In February 2022, The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz founded Rebel Wolves alongside some other veteran developers. The first tease for the studio’s inaugural game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, arrived last month. But now, Rebel Wolves has debuted the opening moments of the game, which establish how a valley in medieval Europe fell under control of vampires.
The trailer introduces the game’s main character, Coen, as he attempts to save his plague-stricken sister, Lunka, from the human authorities who intend to execute her. Their lives are spared by the arrival of Brencis and his vampires, who quickly dispatch the guards. Brencis then heals Lunka and tells Coen that they are seizing control of the valley.
That scene takes place before the beginning of the game. When the main story begins, Coen and his fellow villagers have been living under the vampire regime for two years. Coen is also the titular Dawnwalker, because his silver poisoning prevented him from turning into a full vampire. Instead, Coen remains human during the day, and he transforms into a powerful vampire at night.
Although the developers stressed the narrative freedom that The Blood of Dawnwalker will give players, there is a ticking clock. Coen only has 30 days and 30 nights to save his family from Brencis’ dungeons, and time is a commodity that he has to choose how to spend. Players can also decide to make allies with those who share his desire to bring down the vampires, but not everyone’s agenda will line up with Coen’s.
The developers also noted that the vampires do have human supporters, because Brencis has kept them safe and healed them from the plague. But the vampires also treat the humans like cattle, and they aren’t free to leave the valley. They’ve just traded their human feudal lords for vampires who took their place.
The Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t currently have a release date, but the gameplay reveal will arrive this summer.
