Developer Rebel Wolves recently held a Q&A session (details courtesy of MP1st) on its official Discord channel for its upcoming title The Blood of Dawnwalker. It revealed a host of new details, one of which is the fact that magic will be generally less flashy than what players typically see in fantasy RPGs.
“Our magic is less flashy than that used in pure fantasy settings and quite rare,” said the studio. “It revolves around the occult — rituals, amulets, relics, and summonings, rather than fireballs or lightning bolts.”
This likely means that not only will players not be seeing magic used all over the place in The Blood of Dawnwalker, but the effects of these magic spells will likely be much more subdued.
While the studio hasn’t offered up any more details about the magic system in The Blood of Dawnwalker, it has revealed in the same Q&A that the upcoming RPG will feature a nonlinear story, where choices made by players will tend to make for different gameplay experiences than other players. The studio has described the game as a narrative sandbox rather than a linear title with a fixed story.
“The story is totally nonlinear. It’s what we call a ‘narrative sandbox’. Each playthrough will be different, as the world changes based on your choices – not only direct ones but also indirect. Your actions (or non-actions) will matter too.”
By calling the game a narrative sandbox, the studio means that players will make their own choices throughout the story, allowing players a high degree of agency over its direction. The game will also have many different ways to accomplish objectives.
The studio also recently revealed that the game will be balanced in a way that protagonist Coen will never feel overpowered to players. Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has stated that, rather than being a superhero, Coen will instead be more mortal, fighting with swords and magic, but with the potential to be killed by anyone.
In a social media post earlier this month, Rebel Wolves gave us a quick rundown on Coen’s backstory. He’s a relatively fresh vampire who has been freed of the burdens he felt when he was young. It also confirmed that, while there will be some time-based constraints in The Blood of Dawnwalker, players will still be free to explore the world without worrying about a timer.
“No it doesn’t,” said the studio when asked about the title’s 30-day time limit. “The game itself doesn’t have a hard time limit, and doesn’t require you to rush anything.”
The Blood of Dawnwalker is an open-world RPG developed by a studio staffed with veterans of the genre. Among other companies, some have previously worked at CD Projekt RED. Announced earlier this month, The Blood of Dawnwalker will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. There is, however, no release date yet.
