stamina loss while leaving enemies wide open to your follow-up attacks. Players looking for a challenge can even opt to turn off the UI indicator for which direction a strike is coming from, and merely make do with visual cues from the enemies themselves.
As a human, Coen can make use of Warlock skills imparted by his mentor to coerce the words of the dead for clues during quests; at night he can make use of vampiric powers such as the ability to transform into a wolf to sprint across the game world, or even shadow step from one spot to another. While I wasn't able to test much of it myself, going by my previous hands-off experience quests can be progressed in different ways depending on the time of day you tackle them.
One such consideration is Coen's vampiric hunger; let his health fall too low without topping up by chomping down on the local wildlife - shout-out to the visual of Coen helping himself to a plump rat like it's a Chipotle burrito - and simply engaging in conversation with an NPC will have you forced to suck them dry, whether they be friend or foe alike.
In a word; I'm smitten. I had the feeling that I'd vibe with Coen's adventure since last year, but I was ill-prepared for just how painful the wait would be out the other end of a proper hands-on preview. Now I'm stuck here with a hunger that only The Blood of Dawnwalker can quench. Thankfully, the game itself is only a little less than 2 months away. Stay tuned for our full review as we get closer to the game's September 3 launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam).