The Blood Of Dawnwalker
A 30-day clock ticks every quest you take; by day a Witcher-style swordsman, by night a vampire burning powers to save your family.
A 30-hour day counter forces you to sacrifice half the map's quests — the RPG to buy if you want choices with teeth, skip if you need to see it all.
For you if
- You played Lightning Returns and want its countdown pressure in a dark fantasy RPG.
- For Honor-style directional combat with Witcher pacing sounds like your nightly loop.
- You want a 35-hour RPG that respects your time instead of padding to 60.
Not for you if
- You need to clear every side quest in one playthrough.
- Stiff facial animations and launch-week jank break your immersion.
- AA-budget scope with Mass Effect-style hub choices doesn't scratch your itch.
The day-counter time system is what 80-hour fans won't stop talking about — every NPC quest slot competes against the main plot.
Early-game duelist difficulty has 70-hour players flagging combat timing as the wall — enemy animations take 10+ hours to read clean.
Media
Community pulse
Sentiment trending upUpdated 6h agoVampire fantasy hooks Bloodlines veterans
Dialogue options finally flow like conversation
1M copies sold in three days
Combat and open world feel undercooked
What's happening now
Updated 16m agoPost-launch hotfixes have cooled off as players debate the divisive time mechanic and await October's big patch.
- Hotfix 1.0.5 landed September 10, following four rapid post-launch patches
- 1 million copies sold confirmed September 9
- Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says the divisive time mechanic may not return in a sequel
- Big patch with new difficulty option and combat targeting changes scheduled for early October
- Budget confirmed at $45m after former NetEase investor's defense
- Former NetEase investor Simon Zhu reveals $45m budget, calls it AAA by Polish standards
- Director outlines early October big patch: new difficulty option, combat targeting changes, easier battle escapes
- Director says divisive time-limit mechanic won't necessarily return in a sequel
- Patch series 1.0 (4 builds, Sep 3–Sep 10)
- The Blood of Dawnwalker passes 1 million copies sold
- Between the Vampires dev talk with Will De Renzy-Martin and another voice actor
- The Blood of Dawnwalker launches into Vale Sangora
- One day until launch
What they're asking
Updated 15m ago- ✳New
Should I hold off buying The Blood Of Dawnwalker until the October patch hits?
Hold off — director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirmed the early-October update adds an ultra-easy difficulty, combat targeting and stun reworks (stuns now need three hits), and FPS fixes. Buying now means living with the current build for a few weeks.
- ✳New
Is the current combat tight enough to enjoy now, or should I wait for the October targeting changes?
Wait — Game Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has targeting, camera, and stun-break (three hits) overhauls plus FPS optimizations landing in the early October patch, so buying now means playing the pre-fix build.
Before You Play
Refreshed 6 days agoIs The Blood of Dawnwalker buggy at launch, or should you wait for patches?
The launch version shipped with significant PC problems — Rebel Wolves issued workarounds for four main PC issues, while the console versions landed more smoothly. An emergency Hotfix 1.0.4 rolled out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 9, 2026, fixing quest progression blockers, save issues, crashes, and FPS drops. Reviews at launch still noted rough performance: Tom's Guide called it "one patch away from greatness," and VGC said performance issues hold the game back. If you're on PC, installing 1.0.4 or later addresses the worst of the blockers.
Source: Kotaku
Which difficulty should a new player pick in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
Start on Fair, which keeps all character and enemy stats at their default values and gives a balanced run through the directional-duel combat. Choose Story if you mainly want the narrative rather than the fights, and you can change your selection at any time during a playthrough, so no pick is permanent. The four presets are Story, Fair, Challenging, and Duelist.
Source: TimeSaver Blog
Does The Blood Of Dawnwalker have too much filler or pad out its playtime?
Reviews disagree. VGC's Jordan Middler calls it a focused RPG with strong writing and no filler, while TechSwitchCF's Charles E. Dabbs says too much open-world filler and weak combat drag down the experience. The split comes down to the hard 30-day, 30-night clock described by playze.io, which caps the story and charges you for exploring.
Source: VGC Review
Do I need to play The Blood of Dawnwalker's predecessors first to enjoy the story?
No. The Blood of Dawnwalker is Rebel Wolves' debut title, so there are no predecessors to play. The game is set in a grim version of 14th-century Europe and follows Coen, a young man transformed into a Dawnwalker, and the narrative director describes it as a player-driven story built around identity, hunger, and consequence. A teaser trailer shows Coen in a modern 21st-century setting, pointing toward where the overarching plot leads.
Source: Wikipedia
Is there meaningful content in The Blood of Dawnwalker after the main story ends?
The Blood of Dawnwalker's 30-day in-game timer expires whether or not you rescue Coen's family, and letting it run out is its own outcome rather than a post-game state. There are five distinct endings to unlock before the timer elapses, and PC Gamer breaks down each one plus secret endings and all epilogue outcomes. Because the countdown resolves the story rather than opening a free-roam phase, the meaningful content is the ending branches you can still reach on a fresh run.
Source: PC Gamer Endings Guide
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