Rebel Wolves had a livestream where they showed 21 minutes of gameplay, and some of the features we can expect in The Blood of Dawnwalker.
Combat systems
The gameplay footage begins on the outskirts of Svartrau, the game’s largest city and capital of the Vale of Sangora. After a few seconds, Coen encounters a few bandits, which triggers a battle.
When fighting enemies, we can choose the attack’s angle (up, down, left, or right) in order to hit the enemies in a spot where they can’t parry. The same applies to defending; you have to block from the right direction rather than just pressing a button to block.
This makes combat more dynamic and adds an extra layer of difficulty, even if, in terms of visuals, it resembles the combat in other games. This combat mechanic is also seen in games like For Honor and Kingdom Come.
There are activation charges above Coen’s health bar. These are filled with each successful block, parry, and attack. Once they’re full, you can use an ability to gain an edge in battle.
Three abilities were shown in this brief battle. Acrid Dust (stun), Burning Blood (damage over time), and Artery Attack, which does damage and, in this case, also serves as a finisher move.
When fighting as a vampire, Coen uses his claws to attack and defend. While it does look more savage, they didn’t mention if there’s any difference in damage done.
Leveling up grants skill points, which are used to learn or upgrade abilities in our skill trees and ability panel. There are three skill trees: one for human, one for vampire, and one that is shared between the two.
The ability panel has active abilities that are useful in combat, like Acrid Dust or Burning Blood. These abilities are powered by magic.
In the Blood of Dawnwalker, magic can be used at the expense of your own health. Leveling up any of these abilities can reduce the cost of it.
Magic isn’t a heavy combat system but more of a strategic one. You will not see Coen casting fireballs or lightning strikes. In this case, spells work more as utility, buffs, and debuffs.
There’s even a spell called Compel Soul that Coen can use to squeeze secrets from the dead. While not useful in combat, this can unlock paths that otherwise would remain hidden.
Reputation system (sort of)
While there isn’t an active reputation system, the game does track your actions and how that affects your potential allies/enemies.
For example, if you have been doing things in a more stealthy way, Brencis’ guards won’t have a problem letting you inside the city. But if you have openly defied him, they will attack on sight.
Needless to say, we’ll have to be very mindful of our actions, how they can affect our relationships, and even the outcome of main quests. I hope that we can get some sort of indication when our actions have such an impact.
Day vs Night differences
The gameplay experience will change considerably depending on whether you play during the day or night. These are the examples mentioned.
During the day, you need to eat consumables to restore health. At night, it restores passively up to a certain point. To fill the remaining health bar, you’ll need to drink blood, either human or animal. Not being careful of Coen’s hunger can end up with an important character dying at your own hands.
Magic is only available during the day because vampires are incapable of using it.
Full exploration of places like cities is only possible as a vampire when Coen can use Shadowstep and Planeshift. Shadowstep lets Coen jump to almost any place within reach while Planeshift allows you to scale walls and ceilings.
Focus mode highlights objects of interest, loot, and blood traces.
A quest can be very different depending on when you decide to do it. We got to see a very good example of this during the stream. When entering the cathedral during the day, Coen only has a brief conversation with the priest, but doing it at night means facing Xanthe and her Blood Guards.
Xanthe has her own quest line; this is just an additional possibility to face one of Brencis’ most powerful followers. This is a great way to show that it’s possible to achieve the same goal with multiple approaches.
How does time work
As you might already know, Coen has 30 days and 30 nights to save his family. At first, it does sound like we will be pressured to finish it as soon as possible that is not the case, as only the more important quests will reduce the remaining time.
An hourglass icon will help players know which quests consume time and how much. This feature makes time a resource to manage instead of a race against the clock. We can spend hours or days exploring the world without having to worry about how many days are left.
An important thing to point out is that we are able to skip time, which means that a full human or vampire playthrough is possible.
The world is available right from the start
The Blood of Dawnwalker has an emphasis on the progress being completely dependent on what the player decides to do. While they weren’t too specific about it, they did say that the entire world is available from the get-go.
You could even go raid Brencis’ castle in the early stages of the game if you wish to. Obviously, you’d have little to no allies, abilities, completed skill tries, and other elements that increase Coen’s power, but the possibility is there for the most hardcore players.
Romance
There are going to be three romance options. Developing a relationship will change Coen’s story, but on a more personal level. Maybe it will unlock a new quest or item that is unobtainable through other means, but it won’t have an impact on the bigger picture.
Languages
The Blood of Dawnwalker will have full localization for some languages at launch. By localization, they mean voice-over, subtitles, UI elements, etc. These languages are: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Polish.
A few other languages will have text localization (subtitles, UI elements). The list includes: Brazilian Portuguese, Mexican Spanish, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Czech, and Hungarian.
While there are hopes to add more languages, they stated that no promises can be made at this current moment.
What about pre-order perks/early access/micro-transactions
It’s 2025 and for better or worse, we’ve grown used to these type of practices. “Pre-order now and get early access as well as some cool cosmetics. You bought the game after launch? Too bad! No cosmetics for you, but you can use real money to purchase these from the store!”
The Blood of Dawnwalker will not have any of these. It doesn’t matter if you pre-order three months in advance or get it two months after launch.
No digital epic mega deluxe gold edition available for pre-order, no early access for those who spend more money, and no microtransactions. Everyone is getting the same content.
