Role-playing expectations for The Blood of Dawnwalker have been high ever since its announcement, primarily thanks to the fact that the game is being spearheaded by ex-Witcher 3 creatives.
Up until now, developer Rebel Wolves has stressed the title’s commitment to choice and consequence, but a new Game Informer interview arguably gives us our best insight yet, especially when it comes to understanding the team’s approach to building a proper RPG.
Basically, the studio didn’t want to follow the formula that most western RPGs adopt, by having a set of main quests surrounded by optional excursions.
Instead, Dawnwalker gives you a single objective to complete: rescue your family. But in order to do so, you’ll need to storm a castle that’s currently occupied by a vampire lord and take him down.
You can attempt to do this right off the bat, but it certainly won’t be easy — and so most players will engage with the game’s many “optional” quests, in which protagonist Coen can gather allies, advance his abilities, and acquire knowledge of his enemies.
“To finish The Blood of Dawnwalker, all you need to do is storm the antagonist’s castle, face them in combat, and rescue the family,” lead quest designer Rafał Jankowski explains.
He continues: “There are no additional requirements or prerequisites that you need to tick off, which means that all the stories that we prepared for the players are somewhat optional.”
I’m guessing it’ll be borderline impossible to beat the big bad without any kind of preparation, but I’m sure that won’t stop some players from trying. At least we know the speedruns are going to be fun.
“Almost every quest in the game is like a side quest, and they are meaningful,” director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz adds.
“They are creating one whole experience for the player, but we are closer to a pen-and-paper RPG where the Game Master is deciding how he wants to lead you and deciding what he wants to do. In our game, you create this choice to achieve your goal by yourself.”
Basically, there is no set of main quests here — players are left to cleave through the game however they like, with the suggestion being that no two playthroughs will ever be quite the same.
And of course, this all ties into Dawnwalker’s time system; hours and days move forward based on your actions, not unlike the calendar-style structure of the Persona games. With that in mind, you’re not seeing everything the title has to offer in a single run.
Honestly, the more I read about The Blood of Dawnwalker, the more interested I am in seeing how the finished release pans out. There’s a massive amount of potential here.
Is Dawnwalker sounding good to you? Embrace your vampiric corruption in the comments section below.
