Witcher 3 director's vampiric dark fantasy action-RPG The Blood of the Dawnwalker gets first trailer
Coming to Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
It's been almost exactly a year since the unveiling of Dawnwalker - the new dark fantasy action-RPG from Rebel Wolves. And if you've been eager to learn more - which would be completely understandable, given the studio is formed by a number of ex-CD Projekt staff, including Witcher 3 game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz - today's your lucky day. Publisher Namco Bandai has now given a first look at Dawnwalker's world in a four-minute cinematic trailer.
Rebel Wolves' debut game is now officially titled The Blood of Dawnwalker, and is described as the first chapter in a "brand-new role-playing saga". It's single-player and open-world, with a "strong focus on story and narrative", casting players as Coen - a "young man turned into a Dawnwalker, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night".
All this unfolds in a 14th century Europe still reeling from the Black Death - a "moment of weakness" for a decimated humanity that gives the world's long-hidden vampires an opporunity to step out and seize control, with other creatures of the night following their lead. "Legends turn into reality, and history as we know it will never be the same."
There's not a huge amount of additional detail to be shared right now, but Bandai Namco says players will need to use their skills - combining "vampiric strength with human resolve" - as they embark on a quest to save the ones they love. "Face your foes - be they human, monster, or the ticking clock itself," the publisher concludes. "But remember - the real evil may bask in the sun's light, and the most loyal of allies could lurk under the cover of night."
Previously, Rebel Wolves CEO Tomaszkiewicz - who also served as a secondary director on Cyberpunk 2077 while at CD Projekt - suggested The Blood of Dawnwalker wouldn't "be as gigantic as The Witcher" (instead coming in at around the size of The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion) but that it could well have a "greater" number of quests. Whether things have changed since then isn't known, but today's cinematic reveal trailer ends with the promise that more information will be shared this "summer".
Alongside Tomaszkiewicz, Rebel Wolves counts former CD Projekt scribe Jakub Szamałek as its narrative director and main writer, with other team members including design director Daniel Sadowski, animation director Tamara Zawada, art director Bartłomiej Gaweł, CFO Michał Boryka, and studio head Robert Murzynowski - who have collectively worked on games such as Cyberpunk, Thronebreaker, Shadow Warrior 2, and The Witcher series.