The "Blood of Dawnwalker": "The Witcher 3" with Vampires!
The eagerly awaited fourth part of the "Metroid Prime" saga was playable for the first time at Gamescom. And differently than you might expect on a console.
(Image: Bandai Namco)
"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" celebrated its tenth anniversary in the early summer of 2025. And not only with a worldwide concert tour, but also with sales figures that continue to rise. Currently, more than 60 million copies have been sold worldwide, officially making it one of the best-selling games of all time.
What does all this have to do with "The Blood of Dawnwalker"? Well, this adventure comes from the young Polish studio "Rebel Wolves", which was founded in 2022 by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz – one of the brains behind "The Witcher 3". And his new game really can't deny these roots.
The V-Team in action
To be honest, vampires are nothing new in the "Witcher" universe – The add-on "Blood and Wine", released in 2016 and also developed under the direction of Tomaszkiewicz, also revolved around the bloodsuckers in its entirety. However, "The Blood of Dawnwalker" is set to be much more than just a continuation of this approach.
The presentation at Gamescom already created the right atmosphere: we sit on wooden benches in a replica church, surrounded by fake leaded glass windows, with a thick chandelier dangling above our heads. A threefold Our Father is not necessary, and the game's pre-rendered intro movie begins the same way: the adventure takes place in the Carpathian Mountains in the middle of the 14th century. A young man flees with his plague-stricken little sister from a group of murderous soldiers, who find him shortly afterwards in a ruined church. They are so close to killing him and the girl when the two receive sudden and bloody support from a group of unexpectedly helpful vampires, pardon, "Vrakhiri". They make short work of the soldiers – and take the opportunity to restore the girl to health and make the young man one of their own –. But as is generally known, vampires do not act out of pure charity.
The twilight blood is boiling
Jump forward a few years: the young man is called "Coen" and is the titular "Dawnwalker" (German: "Dämmerblut"). This means that, like the Marvel hero "Blade", he combines the best characteristics of the human and vampire worlds: during the day, he is a medieval inhabitant like you and me, talks to people, fights with his sword and does not instantly fade away in the sun. But as soon as the sun goes down, he swaps his sword for well-sharpened claws, sucks refreshing blood from his opponents' throats, can run along walls and briefly transform into a dark cloud to quickly cover distances.
The Blood of Dawnwalker angespielt (8 Bilder)
Grafik
Bandai Namco
)Of course, not only Coen changes with the changing light conditions, but also his surroundings: during the day, for example, the towns are full of people, the diversely designed NPCs stroll through the muddy streets, children play, merchants advertise their wares and beggars beg. At night, on the other hand, there are mainly guards on the move, whose dim lanterns only dimly illuminate the streets. Some doors are now closed, while others are only now open – so it is important to always keep an eye on the differences that result from the changing time of day. Incidentally, you only have an indirect influence on this: Unlike in other games, it does not pass in (accelerated) real time, but is driven by certain conversations or events.
Conversation with the dead
As well as, of course, through certain battles, of which there are many: The combat system is reminiscent of the "Assassin's Creed" series and relies on an action-packed mix of offense, direct and indirect blocks and parries, often against several adversaries at the same time. In the fast and powerful battles, it is not only the sword that speaks, but also the participants themselves. This made for some amusing moments during the presentation. For example, when Coen shouts annoyed "I mean you no harm. I just want to talk!" while at the same time chopping off his opponent's leg. Yes, it's definitely bloody here.
Of course, even more so if you're a vampire. Because then you can drink the blood of your opponents to strengthen yourself – and not only when they are already lying defenceless on the ground, but also in the middle of a fight. This is not an entirely harmless maneuver, but if you time it well, the enemy will be permanently injured and easier to kill.
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As a human, Coen has the ability to talk to the dead using magic. Only with selected dead people, of course, and only in appropriate quests; you can't turn a graveyard into a group chat at will. The dead then sometimes have very valuable quest information for him. And via special items to which the dead have an emotional connection and which Coen has to find before the conversation, he even squeezes additional snippets of information out of them.
A big, dark adventure
Speaking of quests: Coen's main task is to save his family within 30 days. What from, why and how was not mentioned in the Gamescom presentation. Of course, there are also a number of small and large side quests: One mission shown was entitled "A Monk and a Saint", and revolved around investigating the whereabouts of a certain "Saint Mihai" – something that then took up most of the presentation. Anyone familiar with the mission structure in the "Witcher" games will know that side quests also tend to branch out several times and can take several hours to complete. This will be no different in "The Blood of Dawnwalker".
In terms of content, the game promises a well-balanced mix of action and adventure: games are allowed to have many conversations, sometimes with several possible answers. If you look carefully, you will find contextual prompts in many places, which you can confirm and then either learn something or receive hints for puzzles. Picked-up objects can also be examined closely in full 3D view, which also hides the odd hint or two.
"The Blood of Dawnwalker" will be released in 2026 on PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
(mack)
