The Blood of Dawnwalker: All the key details about Rebel Wolves' dark fantasy action RPG

The Blood of Dawnwalker is the next project from Rebel Wolves, offering an open-world RPG set in medieval Europe. But, rather than being your standard sword-swinging adventure, there's a significant twist. You will play as Coen, someone plagued with being half-human and half-vampire—known as the "Dawnwalker"—and you best believe that there's a huge number of vampires that despise your existence.

With a release date now, and lots of gameplay overviews and trailers to sink our teeth into (get it?) if you're keen to know more about life as a Dawnwalker, we've pulled together everything you ought to know in preparation for its launch this September.

When will The Blood of Dawnwalker release?

The Blood of Dawnwalker releases on September 3 for PC via Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

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It's not been too long of a journey to get to this point, as The Blood of Dawnwalker was officially announced in January 2025, a year after developer Rebel Wolves confirmed its existence as "Dawnwalker" after some internal branding was spotted early. Then the June 2025 Xbox Games Showcase provided us with a general "2026" date, and now here are with a solid September 3 date after the Road to Launch event video.

The Blood of Dawnwalker trailers

The Blood of Dawnwalker — Game Trailer | Trapped Between Two Worlds - YouTube

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Latest gameplay trailer

The most recent gameplay trailer for The Blood of Dawnwalker was shown during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, and offered a more in-depth look at the content of the game compared to the initial cinematic trailer released to announce the game earlier in 2025. There's a tasty mix of both cinematic and in-game content in the latest trailer, showing all sorts of combat, lengthy shots of the world, and various characters we can expect to meet while playing.

The cinematic trailer shared in January was our first introduction to Coen and the opening events of the game. We also got our first look at the vampires as the cinematic plays out, which are truly terrifying if you ask me. Toward the end of the trailer, we had an incredibly brief look at the gameplay, showing Coen fighting as both a human and a vampire, but that was as much as we had seen of in-game capture until dedicated gameplay videos were shown off on the game's YouTube channel.

Story trailer

The Blood of Dawnwalker — Story Trailer [4K] [subtitles available] - YouTube

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Yep, that's Coen turning into a wolf midway through the trailer. Now I'm really interested in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Yes, yes, we also see Coen turning into a vampire, his family getting taken away again, and a mysterious new ally—but hello, you can turn into a wolf.

The Blood of Dawnwalker gameplay

The Blood of Dawnwalker — Gameplay Overview (Part II) [4K] [subtitles available] - YouTube

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The second big gameplay overview for The Blood of the Dawnwalker came in the middle of November, 2025, and it mostly showed off one quest being played two different ways to demonstrate just how different things can be. One run was done during the daytime while Coen is human, and one was shown at night while Coen is a vampire.

A third gameplay overview was then released in April 2026, and gave us a taste of the open world activities available in the game. Again, it's broken down into what you can do as a vampire by night, and as a human by day. Included is a look at Dawnwalker's gorgeous map, Coen traveling as a wolf, a glance at how the infamy system changes the world, and using some magic against restless spirits. It's the best look yet at how the game plays moment-to-moment.

For even more gameplay, you can also check out 23 minutes of footage from a Gamescom demo. It showcases the day/night cycle, combat, skill trees, talking to NPCs, a boss fight, and lots more!

Does Blood of Dawnwalker have romance?

"Yes, of course!"

That's directly from an interview with the game's creative director Mateusz Tomaskiewicz, but that's all he's willing to share for now. The only other thing he said on the subject was: "There are romance options, yes. We didn't delve deep into with whom yet, and I'll leave that for the future to talk about. However, yes, you can expect to build relationships with characters."

Can you still play after completing the story?

Yep! As revealed in the Road to Launch event video, you can continue to explore the world even after the 30 day timer to rescue your family runs out. So no need to keep them waiting too long while you gallivant around the open world. (I'll still probably keep them waiting. Sorry, Coen clan. I can't kick my old RPG habits just yet.)

What is the story and setting of The Blood of Dawnwalker?

The Blood of Dawnwalker takes place in 14th century Europe during "a moment of weakness" following mass conflict and, of course, the Black Death plague. So it's no surprise that vampires have taken this opportunity to emerge from the shadows and attempt to claim freedom after being denied it for so many years. But once a single domino falls, the rest shortly follow, and after the vampires begin to essentially revolt, other night-dwelling creatures follow.

Luckily the protagonist, Coen, has the ability to walk the line between being a human and being a vampire following the kidnapping of his family in his home of Vale Sangora. As convenient as this is when it comes to being stuck in the middle though, these powers do come with a price: fight for your humanity or harness your vampiric powers to save your family. Thanks to this decision-making, The Blood of Dawnwalker is bound to offer some gut-wrenching decisions to make, which really force you to question your morals too.

Fortunately, this does open up the opportunity to shape the story ourselves rather than have to follow a traditionally linear narrative. Along the way, you'll be able to forge unlikely alliances and interact with people differently to forge your own path. Everything needs to be done carefully though, as every time you make a decision or complete a quest and time passes, your family gets closer to meeting their end. Unfortunately you won't have time to do everything for everyone, so you should expect no decision to be made lightly.

The Blood of Dawnwalker describes itself as a "narrative sandbox" which, in an interview with PC Gamer, creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz stated that it "refers to the way we craft our content. It's how we allow you, the player, to interact with it. So the core of it is maximising 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."

"Dawnwalker is not going to be a game where it's a pure sandbox, where you're just focusing on the gameplay. We do want you to experience these moments with the world of the characters, and the emotions that these situations can evoke and so on, and so forth. But, at the same time you are looking for ways of maximising freedom as you do."

Dawnwalker's design director, Daniel Sadowski, weighed in on the discussion too, sharing "In our game, we want the world to be dynamic. We don't want it to be static, like waiting for the player all the time. So both action and inaction in Dawnwalker have serious consequences, and that's also how we structured the quests, so that it can all be showcased while you play the game."

And if you're wondering how long all of those dynamic, pure sandbox adventures will take, game director Konrad Tomaskiewicz said in an interview that "we are not creating the game [that can be played] for 200 hours." So it'll be more around the 40 or 50 hour mark per playthrough.

The Blood of Dawnwalker key enemies

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Thanks to a Steam blog post, we now know a lot more about four key enemies Coen will have to deal with in Blood of the Dawnwalker:

• Brencis: Leader of the vrakhiri who was born in AD 131 in the Roman Empire to a noble family. He joined the ranks of Senators and quickly rose to the top of Roman officialdom, then promptly turned into a vampire. Brencis is voiced by Andrew James Spooner.
• Xanthe: She is the oldest vampire of the group, with her origins spanning all the way back to Ancient Greece, where she used to be a priestess. She might seem a little odd at first, as "her body bears witness to the ravages of time, as does her mind," but she apparently understands the true nature of the world better than anyone. Xanthe is voiced by Mandi Symonds.
• Ambrus: He's the youngest vampire of the pack, who, as a human lived a hard and painful life, thinks he has "something to prove to his peers." Ambrus sought vampiric powers to reach new heights, and there's "no red line he won’t cross." Sounds like a swell guy. Ambrus is voiced by Lorne Macnaughton
• Bakir: Is one of Brencis' most powerful lieutenants, who is described as a bloodthirsty warmonger who "just wants to see the world burn." Another swell guy in the vrakhiri ranks! As a human, Bakir was just as cruel, thirsting for blood as he traversed Central Asia. Bakir is voiced by Dai Tabuchi.

The Blood of Dawnwalker day/night cycle explained

The Blood of Dawnwalker — Gameplay Overview [4K] [subtitles available] - YouTube

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In a gameplay overview uploaded to the Dawnwalker YouTube channel, the day and night cycle, and how it affects your experience and abilities within the game, has been showcased. Thanks to your Dawnwalker abilities, you'll get to experience two different gameplay loops courtesy of this cycle. Of course, each form you adopt comes with its strengths and weaknesses, but there will be plenty of opportunities for you to harness the power of both.

During the day, you'll be proficient in sword fighting and employing magical abilities to take down enemies and clear whatever is blocking your path forward. However, you are also susceptible to the weaknesses of being a human, which is bound to be an awful lot of things. Your health bar won't regenerate naturally; instead you'll need to find consumables to restore some strength back to Coen.

At night, however, you'll gain access to an entirely different set of skills limited to your vampire form. Of course, you'll still have weaknesses, but they will be completely different from those you have as a human. As shared in the YouTube video, you'll be able to reach areas of the map unreachable by humans, which is bound to make traversal a lot easier. This includes a skill called "Shadowstep" which lets Coen easily jump to any area within his close vicinity.

Interestingly, your health bar also represents your hunger as a vampire. As you can expect, you will need to quench Coen's thirst as a vampire. Getting too close to groups of NPCs can spur some unpredictable responses from them and potentially put yourself in more danger, so you'll want to single someone out should you need a midnight snack. When feeding, you'll also have complete control over how much blood you drain from your victims too. Whether you're drinking just enough to satisfy your needs and knock them unconscious, or draining them fully and killing them, the power is in your hands. If you don't want to harm humans though, you can always drink from animals instead if you'd rather.

The Blood of Dawnwalker choices and consequences

The most notable gameplay on show in The Blood of Dawnwalker is obviously the unique day/night cycle system described above, but secondary to that—and very related to it—is how choices and consequences work.

You only have one main quest after the prologue ends in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it's to save your family. You get 30 days to do this, and every time you complete a quest or activity, time advances. If this sounds daunting, don't worry, you always know how much time something will take up in advance, and exploration never consumes your precious time.

During these quests and activities, you have to make decisions, with each having big consequences to how the story plays out. Choices can change whether you're playing during day or night, and not choosing something is also considered a decision, as the world still changes around you. Some quests even play out entirely differently depending on whether you start them during daylight or moonlight, even before you make a choice during the questline.

The Blood of Dawnwalker system requirements

From minimum to ultra, here's the PC system requirements for The Blood of Dawnwalker:

Minimum (1080p, 30 fps)

• Quality preset: Low
• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3050/GTX 1070, AMD RX Vega-56, or Intel Arc A580
• VRAM: 6GB
• Storage: 60GB SSD

Recommended (1080p, 60 fps)

• Quality preset: High
• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600 or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 or AMD RX 6800-XT
• VRAM: 12GB
• Storage: 60GB SSD

Recommended (1440p, 60 fps)

• Quality preset: High
• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600 or AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 4070-Ti or AMD RX 7800-XT
• VRAM: 12GB
• Storage: 60GB SSD

Ultra (1440p, 60 fps)

• Quality preset: Ultra
• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080 or AMD RX 7900-XTX
• VRAM: 16GB
• Storage: 60GB SSD

Ultra (2160p, 60 fps)

• Quality preset: Ultra
• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 5090
• VRAM: 16GB
• Storage: 60GB SSD