There’s a lot to be said about the rise and continued popularity of dark-fantasy RPGs. With the modern landscape spearheaded in part by games like Dark Souls and The Witcher, we’ve seen a wealth of creativity from established and indie studios alike.
That’s where Rebel Wolves comes in specifically, having splintered off from CD Projekt RED with the goal of making something unique. This has since been manifested in an all-new game called The Blood of Dawnwalker, which is planned for launch on current-generation platforms.
While we caught a glimpse of the title earlier this year, Bandai Namco and Rebel Wolves recently set aside some time to give us a better look at The Blood of Dawnwalker ahead of Gamescom and its release in 2026.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is selling itself as an open-world, fantasy RPG set in a dreary medieval Europe – one that is very story-focused with the core theme of vampirism at night and humanity during the day.
It’s set in the year 1347 AD in a valley located somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains known as Vale Sangora. It’s here an opening cutscene draws open the curtain, where a man, soon to be our main character, runs away with a sickly child until he is surrounded and eventually saved by a mysterious group of vampires.
We learn that the Plague has been decimating Europe, and in this world, a group of vampires have decided to take control of the area because of it.
The demo then kicks into high gear by dropping the lead character, Coen, straight into a lived-in world with one goal: he must save his family. And this is evident why in the opening we saw, though there’s been a bit of a skip to keep some of the story fresh here.
While Coen has this overall goal, it’s not necessarily a race against the clock. The Blood of Dawnwalker operates in a manner where time will move forward at a cost depending on your actions and quests taken, and it will let you know when that is taking place before committing to anything as time is a very specific resource. This is marked by an hourglass symbol on screen.
Coen’s first task that we get to see involves infiltrating a cathedral, and the interesting part about all of this is that the experience will differ depending on if it’s day or night. Much of this is clearly marked with sun or moon icons on the user interface to let you know if a quest can only be undertaken during their respective time periods.
Starting out at night, Coen has to sneak his way in using his vampiric abilities and can do so to reach hard-to-reach places and get around locked doors. For example, making use of the scaffolding is a clever way to avoid enemies and offers up a path into the cathedral without getting caught.
Coen has the ability to scan his environment, which is important to sus out clues and figure out where to go next. After doing a little bit of investigation, we’re taken around to show off some combat, which can be dynamic depending on player preference.
One of the main abilities Coen can use at night is his vampiric claws to slash and attack enemies. He can also make use of an ability called Voracious Bite to drain enemies of their blood to replenish his health.
Coen can also fight swiftly using a sword, and this is notable because the team did make adjustments following some initial feedback from the reveal trailer. Specifically, new camera options have been added for both exploration and combat. Want the camera further or closer? It’s up to you.
This element of choice is prevalent throughout The Blood of Dawnwalker. It’s being touted as a “narrative sandbox” because there's a lot of ways you can tackle each and every story thread.
The flipside of this coin lies in the dual gameplay loop. While Coen can operate as a vampire during the night, in day he is a human who has different skills and weaknesses. His method of combat during the day requires a little more blocking, and you can use stamina to simplify things through the addition of an auto-combo feature to keep the battle flowing.
The Blood of Dawnwalker features a skill tree to help customize Coen, with several sets of perks depending on if he’s human or vampire. There’s also some shared perks that operate between both night and day.
But to illustrate the real difference in his humanity, the demo took us back to the cathedral, to where we were able to walk right in instead of sneaking around. This means Coen has the opportunity to talk to other NPCs here and gain access to quests, interact with dialogue choices, and uncover more of the story.
We saw a bit of a side quest here, following clues on a caretaker using the same investigation modes as before. One element that helps pinpoint where to look are colored moths, as they indicate something is important, and that feels key when it comes to parsing through an open world.
Coen can also use magic during the day such as necromancy. Once such example had him compelling a dead soul to collect more information. He can also gather what’s called catalysts, which provide further context during these investigations.
Eventually Coen makes his way down to a crypt, and the demo culminates in a boss fight, which is the outcome of all of the clues gathered from the cathedral to that particular point. What’s interesting is this quest could have been completed at night as well, but it would of course change the story.
We’re certainly keen to dig in with the full game and see where all the different alternative paths go. The developers at Rebel Wolves have also confirmed with us that everything you do in The Blood of Dawnwalker will ultimately have its consequences, so it’ll be interesting to see just how many different endings and combinations there truly is, and how much weight the narrative has when the game launches in 2026.
TechRaptor was invited to a hands-off preview for The Blood of Dawnwalker by the publisher.
Previews you can trust: To ensure you're getting a fair, accurate, and informed review, our experienced team spends a significant amount of time on everything we preview. Read more about how we review games and products.
