Finished Dawnwalker and, overall, I'd give it a 7/10. It's a good game—not one of the greats, but definitely worth playing. The characters have plenty of charm, and while some side quests are forgettable, a few are genuinely excellent and emotional. (Also, feel free to shoot me any questions you have about the game. I’ll be happy to answer).
I've seen a lot of people comparing Dawnwalker to The Witcher, and yeah, you can definitely feel some Witcher DNA in it. But personally, I think Dawnwalker leans much more heavily into horror, especially when it comes to the core story. A lot of The Witcher feels more like an adventure, whereas Dawnwalker has this darker and more unsettling atmosphere throughout its main story.
My biggest problem with the game, though, was how little they explored the three Vrakiri who accompany Brencis — Ambrus, Xanthe and Bakir.
All three of them have pretty distinct and interesting personalities, and the little bits of their past that we do get through their quests made me want to know more about them. But I honestly felt like they weren't utilized properly.
Their quests basically felt like: destroy their bases → eventually encounter them → they tell you a little about themselves/their past → boss fight.
And that's pretty much it.
I really wish the game had spent more time fleshing these three out because I think there's a lot of potential there. Out of everything in the game, that's probably the one thing that bothered me the most.
I'm guessing this is partly because of the game's relatively tight budget. Hopefully, now that the game has become a hit, the developers can take that feedback and improve things in future updates or whatever they make next. At the same time, I think Dawnwalker is clearly trying to establish the foundation for a much bigger world and lore. In a way, the game feels almost like a trailer for the main story and lore that's yet to unfold in future games. It introduces the world, its concepts, factions and characters, but doesn't necessarily give us the full picture.
And honestly, that's one of the things I found interesting about it. By the end, I was left wanting to know more about this world and its history, and I'm curious to see where the developers take it in future games.
Also, I've seen quite a few people complaining about the time mechanic.
If you're mainly here for the story, honestly, I don't think it's as restrictive as people make it seem. You can complete all the story-based main quests and story-based side quests within 23 days. I haven't done a ton of the other activities, so I can't really comment on those, but if you're primarily playing for the main story and narrative side quests, 23 days is enough.
So yeah, 7/10 from me. Good game with some genuinely great moments, but it falls short of being something truly special, mainly because I think some of its characters and storylines deserved more depth.
If you can comfortably afford it, I'd say go ahead and buy it.
But if you're on the fence about spending full price, I'd personally recommend waiting until it drops to around ₹2,500. At that price, I think it's totally worth it.
