Press Start may receive a commission when you buy from links on our site at no extra cost to you.
If there’s one thing we don’t have enough of in the industry nowadays, it’s vampire games. While the bloodsucking monsters have somewhat fallen out of the multi-media zeitgeist, the few recent titles that have revolved around nightcrawlers have struggled to find their footing. Back in the day, though, Games like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Castlevania, and Legacy of Kain were all pivotal in their respective genres. Bloodlines, in particular, shows the promise of vampire-centric RPGs built around player choice that leans into the vampiric fantasy.
Few games have been able to revel in that playspace in the same way, but Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of Dawnwalker is looking to offer a deep and complex vampire role-playing experience that we haven’t seen in some time. After watching an extended 45-minute demo of the game, it’s clear that this collection of ex-CD Projekt Red developers is looking to deliver an experience built around player choice in this story-driven dark fantasy RPG.
To set the scene, The Blood of Dawnwalker is set in a fictional European kingdom called Vale Sangora during the 14th century. The Black Death is ravaging Europe, and amidst the chaos, a group of vampires steps out of the shadows in Vale Sangora and takes control of the kingdom. Religious institutions are reworked to best suit the vampires’ needs, and sanguine rituals are frequent occurrences. We step into the shoes of Coen, a Dawnwalker who retains his humanity during the day but turns into a vampire come nightfall.
While this hands-off demo started some ways into Coen’s journey, the narrative sandbox nature of The Blood of Dawnwalker means you can tackle missions and objectives as you see fit. The mission depicted in the demo sees Coen investigating Svartrau Cathedral in the hopes of finding a powerful sword to aid him in fighting back against the vampire lord Brencis.
At first, we join a Coen empowered by the night. Able to walk on walls and teleport short distances thanks to his vampiric abilities. It makes for an easy circumvention of guard patrols around the cathedral as he enters through the roof and onto the cathedral rafters. A strange blood ritual is occurring at the altar below, but Coen also notes other opportunities to glean information upon inspecting the environment. Taking the time to look at your surroundings can provide you with new leads, in this case, a mural on the roof of the cathedral depicting the sword with its wielder, Saint Mihai.
It’s after this that we get a brief taste of combat. While in his vampire form, Coen can use his claws to strike enemies and parry attacks with directional blocks and swings similar to those of For Honor. He also has access to a variety of combat abilities, one of which is a mid-combat bite that sucks an enemy’s blood for health, which is typically an ability only reserved for stealth. It’s a fast and feral confrontation that does seem a bit rough around the edges in this pre-beta build.
Accessing the cathedral library via a door left unlocked on the second story leads to the discovery of a book called the Annals of Svartrau Cathedral. Inspecting this book properly leads to the revelation that Saint Mihai is buried with his sword within the cathedral’s grounds. His crypt is marked with his own sigil, which was earlier seen on the cathedral’s mural. As Coen enters Saint Mihai’s crypt, he’s welcomed by an eerie sound coming from behind one of the walls, but before the surprise can be revealed, Rebel Wolves loads another save file to show the same mission, only during the day.
This version of the same mission is much different. In his human form, Coen doesn’t have access to his vampiric abilities and is unable to reach the cathedral scaffolding like he could under the cover of darkness. The cathedral itself is open to the public, though, so Coen pays a visit to the local deacon to uncover information on Saint Mihai’s sword. The deacon is not too eager to let Coen through, though, and implores him to go and look for the lazy cathedral caretaker before granting Coen access to the library that may contain information on the weapon he’s searching for.
The deacon suggests that Coen head over to the local almshouse, as that’s where the caretaker was last seen. Upon arrival, though, we find out that the caretaker hasn’t been seen for some time. Coen learns that the almshouse has a sealed-off abandoned wing designated for plague patients, and rumour has it that the caretaker knew of a secret entrance into the wing. Investigation leads to the discovery of a movable bookshelf concealing the abandoned medical wing.
Rotting corpses and skeletal remains are strewn across the floor. Further exploration only leads to bloodier scenes, eventually revealing the den of a vampire transformation defect that’s more beast than man. A boss fight ensues, with Coen relying on swordplay for the conflict without having access to his vampiric abilities. This fight is much faster-paced than the previous one, with a boss that has quite a diverse and relentless moveset.
After dispatching the beast, Coen can use a hex only available to him during the day to talk to the dead. Using key items from the arena, the dead man can recall some of his memories, shedding light on the poor fate of the caretaker, who turns out to be the beast Coen has just slain. Upon returning to the cathedral, the deacon laments the passing of the caretaker and unlocks the library for Coen. Coen finds the same book he did during the nighttime playthrough of this mission – the Annals of Svartrau Cathedral.
The same string of events follows, leading to the final conflict of the mission with a still-alive Saint Mihai. Another frenzied boss fight ensues, with Mihai eventually realising that Coen is a Dawnwalker just like he is. He’s been locked in his own crypt, starving to death during the day, only to be brought back from the brink as night falls and vampirism sets in. It begs the question of how far the reach of the vampires has extended, even before they took control of Vale Sangora, but we’ll have to wait for the full game until we get answers for that.
If that narrative complexity isn’t enough for you, you’ll be pleased to know that The Blood of Dawnwalker is also governed by a time system. The main story has a set time limit you need to work within as you progress towards the conclusion, with the completion of certain objectives contributing to the progression of time. These are marked against objectives that will progress time forward, and things like general exploration do not pass time. I’m a firm believer that time mechanics like these make for some incredible gameplay loops, and I’m eager to see how it fits into the broader narrative sandbox.
There’s a long way to go yet for The Blood of Dawnwalker, but this pre-beta demo paints a promising picture of its potential to deliver a rich and complex vampire narrative sandbox. It plays to so many of the strengths of the genre and has great worldbuilding to boot, with solid voice acting and nuanced systems that set it apart. There are certainly some questions around the longevity of its combat and progression, but this early look suggests Rebel Wolves are on the right track.
The Blood of the Dawnwalker arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2026.
