The Blood Of Dawnwalker

I for sure didnt expect the blood of Dawnwalker to become one of my favorite vampire games ever, but here we are!! this game has a lot of problems and some things that really made me tired during the first half, but once i started focusing on the actual story and quests i understood what this game was trying to do and ended up loving it. the first thing that caught my attention is how much this game reminds me of The Witcher 3. the graphics, the interface, some of the music and even the general atmosphere gave me Witcher vibes right from the beginning, and honestly thats already a huge compliment in my book. you can really feel that some of the people behind this game have experience making that kind of RPG. but the experience at the beginning is VERY different from what the game becomes around the middle and especially the final part. at first you get this huge open world filled with icons, activities and things to do everywhere and a lot of them are repetitive. camps, enemies, supplies, clearing areas, going from one place to another.. it started feeling like i was playing a Far Cry or Assassin's Creed open world with that repetitive Ubisoft formula and after doing the same kind of activities for hours i was honestly getting tired of it. once i explored basically the entire map, though, i stopped caring about all those little activities and started focusing almost entirely on the quests. THATS when the game finally clicked for me!! the Blood of dawnwalker is kind of a sandbox RPG because there isnt really a traditional main campaign in the way you would normally expect. your basic objective is to take down the three generals and eventually defeat the vampire who took control of the city, but you can approach that however you want. you can technically rush toward the final confrontation and skip a huge amount of the story if thats what you want. because of that, almost every quest feels like a secondary quest, but some of those "secondary" quests are actually where the best writing in the entire game is hiding. you explore the world, discover characters and unlock entire story arcs that can become incredibly good. the vampire Lacra's story is one of my favorites and honestly one of the most memorable parts of the whole game. the rebel storyline against the vampires is also really interesting and i especially loved the story of the vampire who refuses to drink human blood and spill innocent blood, while struggling against his own demons. THOSE are the moments that make Dawnwalker feel much closer to The Witcher in terms of storytelling. the characters, the atmosphere, the choices and the way these stories develop can be genuinely amazing. i just wish there was MUCH more of this in the game because these arcs are so good that they make the repetitive open world feel completely worth exploring. i also think the villains were a missed opportunity. each of the three generals basically gets one proper quest where you confront them after disrupting their operations around the map, and for me that simply wasnt enough. i wanted more scenes with them, more interactions and more story before actually fighting them. Ambrus is a perfect example. he reminded me a little of Lestat and i really wanted to see MUCH more of him. instead, most of what we learn about him comes through lore and a relatively quick quest. i would have loved an entire story arc around him because there was clearly a lot more potential there. but outside of those problems, this game is wonderful. the freedom you have as a vampire is honestly insane. it reminded me a little of Vampyr in the sense of being a vampire in an RPG, but the freedom here is on another level. you can climb mountains, climb buildings, move around the world in all kinds of crazy ways and use your vampire abilities to reach places and deal with enemies differently. you can even turn into a wolf and run around the map much faster which is just fun as hell. the combat also took me some time to appreciate. at first i thought it was kinda boring and clunky, but once i understood how everything worked it became surprisingly addictive. eventually the fights started feeling much more dynamic and satisfying, especially once you have more vampire abilities and start combining everything together. i also really liked the day and night system. at night you get access to your vampire powers, while during the day you can use witchcraft and magic instead. i thought this was a really cool idea because it makes the two halves of the game feel different and sometimes it can even affect quests and exploration. its a simple mechanic but it adds a lot to the vampire fantasy. the characters are also generally really good and i liked seeing how some of your choices can change the final confrontation. i did 6 different endings and this was probably one of the most interesting things for me. the ending itself is, in a way, always heading toward the same general outcome, but the FINAL MISSION can change A LOT depending on your choices. for example, when you try to face Brencis alone, you get a completely different experience with different things happening and different cutscenes compared to fighting him together with Lacra. and if you fight him with the rebels, the final mission changes again and gives you completely different situations. so even though the ultimate outcome is generally similar, the interesting part is everything that happens during that final confrontation. you get new scenes, new information and even learn more about the world and where the story could go in future games. thats where the game's ingenuity really is for me. its not necessarily about giving you six completely different endings. its about making the journey toward that ending different enough that you actually want to replay it and see what happens if you make different choices. the 30 day mechanic was probably my least favorite thing, though. i understand why its there and what the developers were trying to do, since the idea is basically to make you choose what to experience during each playthrough instead of seeing everything in one run. but im the kind of person who wants to explore EVERYTHING and complete as much content as possible in my first playthrough lol. so i used a mod to increase the number of days from 30 to 90 and honestly it was perfect for me. i explored the entire map, did all the quests and basically completed everything i wanted in around 40 in-game days. so you can absolutely enjoy a lot of the game within the normal limit, but if youre like me and want to see every corner of the map and do every quest in one playthrough, i definitely recommend increasing the days. i also liked that day and night arent just cosmetic. they actually change what abilities you can use and how you approach certain situations, which makes the world feel more alive. overall, The blood of dawnwalker is a fantastic vampire RPG and easily one of the best vampire games available right now, if not the best one for me. its not perfect and the repetitive open-world activities could definitely have been reduced in favor of more story arcs like Lacra, the rebels and the other vampires. but when the game focuses on its characters, quests, choices and vampire worldbuilding, it REALLY shines. i loved the freedom, the vampire powers, the exploration, the atmosphere, the characters and especially the way the final confrontation changes depending on your decisions. the story arcs are what gave this game its soul for me. a few parts made me tired, but the good parts were REALLY good and completely worth it. sooo if you love vampires, RPGs, dark fantasy and The Witcher style storytelling, this is absolutely a game you should play. one of the best releases of this year for me and a hell of a game overall!!

Loved this game. Didn't get bored for a single minute and enjoyed every side quests. The combat is awesome, and personally, I liked the night combat more. The narrative is also really good. It actually feels like you're playing to rescue your family....You can feel the Witcher DNA in this game My only issue is the skill tree. Spending skill points also consumes time, which doesn't make much sense to me. Because of this mechanic, adding a proper respec system would be impossible. The time management can feel punishing during the prologue, but after that I managed to complete around 95% of the side content and still had 5 days left before the final boss. Sadly, on day 29, with just one day left to beat the final boss, my laptop's GPU decided to cooked itself. So I can't finish the game for now. I'll update this review once I get a new PC and get to see the ending. Until then, it's time for some small indie or pixelated games that my integrated GPU can handle xD For me, it's a 9/10 game. UPDATE: Completed the game using a cloud gaming subscription. finally got to see the ending, and excited for the sequel!

I honestly started this game quite blind. I wishlisted it when it was announced but didn’t pay much attention, the “new IP from former big-studio veterans” trope often ends up mediocre (looking at you, Back 4 Blood). I waited for release and the first reviews. Overall this is a solid AA game. Almost every system has something good or even great, but you can clearly see the AA limitations. It’s not perfect and has its issues, yet it’s never bad. As a package it works. You can feel the former CDPR veterans’ experience from the start (I had just begun replaying The Witcher 3), but where that game feels polished and streamlined, Dawnwalker is more uneven. Its peaks are excellent, the flaws easier to spot. It’s like a pretty lake on a hot day: inviting and refreshing, but a bit shallow. The most polarizing mechanic is time. Every day is split into day and night, each with 8 time units. Meaningful actions, quests, some activities, even leveling, advance the clock. After the prologue you get 30 days and nights for the main goal. Missing the deadline isn’t a game over, but the pressure is real. This creates a lot of friction, especially for completionists. You either adapt or decide it’s not for you. It isn’t perfect. Spending time on skill unlocks and empty chests feels particularly lame. The early hours can feel overwhelming, but eventually you learn to manage your time and accept you can’t do everything. There’s still plenty to experience in one playthrough. Exploration thankfully doesn’t cost time, the world is huge, handcrafted, and worth wandering, though running around early on gets tiring without movement skills. The game is clearly built for multiple playthroughs (New Game+ is planned but by the time I wrote this review isn't implemented yet). You play as Coen, a peasant who becomes a Dawnwalker, human by day, vampire by night. Daytime relies on sword and witchcraft; at night you become stronger and faster but need/crave blood. Skills split into swordsmanship, witchcraft, and vampirism (the strongest). Combat mixes The Witcher 3’s feel, movement and the use of magic with simpler directional attacks inspired by Kingdom Come. It feels awkward at first but clicks once you get used to it and invest in skills. Flaws include enemies politely taking turns, camera issues, getting stuck on terrain, and especially level scaling, high-level trash mobs become spongy annoyances. Day/night differences are biggest in combat and movement, and some quests are time-of-day locked, which lets you plan smartly.Most choices have consequences and the morality is nicely fuzzy (reminiscent of The Witcher 2). The world and majority of quests are interesting, with standouts like Anca’s questline. Dialogue can feel uneven in tone, and world reactivity is limited, NPCs barely react to blatant vampire powers. There’s an infamy system with Brencis’ court, but not much beyond direct quest consequences. The near-total lack of stealth also feels like a missed opportunity for a night stalker creature you are. Music, sound, and English voice acting are strong and very Witcher-like. Visually it’s pretty but uneven (good models, mixed animations and textures). Performance is the usual UE5 story: not unplayable, but I had a post-prologue crash and VRAM spikes with particles on Linux/Proton. Patches have helped, but UE5 is still UE5. In summary, I expected a mediocre Witcher 3 clone and found something better: an imperfect game made with real experience, an engaging world, and the courage to use bold limiting mechanics. That ambition deserves respect. I really enjoyed The Blood of Dawnwalker. It’s a good game, and even better foundations for a potentially great saga. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3804766917