The creative director behind upcoming open world RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker, Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, has revealed that the upcoming game will be designed around the concept of player agency and freedom of choice. Speaking in a recent issue of PCGamer Magazine (via GamesRadar), Tomaszkiewicz spoke about the idea of the “narrative sandbox” of The Blood of Dawnwalker.
“It’s how we allow you, the player, to interact with it,” said Tomaszkiewicz. “So the core of it is maximizing players’ agency and freedom of choice, while, at the same time delivering the high-quality narratives that we are known for crafting in the past.”
This means that players will have plenty of choices not only on the game’s narrative, but also in gameplay terms as well. Players will be allowed to explore the world freely while also getting to make important choices throughout their time questing in The Blood of Dawnwalker.
He revealed that the title will make use of a “synergetic approach” to side quests and other side content, bringing in comparisons to The Witcher 3, where Tomaszkiewicz previously worked as a lead quest designer.
Design director Daniel Sadowski also spoke about The Blood of Dawnwalker, and how it will have a world that feels dynamic. According to Sadowski, “both action and inaction in Dawnwalker have serious consequences.” This means that the world won’t just be waiting for the player to get around to doing things, and story events might even progress without protagonist Coen’s intervention.
Tomaszkiewicz has previously revealed more details about the game, including the fact that its open world will not be a massive one. Instead, the studio wants the open world in The Blood of Dawnwalker to be smaller and denser, much like Tomaszkiewicz’s favourite open-world games.
“It was an open world, but it was much smaller, and it kind of made me experience it differently compared to these behemoths where it’s just impossible to really know every nook and cranny because it’s so big, so you kind of rush through it,” Tomaszkiewicz said in an interview last week. “But when the world is a bit smaller, and you explore it more calmly and more relaxed, you kind of get to memorize these places, and it feels more like you actually know the place. It makes you feel like you’re more inhabited.”
One of the game’s biggest unique features is its internal time limit. Players will have to contend with an in-game time limit of around 30 days, during which they will have to take on various quests, and decide whether they would like to instead explore some of the game’s side content.
“This is the most important thing for me,” said Tomaszkiewicz. “Because when you put it together, it makes something really unique – this feeling of urgency in the games can be upgraded. For example, when you’re playing The Witcher 3, and you know that Ciri needs help, but you decide to play Gwent […], you feel that it’s a game, and it’s a really good game. But it’s a game.”
The Blood of Dawnwalker is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
