The Blood of Dawnwalker Is the Most Freeing RPG I've Ever Played

In a reality vastly different from Coen's happy memory, his home in Vale Sangora has been taken over by a ruthless new ruler: Brencis. Exchanging one morally questionable lord for another may seem like a fairly neutral deal, were it not for the fact that Brencis is also a powerful vampire who (literally) drains his people. Though his blood has saved Vale Sangora from the plague, Brencis proves he's no savior when he turns Coen into a vampire and kidnaps his family to be sacrificed in 30 days. Let me tell you this, Brencis: you've just angered the wrong peasant.

As a narrative-driven game set in a medieval fantasy world ravaged by monsters, made by a team full of former CD Projekt Red developers, featuring a protagonist who looks like he was birthed by Geralt of Rivia himself, comparing The Blood of Dawnwalker to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is unavoidable. Normally I'd consider it almost unfair, but in this case, the comparison proves The Blood of Dawnwalker's quality. As a fan of The Witcher 3, I awaited Coen's adventure with excitement and severe apprehension, thinking I'd be satisfied if it came somewhat close to my time with Geralt, but I dared not wish for it to surpass the latter... And yet, in some ways, it does.

At the moment of writing, I'm 18 hours into my main playthrough and have spent about 12 hours replaying quests for narrative comparisons, but honestly, this game had me in the first hour. After introducing the main problem (mom needs medicine) and dropping me in a confined section of the open world, Dawnwalker's prologue gave me an excellent taste of what the game is all about. I could explore to my heart's content, chase objectives in different ways, befriend people, make enemies, and influence the narrative through dialogue and actions. I could even do nothing at all; freedom at its finest. Having gone back and forth between my save files, I can assure you that some choices, including non-choices, may have truly harrowing consequences.

Though I wouldn't go as far as to proclaim Dawnwalker's narrative better than The Witcher 3's, the quests reach a level of immersion and interconnectedness I've rarely seen before. Instead of a traditional main quest line, Dawnwalker saddles the player with a single goal: to rescue Coen's family. How he does it, or where he starts, is completely up to you. You can even knock on the Brencis's front door straight after the prologue (here's a tip: Don't do it). It sounds chaotic, but The Blood of Dawnwalker makes it work because every quest seems somehow related to the greater narrative.

I've found useful friends, obtained powerful allies, weakened Brencis's vassals, and uncovered key information leading to a legendary silver sword (you heard that right; I'm about to fight monsters with a silver sword). Since there's no set quest order, you can encounter the same quest in different ways, achieve the same goal through different quests, and find a situation altered depending on the quests you've taken. It felt rewarding to stumble upon a couple I'd saved a few hours earlier, in a different location during a different mission. And when I heard an NPC mention an affliction I'd encountered in a previous quest, I was delighted to hear Coen point that out, even though the quests had no chronological connection.

Naturally, a complex quest system would be no good without engaging characters, fascinating locations, and unexpected events. Luckily, The Blood of Dawnwalker has them in abundance. In the first hours of Coen's adventure, I've visited a secret village of mountain giants, befriended a member of Brencis's court (surprisingly nice chap), beaten a blind man (don't worry, we're friends now), and committed a heinous murder by releasing an undead horde onto a band of trapped soldiers. Immoral? Yes. Unforgettable? Also yes!

Although the most memorable moments are reserved for larger quests, I was surprised to find Dawnwalker's smaller activities enhanced with narrative tidbits. There are many ways to sabotage Brencis's reign through tiny quests like "intercept the prisoner transport" and "defeat the camp guards," but unwilling to spend time on menial tasks, I ignored them for a while (I've got the freedom to do so, after all). When I finally caved and freed some prisoners for the first time, they didn't just run off without another word; instead, the grandpa I rescued started thrashing my swordfighting skills before inviting me to his home for a proper lesson. When I cleared my first bandit camp a while later, an overeager dolt emerged from a barrel to explain his plan of forming a one-man army against vampire rule. When I rescued a farmer from a boar attack, he had the guts to whine about the smelly entrails I'd spilled on his field. These encounters are no more than brief dialogue scenes, yet they've made me eager to partake in the anti-vampire guerrilla and see what happens next.

The one feature that truly makes questing in The Blood of Dawnwalker special, however, is the time management system. In Dawnwalker, in-game time isn't tied to real-time; it doesn't move forward automatically as you play. Instead, the game features a day/night cycle chopped into small segments ("turns," if you will). Certain key actions, such as fighting a battle, talking to an NPC, investigating a crypt, or upgrading skills, advance time forward by one or more time segments.

When I first heard about this system, I worried that "managing" my activities according to their time cost would harm my ability to freely enjoy the story. In reality, it works wonders for my immersion. Usually, when I play an open-world RPG, I follow the main story for an hour at most, and then I forget all about it while I'm off doing a bazillion other things. Ciri? Who's that? Zelda's missing? I'll check in an hour or 50. A mad dragon is about to destroy the world? I really couldn't care less. But in Dawnwalker, I've met Coen's family, I've felt his despair, and I've only got 30 days to save them. Knowing every time segment brings me closer to their moment of doom, every action I take must bring me closer to victory.

So, when an old friend of Coen's dad asked me to chop some wood and get rid of the local wolves, what would've been an easy task in any other game became a dilemma: Is this worth my time? What do I get out of it? In The Blood of Dawnwalker, completing quests on autopilot is not an option.

And yet, the time system doesn't feel oppressive. In fact, knowing I can spend infinite amounts of time exploring the world without advancing in-game time is incredibly freeing. As the time cost is always displayed beforehand, it's always a deliberate choice — I can even do something else while I think it over. On top of that, time isn't too scarce; there are 16 segments per cycle, which makes 480 segments before Coen's family is killed, leaving plenty of room for a few dalliances (read: flirtations with a pretty herbalist). Although I was slightly put off when I discovered that spending skill points (gained by leveling up) also takes time, it feels natural that every step toward defeating Brencis should come at a cost. Otherwise, I could just run into a forest, slay wolves, level up, spend all my skill points, and become overpowered with 30 days left on the calendar.

The time system is more than a deadline on the horizon, though; it also changes Coen's nature. Unlike regular vampires, Coen is a "Dawnwalker," which means he's a vampire at night and human during the day. Or perhaps I should say he's a "witch" during the day, as he has an arsenal of spells and hexes at his disposal. As Coen is strongest in vampire form, I do feel somewhat bound to focus on strengthening his vampiric powers over witchcraft, using nighttime for dangerous missions while reserving daytime hours mainly for conversations and skill upgrades. Though I'm happy enough with this arrangement, Coen's human form could've been more interesting, perhaps by giving him powers beyond combat, such as additional dialogue options.

That said, I was happy to find that nighttime isn't necessarily the best time to do quests. Apart from the fact that vampiric Coen can devour important NPCs if he runs out of blood, daytime typically offers more non-violent ways to reach the same goal. I've replayed a couple of quests both in day and nighttime, and the experience was vastly different; where I relied on stealth and bloodshed during the night, I needed nothing but polite conversation and a few smart dialogue choices during the day. The difference keeps the gameplay fresh, and stops me from skipping daytime activities.

The Blood of Dawnwalker's main weakness is its combat system, which is built around directional blocking. If you press the guard button while aiming in the right direction, blocking won't consume stamina and you get the chance to counter. I don't dislike this system, but the constant block-attack-block sequence gets a little stale after a while. Using vampiric, witchcraft, and swordsman skills spruces it up a bit, but I wish there was more need for strategy. As it stands, you can defeat any opponent, no matter their abilities or your own setup, as long as you're good at directional blocking.

I assure you that Brencis isn't holding my family captive as I say this, but I don't really mind the combat system's weaknesses. I'm playing The Blood of Dawnwalker for the stories, the choices, and the atmosphere, not the action. As I haven't exhausted my 30 days yet, I can't comment on the long-term impact of my choices, nor do I know what Brencis will do when he eventually becomes aware of my intention to kill him, but so far, my time in Dawnwalker has been spectacular. Yes, it's reminiscent of The Witcher 3 in terms of storytelling, but The Blood of Dawnwalker is far too innovative to stay in Geralt's shadow. Now, let me get back to bothering Brencis — honestly great sportsmanship on his end, to allow me those 30 days.