The Blood of Dawnwalker Review (PS5 Pro)

Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of Dawnwalker is led by former developers of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, with the studio aptly describing themselves as “A studio born out of love for RPGs”. After spending 20+ hours in the world of the ambitious RPG, The Blood of the Dawnwalker, that description feels like a perfect fit. Not without its shortfalls, Dawnwalker treads the RPG genre through familiar waters while telling the story of a valiant and extremely likeable hero, Coen.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is set in the 14th century in a fictional region called Vale Sangora, currently encumbered by the plague and ruled by the Vrakhiri (vampires) and their antagonising leader, Brencis. Coen, our main protagonist, lives in a small town, Laslea, in the northern part of the region with his parents and siblings, his mother afflicted with a neurological impediment.

Brencis visits Laslea each month to take blood from the villagers, killing anyone he deems weak or obsolete to his cause. After Coen’s mother fails to compose herself during the blood collection, an altercation begins between Coen and Brencis, putting the entire village of Laslea in disarray.

At the end of the prologue, Coen becomes a Dawnwalker – a human-Vrakhiri hybrid, allowing him to remain human during daylight and forcing him to take Vrakhiri form at night. Brencis takes Coen’s family as prisoners, using them as sacrifices for his coronation at the end of the month, giving Coen 30 days and 30 nights to save his family.

Coen is a formidable protagonist, one that you really grow attached to and want to learn more about. The cast in The Blood of Dawnwalker brings tremendous performances with them, but Will de Renzy-Martin’s range as Coen is award-worthy.

The core gameplay centres around the duality of Coen’s Dawnwalker state and time management. Time passes by completing quests, spending skill points, and even by choosing a dialogue option that requires Coen to be preoccupied a little longer. It is a delicate balance to manage time in this game. Some quests can only be accessed during the day, others at night. I found having to prioritise certain activities – completing ones that wouldn’t pass time before I complete the ones that do. It’s one of my favourite features of The Blood of Dawnwalker, but also one I was reserved about prior to playing the game. It’s definitely possible not to worry about the time passing, as I completed the game with 12 days remaining with no difficulty issues.

Coen is equipped with standard RPG mechanics such as a levelling system, skill points, magic, weapons and armour. He is, however, able to utilise three different skill trees – Witchcraft, Swordmastery, and Vampirism. The amount of skills available far exceeds the amount of points you will have available during your playthrough, encouraging players to build Coen their way. Learning and upgrading skills requires not only skill points, but Books that can be found through questlines and looting.

Traversing the world as a human is a straightforward affair. Coen is a skilled swordsman who can cut down enemies or hex them using witchcraft. As a Vrakhiri at night, Coen can climb buildings, shadow step across roofs, and take down enemies using his claws and vampiric abilities – all while maintaining control over his blood thirst. I genuinely could not decide which form I liked playing the most.

The combat definitely took me a while to synergise with. Coen, in both forms, can block enemies’ attacks depending on the direction the attack is coming from, indicated with an arrow. After unlocking additional abilities and stronger weapons and armour, plus some time with the game, the combat grew on me, and I always looked forward to the next fight.

What I found remarkable is how non-linear the game becomes post-prologue. The only main quest you are given is to save your family. What you do before that is up to you. Different scenarios can occur by completing quests in different orders. For instance, I helped some lovely Uriasi (goat people) in the main city of Svartrau. Later on during a different questline, I encountered more Urisasi who recognised that I had helped a friend of theirs earlier on, enabling a more peaceful scenario to occur. It is impressive how the world feels alive in that aspect, and that not only do your choices matter, but the sequence of events matters just as much.

One thing I look for in an RPG is meaningful sidequests, and while The Blood of Dawnwalker misses the mark here sometimes, I was enthralled by many of the sidequests which feature some strong cast members. Some forced emotion out of me, others sheer determination.

The map is filled with POIs and question marks which can be filtered on the map. These include beasts to slay, Brencis’ deputies’ outposts, shrines, and more. A lot of these felt identical to each other towards the end of the game; I wish there were a little more variety in enemy types, as I did feel a bit combat fatigued by the time the credits rolled.

I played The Blood of Dawnwalker at 40 FPS for my entire playthrough as the 60FPS patch was not live prior to launch; however, I rarely had performance or graphical issues apart from a few glitchy lighting effects. Coen dismembering soldiers was like watching a hot knife through butter. The game looks fantastic on PS5 Pro. The landscapes are breathtaking, and the cutscenes and character models look excellent thanks to the PlayStation 5 Pro’s visual enhancements.

My concern for The Blood of Dawnwalker is that it’s hard not to expect the same level of depth and finesse that The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt had when it launched. If players are going into this expecting The Witcher 3 2.0, they may be slightly disappointed. The Blood of Dawnwalker, in my opinion, holds its own but may be stuck in The Witcher 3’s shadow. Regardless, I am, and you should be, eager to see just what Rebel Wolves can accomplish in the future of the Dawnwalker series.