While you could automate the blocking, you risk missing out on what Konrad Tomaszkiewicz believes is an experience akin to Guitar Hero. As absurd as that sounds, he told Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar) that it’s a bit similar, “where at first you cannot hit the right button, and later you’re playing these really difficult songs.”

“When you start to get used to the directional combat, it’s so cool that we believe most people will play this way.” Of course, as daunting as it initially seems, there are indicators to help guide the player. Those who seek a greater challenge can always turn them off, paying closer attention to an enemy and parrying accordingly.

You could also cut loose with vampiric abilities, including a scream that can stun enemies for precious seconds. They’re not available during the daytime, naturally, but that’s where Hexes come in, evening the odds. That is, if you decide to spec into them. After all, even upgrading your abilities will advance the time, reducing the amount available for Coen to save his family.

Even with so much revealed for The Blood of Dawnwalker, it’s interesting to see how much Rebel Wolves hasn’t showcased. The open-world action RPG launches on September 3rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out 15 major differences between it and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Yes, the influences are certainly there, but they’re far subtler than you might expect. In fact, The Blood of Dawnwalker seems more interested in establishing its own identity than imitating its inspirations. So, how exactly does it set itself apart? While it notably shares a director with The Witcher 3, there is much more separating the two, and we’re eager to explain why this is one of our most anticipated games. Let’s begin, starting with:

1. Coen’s Inner Duality Vs. Geralt’s Singular Role

Coen and Geralt may share a superhuman label and the fact that they’ve been mutated unnaturally, but the similarities end there. Geralt’s a Witcher, created to deal with a monster threat that’s almost faded by the time we get to join him on his search for Ciri in The Wild Hunt. He stays that way throughout the game, his combat prowess and proficiency with the signs remaining his only tools apart from a keen mind and even sharper senses.

Coen’s a vraakhiri, meaning he’s human by day and a vampire by night. It’s a distinction that lends him a distinct identity expressed over varying playstyles that are meant to blend in with the game’s time mechanics. His duality is woven into the gameplay and story, and is among the pillars of Dawnwalker’s experience overall.

2. Dynamic Day/Night Cycles Vs. Largely Environmental Cycles

Yes, the days pass you by as you ride around on Roach in The Witcher 3, but they don’t really impact your moment-to-moment gameplay other than to influence NPC routing and perhaps a few monster hunts and quests. Geralt’s core toolkit, however, was largely consistent irrespective of whether he was using it in a desperate battle for survival in the day or night.

On the other hand, Coen’s going to rely on his sword if he runs into trouble in the daytime, while his vampiric claws and teeth make him a more potent threat at night. Of course, there are downsides you’re going to have to contend with in either form, but that’s what makes them so distinct, and why choosing when to approach quests matters as much as it does in this one.

3. Directional Swordplay Vs. Traditional Light/Heavy Systems

Geralt was all about weaving in his light and heavy strikes with his use of options, signs, and a Witcher’s superior agility to stay one step ahead of his enemies. That’s a combat system that’s less about responding to specific directions of attacks and more about using your fluidity to stay moving and keep groups of enemies at bay with style.

Coen’s combat techniques are a bit more clinical, and you’re going to have to keep switching the direction of your sword strikes to keep your foes unaware of what you’re planning next, and more prone to mistakes in the process. Repeating attacks is inviting trouble in this one, and taking on too many enemies at once in your human form might not be the best approach to your goals.

4. Directional Parries Vs. Counters

An extension of Geralt’s proficiency with his blades was his ability to weave in a solid defence with an overwhelming offence. Your parries were a way to open up an enemy’s defences with good timing, allowing you to take them out of the fight with a brutal finisher. You did not, however, need to pay attention to the direction of an incoming attack, instead focusing on its swing to deflect it.

Coen relies on blocking his enemies’ attacks from the direction they’re coming to him from, allowing him to use an efficient parry instead of a block that’s going to drain his stamina in exchange for basic defence. You’re going to have to pay attention to what your foes are doing in Dawnwalker and try to gauge where their attacks are going to come from to set yourself up for success.

5. Multiple Toolkits Vs. A Witcher’s Comprehensive Arsenal

If, like us, you liked to take your time and prepare for your monster hunts in The Witcher 3, you know that Geralt has a whole arsenal of systems working to give him distinct advantages in a fight that he prepares for. Potions, oils, your own build, your weapons, and signs all existed to make Geralt the only hero the Continent needed against the Wild Hunt, and rightly so.

Coen, however, has his sword and blood-based witchcraft as a human, while his vampiric claws, teeth, feeding mechanic, and supernatural abilities make him an entirely different fighter at night even as he retains the ability to wield his sword. That’s a great way to encourage adaptability among players while also weaving in those distinctions into the day/night and time-based systems.

6. Varying Approaches To Traversal

Geralt had Roach and a signpost-based fast travel system in place to help him get around, while a single expensive ferry ride unlocked the Skellige Isles where boats were viable ways of crossing vast swathes of water. All of those were great ways to help bridge large gaps across the Continent, a sprawling map that fit the experience on offer in The Witcher 3.

Of course, Coen’s time in Vale Sangora is a more focused story, and as such, getting around is largely on foot, although he does get that nifty Shadowstep ability and the ability to use walls as movable surfaces as a vampire. There’s also the ability to transform into a wolf to get around faster if you so desire, but it’s a far cry from the conventional yet varied options that Geralt had at his disposal.

7. More Choices, More Outcomes

The choice-based approach to quests might seem very familiar to those of you who found yourself speaking in a low, gravelly voice as you made choices for Geralt that came back to haunt you, but we can tell you of one major difference in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Quests don’t just vary based on your choices, but on when you decide to take them on, with branching paths and outcomes based on the time of day and the approach you decide to take. Entire encounters could change if things line up favorably for either you or your prey, and it’s an expanded approach to what was on offer in The Witcher 3 that makes sense and could just work very well with the ticking clock that the story puts on the entire thing.

8. Different Approaches To Healing

Geralt relied on potions, food, and drink to keep his strength up, while a nifty auto-healing ability could be factored into your build to make him regain a fair amount of his health in between combat encounters without having to rely too much on your inventory. Of course, meditating for a few minutes on easier difficulties was a great way to trigger an auto-save and get back to full health pretty conveniently.

Dawnwalker switches that up, with Coen’s incessant hunger being a mechanic all on its own, and one that can adversely alter entire questlines if it’s not managed well enough by feeding on humans or animals. Of course, it’s a moment of vulnerability, so you’re going to have to be quite careful about healing and taking damage in general when you don’t have an endless amount of healing items to chomp down on.

9. Blood Hunger Vs. Toxicity

We were reminded of the Toxicity system when we got a closer look at Coen’s hunger mechanic in action. But where toxicity limiting Geralt’s use of potions was a way to ensure balance against enemies who he would otherwise tear through without even breaking a sweat, Coen’s Blood Hunger is different.

It influences his actual personality, making him a threat if he’s running low on fuel. It’s what risks putting entire questlines at jeopardy if you try talking to an NPC while he’s too hungry, which could lead to you finding no dialogue options and a cutscene of the NPC in question meeting a grisly end at Coen’s hands (or teeth).

10. Progression Across Forms Vs. Builds

For Geralt, expanding his toolkit involved adding combat skills, improving the utility of signs, alchemy buffs, and then mixing and matching to create a build that suited what you were going for and the gear you had at hand.

While the gear part could turn out to be similar for Coen, his progression comes from improving witchcraft, vampiric abilities, and sword skills that could overlap between both forms. Of course, that means you’re looking to spread your skill points effectively enough to be powerful both during the day and night, or perhaps specialized in either if you’re looking to play the story a certain way.

11. Stealing Abilities Vs. Point-Based Unlocks

In Dawnwalker, certain abilities are tied to vampiric mutations that you’re going to have to obtain by defeating the vampires that display them and draining them. That’s quite different from Geralt’s more methodical approach of gaining ability points to spend by either levelling up or tracking down Places of Power.

Mutagens were another layer to exploit for min-maxing, but Coen’s method of gaining new abilities is definitely more hands-on, eschewing the traditional approach for something more feral that befits a vampire.

12. Narrative Urgency

Geralt’s search for Ciri often took a backseat to games of Gwent, hunting down monsters, tracking down errant goats, or perhaps simply riding around on Roach hoping that the lass would just happen to turn up somewhere along the way. You could fail quests, yes, but there was a general air of relaxed exploration to the Continent that was there to make you wander and get lost in the magic of it all.

Vale Sangora doesn’t have that luxury, although its beauty isn’t disputed. Coen’s got 30 days to save his family, and that’s a deadline which is mechanically enforced by the choices you make along the way. The game’s built to have lasting consequences while also giving you the scope to keep moving forward, making it a journey that could be different every time you try it. The Witcher 3 does feel the same, but this one’s a ticking time bomb packed into a sandbox full of possibilities, and you’re the match that lights its fuse.

13. Time As A Resource

With all this talk of time and narrative urgency, you’re going to be pleased to know that simply exploring Vale Sangora isn’t going to chomp away at those 30 days that Coen has been given. Instead, it’s only quests and objectives that send the clock forward, making it impossible to experience everything the world has to offer you in one go.

Geralt’s time in The Continent was far more traditional in its approach to the passage of time, allowing it to be advanced through meditation but with quests, contracts, and optional activities completed at your leisure. The Wild Hunt were a credible threat, but also one that couldn’t really act until Ciri entered the mix, after all. And that was always in Geralt’s control when we look back at how smartly things were set up in that game.

14. No Quest Categories

The Continent was overwhelmingly full of things to do, and CDPR rightly implemented a tracking system for the many quests Geralt could pick up by simply interacting with the world around him. But that meant conventional divisions between the main story and side content, and a checklist-like approach to knocking things out of the way even as more stuff kept piling on.

Dawnwalker aims to cut through that bit of bloat by making multiple activities compete for the same limited pool of time, forcing you to make choices and live with the consequences. Everything you do is within the framework of a larger narrative that sends you inevitably on a path to Brencis’s stronghold for a confrontation, and anything you can get done to prepare the assault is important.

15. A Different Approach To Progression

Were you surprised about an early previewer stumbling on a way to get Coen to walk away from Vale Sangora, leaving his family behind, in just a few hours on a preview build? We’ve also been told it’s possible to just go for Brencis directly without setting things up for a final showdown, although that approach has its obvious allure.

You couldn’t immediately take on Eredin in The Wild Hunt, with the story being fixed along a path that would lead Geralt to the island where Ciri slumbered, unaware of what befell Avala’ch, and of the desperate search that Geralt and Yen had mounted for her. That’s quite a difference, and a showcase of how Dawnwalker is taking familiar facets of a game its makers are quite close to, and taking them in entirely new directions.

And that’s about it for this one. Coen’s got quite the reputation to live up to as he steps into the complex genre that modern RPGs comprise, but he’s got the narrative clout and a reasonably likeable personality when he isn’t flashing those vampire teeth at his hapless victims. Well, Geralt’s always going to be a legend, and we’re optimistic that Coen’s going to join him in tim

Starting with the fan-favorite F-22A Raptor, the video covers all kinds of aircraft, including the Gripen E, the MiG-21bis Fishbed, the Rafale M, the Typhoon, the Mirage2000-5, and much more. It’s interesting to see the contrasts in their cockpits, whether it’s the Fishbed’s antiquated looks or the sleeker Su-35S Flanker-E (which makes sense since they’re three decades apart in age).

Of course, you can’t discount the environments that they fly in either. Though the game is developed on Unreal Engine 5, the team used a custom in-house engine to create layered clouds. Not only does it look more realistic, but it results in a more varied sky, which serves as yet another contrast against the ground.

Whether those contrasts will come into play as the Federation of Central Usea fights back against the Republic of Sotoa remains to be seen. For now, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve continues to look amazing en route to its October 2nd launch on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Stay tuned for more details and (hopefully) more aircraft showcases in the coming weeks.

It’s a deep dive into how the sequel’s soundtrack is meant to evoke specific emotions, even if the only ones we’d feel when fighting to stay in the sky are sheer terror and adrenaline-fueled focus. Nevertheless, for those of you who find that music helps you, this one’s definitely got enough to have you adding at least a few tracks to your playlists outside of the cockpit.

This new peek at Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is a good example of that “extra polish”  the developers told us was a privilege the team had thanks to taking their time. We’re getting more optimistic about it with each passing glimpse, and we’re just eager to take to the skies when it releases for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 2.

Until then, those attending Gamescom will have the chance to go hands-on with the flight combat sim alongside other Bandai Namco titles. Head here for more details.

Headlining the company’s presence at TGS 2026 will be Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. The title will be playable, its kiosks will offer freebies, and there will be a pre-order campaign at the event. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, One Piece: Grand Gourmet, and Bleach: Mirrors High will also be playable. Tales of Eternia Remastered, while present at the booth, will only have a pre-order campaign, and no playable demos seem to be planned.

At the Bandai Namco Booth in the Family Game Park, the company will include playable versions of Once Upon a Katamari and Tamagotchi Plaza’s Nintendo Switch 2 release.

Tokyo Game Show 2026 is slated to kick off on September 17th and will run until the 21st. Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association released a video back in May teasing the event, featuring visuals created by illustrator Zashikiwarashi. On social media, the organizers have also described TGS 2026 as being the longest iteration of the yearly event so far, with 5 days of “non-stop fun” to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

“This year, through reviewing exhibition hall layouts and dispersing large-scale booths in pursuit of maximizing and optimizing exhibition space, we are making it possible for even more companies to exhibit,” said the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association.

“In addition to game fans and business professionals, we are planning to actively invite domestic and international press and influencers, making this an excellent opportunity to promote exhibitors’ products globally.”

In announcing TGS 2026, the organizers had confirmed that last year’s version of the event was also incredibly successful. Its first two days, designated as business days open for people in the industry, saw 52,352 and 54,779 attendees, respectively. The following two days, designated as general public days, garnered 77,415 and 78,555 attendees.

When compared to 2024’s Tokyo Game Show, however, the 2025 version saw slightly fewer attendees. The former got a total of 274,739 people showing up. Despite this, however, both events were considered part of a general upward trend for the yearly show, even when compared with the 2023 edition.

While not too many companies have confirmed whether or not they will be showing up at Tokyo Game Show 2026 as of yet, we are likely to see at least the major Japanese companies hosting their own exhibits, like Capcom, Sega, Square Enix, and potentially even Nintendo. Last year’s TGS saw Capcom offer playable demos for the highly-anticipated Resident Evil Requiem. If we see the trend continue, this year’s iteration will likely mark one of the few times Resident Evil Veronica is playable before its 2027 release.

We might also end up seeing more Western companies making their presence known at TGS 2026, especially after last year’s event saw Microsoft officially unveil Forza Horizon 6, which uses Japan as its main setting.

The choice to nuke Megaton in Fallout 3. The choice to bring Anabelle’s bones to Graham in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Even the choice of where to send Jacky after the pivotal heist in Cyberpunk 2077. These can have pivotal, long-term effects on the story, sometimes in ways that won’t be obvious within the confines of the game. They don’t just stay with you because they’re significant, but because you made them and had to live with the consequences forever (or at least until you reload and try something else).

For better or worse, there’s been a dearth of open-world action RPGs with choices of similar narrative impact, much less those that thread the entire experience. So many games took inspiration from The Witcher 3’s gameplay model while infusing their own unique spins and twists – from Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West to Assassin’s Creed Shadows – without really expanding how it handled choices. Which isn’t to say that they featured none whatsoever, but there’s been almost nothing in the genre that’s on the scale of, say, Baldur’s Gate 3 (barring, perhaps, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2). Let’s not even delve into the non-open world action RPGs like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and how poorly they handled the weight of choice.

Which makes The Blood of Dawnwalker, out on September 3rd, so interesting. It’s ironic because Rebel Wolves features veterans from CD Projekt RED, including The Witcher 3’s game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and its composer, Mikolai Stroinski. Right off the bat, it admits that the open world is on the smaller side and that a typical playthrough could take about 50 hours (depending on the difficulty and whatnot). It also welcomes comparisons to the game that made everyone famous, but there isn’t a lingering sense of recreating it, even though several elements look familiar.

Instead, The Blood of Dawnwalker is looking to bring back choice and consequence to the open-world action RPG setting in its own way, turning what seem like restrictions into moments that carry real significance.

For those unaware, the premise centers on Coen, who resides in a small village called Laslea within the Vale Sangora region. The latter has twisted under the influence of Brencis and his court of vrakhiri, or vampires. Their goal isn’t simply feasting on all the humans and leaving it at that, however. Instead, Brencis wants to subjugate the people, creating a society built on fear and tribute. If he receives their usual offerings of blood, everyone can live as they like, caveats and all. Step out of line, however, and, well, you can probably guess the rest.

Coen’s situation is unique because after being turned into a vampire, he discovers the ability to continue walking around during the day like a human. This mythical “Dawnwalker” seems like the best of both worlds, but that’s the least of our main man’s concerns. After a series of events in the beginning at the hands of Brencis, Coen has 30 days to save his family.

And that’s where The Blood of Dawnwalker weaves in its first mechanic to make you care: Time. When you’re exploring the vast open world, it doesn’t advance, but when it comes to making choices, it begins slipping away, at least in the opening hours. Besides establishing how futile some actions can be, this serves to highlight that some narrative events are set in stone. At least, as long as Coen remains who he is.

The Dawnwalker is a wild card, though. What can’t be achieved during the day when limited to his human capabilities, whether it’s through swordplay or magic, might be accomplished in the nighttime when his vampiric powers become available. Infiltrating a crypt to retrieve something important suddenly becomes a whole lot easier when you can just sneak inside. But that also requires waiting until nighttime. If you can successfully gain access during the day, why not leave the night for something else? The inverse is also true, of course, and that’s only one layer of the choices involved.

Because if you really want, Coen could just abandon his family and do whatever he likes. You could accidentally feed on an NPC and kill them if his hunger is left alone for too long, but why not go out of your way to slaughter everyone? The fact that evil playthroughs are possible and that Rebel Wolves doesn’t have a fail state in place, instead encouraging you to live with your choices, is something that’s not often seen in the open world action RPG genre nowadays.

Then again, you don’t have to be plainly good or evil to outright miss the content available. Coen’s journey could become a hell of a lot shorter because you can challenge Brencis at any singular point throughout, even after becoming a vampire. It’s difficult, but if you’ve seen anyone bum rush Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild with just three hearts and a dream, having that option is great.

And yet, you’ll miss out on learning about the resistance against the vampires, or learning more about each member of Brencis’s court and attempting to potentially turn them against each other. There’s an entire infamy system that also rewards your rabble-rousing across the countryside. It may result in a world state with blockades and soldiers out to get you at almost every turn, but you can also deal some heavy blows to Brencis, making that final battle – if it is indeed the finale – that much easier. Coen gaining a reputation which can endear him to the rebels and intimidate foes also doesn’t hurt.

Perhaps more interesting is that the story doesn’t end after 30 days – instead, the “circumstances” change. What does that mean? If you sit around doing nothing or simply making Coen into an unofficial vampire overlord, what happens? More importantly, what happens after that?

Again, this is just what we know from what Rebel Wolves has shown us. The degree of divergence in the endings has yet to be detailed, much less how choices made in the early going could affect your experience 10 or 20 hours later.

The sheer range of choices and the studio outright stating that all quests are quests, some unlocking “new possibilities” and others granting new info while others don’t when asked how the “main” and “side” quests work. Tomaskiewicz even likened the experience to more of a pen-and-paper RPG, or similar to Fallout 1 and 2 “where you have a clear goal and everything is optional – you decide. You travel the world, you decide what you want to do. There is no main quest.”

It sounds ambitious for a studio that doesn’t quite have the same resources as a CD Projekt RED or even a Bethesda. However, it’s also aiming for something more compact by those standards, and more easily facilitates replayability.

There are still plenty of ways that The Blood of Dawnwalker could stumble, whether it’s in the combat, the level of polish, the performance or even in the overall writing. But seeing a developer take these kinds of swings, appealing to an audience that so many have tried to get away from in the pursuit of mass appeal, is refreshing. And who knows? With over two million wishlists and counting ahead of launch, it may become a massive hit, laying the foundation for more such experiences in the future.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

“Dream job to end all dream jobs. 6 solid months of blood, sweat, and tears making the coolest stuff ever, working alongside the best of the best. Can’t share anything else for a very long time, but I couldn’t be more proud of what we did. See you in the Lands Between on March 3rd, 2028!”

Schofield has worked on a number of critically acclaimed projects in the past, including Thor: The Dark World, Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Game of Thrones, among others. Interestingly, he has also worked with the Elden Ring movie’s writer and director, Alex Garland, in the past on the 2022 film Men.

The Elden Ring movie’s full cast, along with its release date, was revealed back in April. It is set to star Cailee Spaeny (Alien: Romulus, Civil War, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery) and Ben Wishaw (Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die). Other cast members include Nick Offerman (The Last of Us, Parks and Recreation) and Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick: Chapter 2).

Concrete details about the film’s story haven’t yet been revealed, including whether it will adapt the Tarnished One’s journey through the Lands Between as a whole, or if it will instead focus on smaller character-oriented arcs featuring Ranni, for instance. Garland has spoken about how, when he first pitched the film adaptation to Bandai Namco, he turned in an “epic” 160-page draft. He has also confessed to being a fan of the game, calling Malenia, Blade of Miquella the toughest fight he experienced during his time.

“It’s Malenia who’s the tough one. I’m now on my seventh playthrough of that game,” he said. “I’ve leveled up, I’ve got lots of juice, and a cool sword, and stuff like that, and I just throw myself at them again, and again, and again, and again. That was the technique I learned with Dark Souls,” he said. “It’s not that you get better, it’s more like monkeys and typewriters. You just keep doing it, and eventually, one day they’re dead.”

A report from back in April has indicated that Elden Ring is being produced with a budget of more than $100 million. When compared to A24’s other releases, Elden Ring will essentially be the production company’s most expensive, largest, and most ambitious project yet. At the time, it was also believed that the principal photography for the movie would take place over the course of 100 days before it would then be sent for post-production work.

It’s more cinematic, intended to showcase how faces both fresh and endearingly familiar enter the fray, bringing their finest skills and very agile moves against opponents determined to end the fight on their terms. We’d have liked to see more of the new Sparking Boost in action, perhaps through a quick glimpse at a gameplay clip, but with the expansion out now, we’re going to get to testing it out as soon as possible.

There are also new characters, including Super 17, Bardock, Vegeta (GT), False Super Saiyan Goku and Grandpa Gohan for starters along with four new stages (including Kami’s Lookout), customization options, and more. The new Solo Mode should keep fans busy, as you venture across a map and challenge powerful foes to upgrade your character, gaining new Battle Arts along the way.

That’s a lot of new stuff in a game that’s been pretty successful at bringing its inspirations to life in a format that absolutely works in its favor. Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Nintendo Switch. Check out our review of the base game.

As outlined by producer Jun Furutani, it sees players selecting a character and taking on various battles across the world map. You have a limited amount of Stamina, though, and depending on the distance between opponents, you may end up fighting at a disadvantage.

Win, and you’ll gain EXP to enhance your stats. There are also Battle Arts to unlock which provide buffs in Sparking mode. It’s all dependent on SP, so make sure you have enough to slot in. But that’s not all – the same character can pursue multiple runs and continue growing stronger, and then battle other players in online and offline battles.

Other content includes 30 new characters like Mercenary Tao, Grandpa Gohan and even false Super Saiyan Goku. They even have new interactions that series fans should enjoy. Four new stages – Kami’s Palace, Kame House, Bitter Tundra, and Stratosphere (Earth and Planet Vegeta) – have also been added along with four new Episode Battles.

If that wasn’t enough, a free update adds new mechanics like Sparking Boost, where you can boost Sparking Mode’s attack power by spending Skill Stock, and Chain Blast to follow up on enemies after they’re launched. Stay tuned for more details when it launches next week.

Interestingly, director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz revealed that the scene is actually in the post-credits for its upcoming title. Furthermore, he (alongside Bandai Namco) confirmed to Eurogamer that progress will carry over into any future sequels.

“From the beginning, when we talked about The Blood of Dawnwalker, we talked about the whole cycle, because we planned a few games and we wanted to tell the particular story we thought about. When you know what you want to say in the next games and where they lead, it’s easier to plan the story for [the first] game and to put some events and story elements in which will be the hooks for the next things which will happen,” said Tomaszkiewicz.

“If you are not thinking about it, then later you have a problem because you start the next game, you have some ideas for the story, and you start to think, ‘Okay, I will move the saves for the players and what kind of decisions I should predict, and how should it be connected? And how to make it smooth and organic?’ And so on. We prefer to do it this way.”

Which is pretty good foresight, especially if Rebel Wolves will be invested in the franchise long-term. But while that post-credits scene for The Blood of Dawnwalker is set in the modern day, it doesn’t mean that the sequel will follow suit, says Tomaszkiewicz.

“This is really important for many reasons. There’s more fun in telling different stories from many places on Earth, because we need to learn those cultures, we need to learn those legends, we need to think how to fit into these historical events, which are in that particular place.

“This will be a refreshment for us in every next part of the game, because we have this challenge in front of us, of doing something really fresh, something really cool. And at the same time, we know that we are doing a consistent story and we know where it’s leading.”

It certainly creates some intrigue, making you wonder how Coen eventually ends up in the present day. Before that, we’ll need to see if he can resolve the crisis that Brencis (who isn’t your traditional villain) has imposed on Vale Sangora, and save his family in time. Or not – after all, players can do whatever they want in the 30-day time limit, though as with everything else, there will be consequences.

The Blood of Dawnwalker launches on September 3rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Rebel Wolves also recently confirmed other fantasy beings like Pixies, Kobolds, and more alongside the possibility of other Dawnwalkers. There won’t be any mini-games, which is a bummer for fans of Gwent, but at least it won’t feature Denuvo.