PREVIEW – The Witcher 3’s director’s first open-world RPG is already teasing us with a trailer, complete with vampires and a medieval fantasy setting that’s sure to impress. Rebel Wolves’ debut title, The Blood of Dawnwalker, directed by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, gives us a generous glimpse of what to expect in its first trailer.

When a new game pops up out of nowhere, and it’s labeled as being made by “veterans of blockbuster titles,” it inevitably grabs our attention. This is exactly the case with Rebel Wolves, a Polish studio comprised of former The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs – essentially, CD Projekt RED alumni – who left the company in 2022 to establish their own team with the goal of developing a kick-ass, AAA action RPG. Now, this project has emerged with a powerful trailer that makes its intentions crystal clear: Rebel Wolves and their game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, are here to conquer all.

Studio head Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who also directed The Witcher 3, revealed that The Blood of Dawnwalker aims to redefine the RPG genre by focusing on the emotional weight of player choices and a strategic combat system that encourages experimentation with gameplay mechanics and the environment. This concept was intriguing from the initial announcement, and based on the first trailer, there’s every reason to be cautiously optimistic.

A Polish RPG Where Your Choices and Journey Through the World Will Matter

“I believe there’s a ton of untapped potential in open worlds,” Tomaszkiewicz stated during the game’s announcement. The Blood of Dawnwalker builds upon the foundations of The Witcher 3, presented in a third-person perspective, but also draws on a gameplay concept where the narrative, exploration, and “personal experience” are directly inspired by the Fallout series, particularly New Vegas. “Every player will have a completely unique experience,” Tomaszkiewicz proudly declared.

It’s based on a playable concept where the narrative, exploration, and your “personal experience” are directly extracted from the Fallout saga.

Regarding the core gameplay, one aspect that Rebel Wolves borrowed from another renowned Polish developer, Dying Light, is the significance of the day and night cycle, along with the mechanical and aesthetic differences that come with the changing times of day. The developers claim that we’ll need to approach tasks differently depending on whether the sun is shining or has already set, and even our appearance will adapt to the time of day, influencing how other characters interact with us. As vampires, we can feed during the day, and our dormant powers will emerge at night, but this doesn’t necessarily mean we have to prey on innocents. Our abilities are inherent, so no one will force us to become bloodthirsty monsters if we don’t want to.

You’ll Have to Fight for Everything, and We Mean Everything

Time will also be a crucial factor, as the open world is governed by strict rules, and we’re just a small cog in the machine. The passage of time will affect both our quests and our abilities. Similar to Dead Rising 2, the game will give us a total of 30 days and 30 nights to save our family, which is the central narrative thread of the adventure. Therefore, we’ll need to carefully consider every step and be prepared for the possibility that starting a new game might reveal other, previously hidden parts of the story.

Vampires play a vital role in this universe, which is set in a semi-realistic medieval world. The bloodsuckers were drawn from Polish fantasy, where “wampirs” are part of an extensive mythology. Many details are still shrouded in mystery, but what’s certain is that vampires are an integral part of society. In fact, they’re pulling the strings from the shadows while humans remain oblivious to their existence and face a deadly plague and religious wars – a setup that promises to be quite intriguing.

It’s worth noting that the vampires, although both protagonists and antagonists of the story, are not like the ones we’re used to, although a certain resemblance to Andrzej Sapkowski’s creations can undoubtedly be detected. These vampires are supernatural beings with a sinister appearance, where “their fangs not only grow from their mouths but also pierce the flesh of their faces,” emphasizing their demonic nature. At the same time, they are beings who rule from the shadows and keep the world in check, although there are different types among them. “There are vampires who punish evildoers by draining their blood, but there are no truly good ones among them,” added the project’s narrative director.

The Polish developers went all out to make a strong first impression, and the trailer features a snippet of the stunning soundtrack by Mikolai Stroinski – the composer of The Witcher 3, Age of Empires IV, and the recently released Nobody Wants to Die. Everything, from the 1457 medieval Central European atmosphere of the Carpathians to the music, looks and sounds incredibly impressive, so we’re definitely not talking about a small-time project here, at least not in terms of ambition and budget.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is built on the foundations of The Witcher 3 and will be played in a third-person perspective

According to a studio statement, Rebel Wolves doesn’t just want to be another flash in the pan but a 140-strong team that plans to be a major player in the market for years to come. This means that The Blood of Dawnwalker will just be the first installment in an extensive fantasy saga set in medieval Europe, with a touch of the supernatural. Of course, it remains to be seen how these plans will pan out, but one thing is for sure: the Polish team has bet everything on one card: epicness, and it seems that this strategy might just pay off.

While The Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t have an official release date yet, the trailer reveals that the game will be coming to PC and current-gen consoles. The project’s first extended gameplay preview will be released in the summer, so fans of Geralt of Rivia’s third adventure have every reason to be excited about what this ambitious Polish team, which is steadily growing into one of the most important and exciting game development hubs on the European market, has in store.

-Herpai Gergely „BadSector”-