While there have been quite a few vampire-themed games in recent times, The Blood of Dawnwalker director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has said that the upcoming RPG will not be going all-in on the fantasy of being a vampire. In an interview with GamesRadar, Tomaszkiewicz said that, while protagonist Coen is half man and half vampire, the player is allowed plenty of gameplay freedom that don’t necessarily involve using his vampire abilities.
The Blood of Dawnwalker, according to Tomaszkiewicz, will be a story that has and uses vampires, instead of being a story purely about the vampires. “We have different creatures of the night,” he said. “We want to tell [a] story with the vampires, not the story about [only] the vampires.”
As for just what level of gameplay freedom players should expect from The Blood of Dawnwalker, Tomaszkiewicz noted that one of the many inspirations behind the game was Arkane’s Dishonored. The title gives players an incredible amount of options in how they want to tackle their objectives, thanks to the versatility of the many abilities players have access to, as well as incredibly-dense level design that encourages exploration to find new and interesting routes, and even side-quests that open up even more unique ways of accomplishing objectives.
“Dishonored was one of the inspirations,” Tomaszkiewicz said. “We wanted to create [a] way of exploring for the vampire, [that’s] as open as [Dishonored].” He did go on to note, however, that The Blood of Dawnwalker won’t have the kind of freedom that Dishonored allows. “It’s not that you can enter everywhere,” he said. “But it’s so open that you should feel almost total freedom.”
A good example of the kind of freedom players can expect was revealed earlier this month when a gameplay overview video for The Blood of Dawnwalker revealed a spell similar to “Speak With Dead” from Baldur’s Gate 3. By making use of this spell, Coen will be able to discover new story elements, and even figure out different and unexpected ways of clearing quest objectives. The spell, dubbed Compel Soul, also adds another wrinkle to the game by not being available at night.
The gameplay overview video generally provided a great look at The Blood of Dawnwalker, showing off how Coen can take on different quests and explore a variety of areas. The video focused on a quest to get a legendary sword located in a crypt underneath the church. Players have plenty of options for how they might want to tackle this, like going into the crypt during the night by using the Shadow Step ability.
A video released all the way back in August also gave us a look at some of the abilities that Coen will have access to in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Among the abilities showcased was Planeshift, which allows the player to wrap around the game’s world and even climb up the sides of buildings or cliffs. The video also provided a look at the fast-paced, hard-hitting combat.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.
