Admittedly, from what I’ve seen of newcomer developer Rebel Wolves’ upcoming first game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, it’s given off some heavy Witcher vibes. That’s not completely misplaced, considering Rebel Wolves was formed by former CD Projekt Red devs with experience working on The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. Sure, there are vampires, but it’s still a medieval dark fantasy where the protagonist is a gruff swordsman with one goal in mind.
After an hour-long hands-off preview with Dawnwalker, though, it’s clear this game is much more than just The Witcher with vampires. Sitting in the room, themed to look like a 14th-century chapel, I frantically took notes of what I was watching on screen, wishing the entire time I was the one playing the game.
The demo begins in the valley of the Carpathian mountains, sometime during the 14th century. A plague has swept the land, weakening humanity, making them easier than ever to be overtaken by the Vrakhiri, or a race of vampires. Our protagonist, Coen, is what’s called a Daywalker, and though details on what that entails are still murky after my preview, it’s clear he is at least part vampire.
Rebel Wolves showcased this by running us through the same quest twice: once during the night, when Coen is tapped into his vampire side, and once during the day, when he can’t use his vampiric abilities but can utilize magic. Though this quest ended on the same note both ways, there was an impressive amount of variation between the day and night versions.
Rebel Wolves began with the nighttime version of the quest.
Immediately, I’m impressed with the visuals. Sure, the game has been Epic’s baby for demonstrating Unreal Engine 5 in recent showcases, but the art team is doing some gorgeous work with lighting. The way the full moon above illuminates the central cathedral’s stained glass reminded me of the stained glass I witnessed myself at the Dom cathedral here in Cologne. Alongside the full moon high above in the sky is a red full moon, indicating Coen can tap into his vampire abilities.
Coen infiltrates a cathedral and sticks to the upper floors as, down below, a blood ritual is happening. He uses Plane Shift to walk on walls and ceilings like Spider-Man, albeit on two feet. He also utilizes Shadowstep, which allows him to teleport short distances by transforming into a moving shadow. In the cathedral, he searches nearby Frescoes painted on the ceiling, looking for a clue as to the whereabouts of St. Mihia’s crypt, which houses a sword he’s after.
After a bit more exploration, Coen fights off some enemies using his claws. It’s fast, visceral, and extremely gory, with dismemberment galore. He also uses Voracious Bite to suck their blood and regain some health. Rebel Wolves says this is useful in battle but even more effective outside of combat. Rebel Wolves also uses this encounter to show off the options to switch between a far and close camera in combat (and a separate option to customize this viewpoint in exploration, too).
We eventually reach the crypt, and this portion of the demo ends.
In the daytime version of the quest, Coen is unable to tap into his vampiric abilities, so he must investigate things more closely. To keep it somewhat spoiler-free, instead of climbing walls and ceilings and Shadowstepping to different platforms, Coen speaks with a local monk and agrees to help them find a missing person. This leads him to an abandoned portion of an asylum, and it turns out the person he’s after has become The Almshouse Monstrosity. This person is neither undead nor alive, stuck in the transition from human to vampire, and their mind is essentially gone, driven by an instinctual desire for blood.
In this form of combat, Coen uses a sword instead of claws, and it’s here that the game looks most like The Witcher. However, Rebel Wolves is doing some interesting things here. Combat features directional blocking, like what’s seen in the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, and magic, too. After defeating this monstrosity, Coen uses the Compel Soul hex to speak with a corpse and learn what happened in this asylum. This corpse yields some useful information that eventually takes Coen to the same crypt from the conclusion of the nighttime demo, except this time, Rebel Wolves showcases what happens next. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s an awesome boss fight against an undead warrior, and it’s clear you’ll need to tap into all of Coen’s abilities to come out victorious.
Our demo ended here, and a day later, I’m voracious for more. It just looks awesome, and a great score heightens the entire experience. Like The Witcher, the score in Dawnwalker relies heavily on a high-pitched female chorus, and it rules. I can’t wait to hear more of this and see more of the vampires that run this part of the world when The Blood of the Dawnwalker launches sometime next year.
