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The Blood of Dawnwalker made an unexpected statement at Summer Game Fest by showing what appeared to be a modern-day take on its bloodthirsty protagonist, Coen. A far cry from the medieval setting of the upcoming RPG, it was instead a glimpse of plans to come. In the studio’s newest teaser, Rebel Wolves Narrative Director Jakub Szamałek describes The Blood of Dawnwalker as “the first installment in what we hope will become an epic series,” one “where you will see the world change” across dramatic time jumps. As its initial act nears, that bold ambition is at once exciting and terrifying.
I don’t need any more convincing to play The Blood of Dawnwalker; I was already all but sold from the initial pitch, and getting several hours of hands-on time only further cemented the vampire game‘s spot atop my wishlist. One of its great strengths is in that 14th-century setting of Vale Sangora, which is itself a nebulous approximation of Slavic and Balkan influences placed loosely among the Carpathian Mountains. During my time at the preview, Game Director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and Environment Artist Adam Payet explained the foundations of that location to me, along with hinting towards its future.
Payet tells me the team wanted to pull from a range of countries to “mix it up a little bit,” resulting in something that felt familiar but original. “It has a very strong sense of place that you look at and you immediately know where you are geographically,” he remarks, “but it’s not exactly specific to ‘Oh I know that this is this particular village.'” I was immediately taken by Vale Sangora, and the tantalizingly short amount of time I got to spend there has left me craving the freedom to explore it in full.
For the future, however, the plan is to leave the familiar behind. Instead of simply continuing Coen’s story into the next year, or the next decade, Rebel Wolves says his tale will be one “spanning centuries and carrying him into various corners of the world, far beyond Vale Sangora.” Szamałek elaborates in a new developer diary: “With each game in the series we want to push the time forward, take you to different places, and explore different timelines. We want you to see Coen changing as he gains experience, as he ages, as he learns more about the hidden truths of the world.”
When I asked Tomaskiewicz about the post-launch plans for The Blood of Dawnwalker, he told me the current focus was on polishing the current game and fixing any lingering bugs (the team confirmed just today that it had ‘gone gold,’ meaning the launch build is ready for manufacturing and distribution). Beyond that, the specifics of what comes next are up in the air. “When we decide, we will talk openly about what we will do,” he teases, “but for sure we have the sequels in our minds, we know what it will be about. We have this whole story arc for the saga – we’ve now shown the conclusion in the present times at Summer Game Fest.”
There’s an obvious parallel here – the early years of Assassin’s Creed. Back in those initial years, our time with Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor was all part of an overarching promise: the gradual progression of their shared modern-day ancestor, Desmond Miles. Like many fans, I always held out hope that the time-hopping series would end up in the modern day, where Desmond would bring the skills he had inherited into an unfamiliar setting. What we got was a far cry from that, and Ubisoft is now going as far as to strip its modern-day interludes out of recent remake, Black Flag Resynced.
The vampire mythos is a perfect fit for the era and setting that The Blood of Dawnwalker begins in, and I don’t think anyone would blame Rebel Wolves for sticking to that period for its successors. The approach it’s taking instead is a risky one, full of potential pitfalls in everything from game design to audience response. How do you bring its slick melee combat into a more modern setting, such as one where guns exist? Does it have to change gameplay style at a fundamental level as a result? Even if you pull that shift off, will players that enjoyed the original want to come on that journey with you?
That’s why, as someone so smitten with what we’ve seen of The Blood of Dawnwalker so far, I find myself at once intrigued and worried about what the future might hold. Despite this, I always maintain that the best games are those that developers actually want to make. If leaping boldly forward in the timeline is what Rebel Wolves has its heart set on, I’m willing to trust in the process and find out what awaits us.
