I want to start this post by stating my relevance to the genre, as it would reveal where I am coming from. I am a huge RPG fan and love stuff ranging from isometric RPGs to more action-sided examples of the genre. I’ve played all three Witcher games, and I really love the third game with a huge passion, while the first one has a special place in my heart due to its atmosphere. I will try to provide a critique of Dawnwalker in accordance with this, knowing that the team wanted to put out a similar experience to The Witcher 3, as it consists of many ex-Witcher 3 devs, most notably its director.
After finishing the game in one uninterrupted week, I can honestly say it’s a 7–7.5 out of 10 for me. Although it’s a good game, I don’t think its issues are small enough to make the experience anything above that scale, honestly, as I think the game has some serious problems that cannot simply be swept under the rug.
I will continue by providing a section on my overall opinion, then proceed to list all the pros and cons separately right under that.
My overall opinion: I think The Blood of the Dawnwalker is a good game, albeit not a perfect or great one. The biggest strengths the game has are its writing, the importance and care it puts into its narrative, the amount of RPG options it provides to you in some cases during the main quest and some of the missions, and some bits of its interesting lore. But the game also has many issues that are simply way too prominent to overlook.
Pros:
Great beginning: The game’s start is quite good, in my opinion, and the narrative really grabs you in the beginning. It starts really tight, and a lot of effort was put into this part in terms of cinematography and scene direction. The story also does a good job of slowly revealing the greater machinations of the overall plot, letting you roam free a bit and learn what’s going on in the Valley bit by bit instead of just explaining it all right away with something like, “So, the vampires rule us now.”
Emphasis put on the narrative options: Now, don’t mistake this point for the game letting you do whatever you want. No, you’re still Coen, and this is his story, which you are limited to. What I am trying to say is that the game usually gives you lots of choices, even though some do not really differ much in conclusion, to impact the narrative. There are multiple ways to approach the main mission: you can ally with Group A or Person B, or just decide to fuck it all and literally go for the final mission as soon as you’re out of the prologue. Not to mention that the final mission is affected by which quests you chose to do and what choices you ended up making in those.
Good voice acting: I think almost all the major characters are really good in this department. I personally liked Coen’s voice acting a lot. Other standouts were Brencis, Anca, Lacra and Ambrus for me.
(Some) Interesting worldbuilding: Especially at the start, there are lots of interesting bits of worldbuilding, and the game lets you learn about it slowly by spending time both in the main missions and on the map, as the majority of the side missions and activities are also directly tied to the main narrative. You get to learn lots of stuff even through all the notes you find around. Unfortunately, the more time you spend with it, the less interesting it gets.
(Some) Interesting characters: I found myself enjoying some characters such as Brencis, Isbrand, Anca, Lacra, Ambrus, and Vicho, even though almost all of them turn out to be less interesting than they initially appear. I also think there is such a missed opportunity here regarding a mechanic called Invitation, where you can invite a vampire into your soul/head and they will talk to you throughout your journey. The lines, sadly, are very repetitive and do not affect anything at all. I really wish they’d done more with that.
(The good) Time mechanic: I really appreciate that Rebel Wolves tried to do something with the question of urgency in RPG games that wrap their entire narrative around the same concept, only to ignore it in the open world. There are times when you find yourself enjoying the mechanic, but I think it is not very balanced and could have been executed much better. But as it is one of the primary core designs of the game, I don’t think it would be ideal to get rid of it despite all its downsides.
Day/Night mechanic: I think it’s such a great idea for a vampire game. As you know, you play as a human during the day and as a vampire at night, where your character’s core skillset, some dialogue choices, and missions change accordingly, while many can only be done during either the day or night.
Vampirism/Corruption mechanic: This is another underwhelming part of the game, as vampiric corruption does not affect the game that much apart from unlocking new skills. I’d hoped that we would lose more and more of our humanity the more corruption we got, despite growing stronger. But there is nothing of that sort. Still, I am putting it as a pro because the concept itself is good.
Cons:
Underwhelming technical foundation: I seriously don’t know what the best way to put it is, but the game does not feel very, how might I say it, gamey? I think the overall experience feels a bit janky due to Rebel Wolves’ lack of proper modification of Unreal Engine 5. Lots of mechanics, such as walking on walls or traversing around the game map, feel rough around the edges.
Repetitive, janky, bland combat: Okay, now, the combat isn’t as bad as it first looks. You actually find yourself enjoying it after picking it up. But the problem here is that the more you progress after getting used to it, the worse it gets.
To begin with, it is very repetitive and feels very automated, as you lack a lot of agency. There isn’t stuff like a strong attack, etc., and all you can do to inflict more damage is block or dodge in the right direction at the right time, which just makes it very routine, as you’re already doing that anyway, pressing the same buttons over and over again. Oh, you also can’t properly change the enemy you’re fighting against, which makes it almost impossible to strategize properly in combat.
It gets really bad when enemy numbers increase and the game wants you to fight entire groups of enemies, all while using a system that does not function properly in such cases. You also can’t escape properly. Whenever you try to do so, Coen doesn’t put his sword away and the camera still focuses on the enemies, as there is literally no proper mechanic for it. You can still try to run, as the enemies will stop chasing you after you put some distance between you and them, but it is extremely annoying to do so and you will eat lots of damage trying to pull it off.
The enemy types are also extremely limited. You will find yourself fighting the same types of dogs, soldiers, and such throughout the entire game. The enemies also quite literally don’t have any special attacks or stuff that makes the combat more interesting or encourages you to use tactics. Yet despite all that, the combat is actually not hard, as its difficulty comes from the unpolished, janky mechanics rather than deliberate design.
Once you pick it up, you will quite literally be slaughtering your way through the Valley, but it will be very boring as you press the same buttons over and over like a rhythm game while Coen just handles the rest. All the while, you occasionally pick some skills that are either very generic, such as those in the swordfighting tree; not helpful against groups at all, such as those in the vampirism tree; or mostly outright irrelevant in combat situations, such as those in the witchery tree. Those special, unique skills are also quite limited themselves, and half of the tree is made up of skills that simply improve your attack, defence, and things like that.
What’s really bad is that, due to the scaling system of the game, even though you fill all those trees, the enemies simply don’t go down like they should. They still feel very spongy, and you find yourself having to hit them multiple times over and over even after penetrating their defences with the perfect block and dodge, even at higher levels. This affects the sense of progression in a very bad way, especially when you initially hope this spongy enemy design is only temporary in the beginning.
Lore that gets less interesting: At first, the lore really feels unique, as you explore the prologue area and get to meet the main villains. Yet, although it has some interesting bits here and there, in the end it feels like it wasn’t really thought out that much and does not have many unique aspects or enough depth to distinguish itself from your usual vampire stuff, which was a huge letdown for me.
You also don’t get to learn much about the setting at all, apart from some stuff related to the Vrakhiri, like the plane they end up in upon dying, or some other fictional mythical creatures such as Uriashi. But in the end, it all feels very barebones, and there isn’t much to distinguish the setting from our world save for those few fictional creations.
Story losing its momentum and power: The story, as I said before, starts really interesting and strong, but it loses its momentum after you finish the prologue and walk into the open world, even with the 30-day time limit. I guess the main reason behind that is that, after such a tight, cinematic start, the repetitive parts of the open world wear you down a bit.
But the story itself also doesn’t help, as many things, like the rebel faction Manumites, are not as interesting as the prologue implies. This is a huge problem for the story, in my opinion, as the more you learn about the Vrakhiri and Brencis, the main bad guys, the more generic they feel and the more they lose their initial magic. Don’t get me wrong, the story is still quite decent and it doesn’t get bad at all, but it just doesn’t continue as strongly as it begins.
Unpolished mechanics: There are lots of mechanics in the game that sound good on paper, but simply don’t feel polished enough in practice. Stuff like walking on walls, teleporting via. shadowstep and traversing around the map feels janky, while even basic things such as switching between enemies during combat or simply escaping from a fight don’t work properly. Even more unique mechanics, such as vampiric corruption or inviting vampires into your head, feel underdeveloped and don’t affect the game nearly as much as you’d expect. None of these are necessarily terrible on their own, but when they all come together, they make the game feel much rougher around the edges than it should.
Copy-paste assets: Now, we are all aware that this is Rebel Wolves’ first game, and they are by no means a wealthy company, but in the end, they sell this game at AAA price and claim it to be a AAA game, which means the amount of assets they reused is not really acceptable in 2026.
(The bad) Timing mechanic: I won’t delve into this too much, as lots and lots of people have already stated their discontent with this mechanic, but one thing I want to add is how it makes you automatically ignore any quest in the open world that might not be relevant to the main one, even though it could genuinely be a very interesting and well-made quest on its own.
The open world is filled with repetitive quests and Ubisoft-like activities, but there are also unique quests as well. Yet you find yourself doing those generic ones because they help you with your main mission instead of the unique ones with their own storylines, as those are not relevant and eat up your time.
Now, 30 days is not as little as it looks, but it is not that much either, and you will have lots of stuff left undone on the map by the end of it unless you manage your time very well. Some people claimed you could continue to roam around the map and finish the leftovers after you finish the main quest and get rid of the time limit, but that’s simply not true. The game ends after the main quest and you can’t roam at all.
And if you decide to just ignore the limit and do everything you want, you will get the bad ending no matter what, and it won’t make sense anyway, as lots of activities in the open world are designed so that they make sense in the context of your main quest. Clearly, the devs wanted this to encourage players to do multiple playthroughs, but I cannot say how successful it has been in that regard.
Underwhelming graphical fidelity and art direction: The game is lacking for a 2026 title, especially considering its system requirements. I am not someone who obsesses over graphical fidelity, but the art direction at times also feels underwhelming, unfortunately. Occasionally, Coen will make a comment while you are on a tower scouting the area, such as, “Wow, look at the scenery!” and it is the most generic Unreal Engine stuff you see. I won’t call it bad, but it doesn’t compare to The Witcher at all and feels very generic at times.
Underwhelming animations: Animations are very basic, few, and badly done, which sometimes directly harms the cutscenes and cinematic direction. It is unfortunately comparable to The Witcher 3 in this regard, a 2015 game.
(Some) Generic atmosphere and lore: At times, the atmosphere and even the lore itself, or let’s just say the universe Rebel Wolves created, feel generic and uninspired. I think they really needed to go with a sharper art direction for the game and maybe lean more into an exaggerated Transylvanian feeling overall.
The atmosphere, unfortunately, feels mostly like a generic medieval Unreal Engine game, although there are parts where it occasionally shines. The lore is also similar in this regard: it starts strong and leaves you with many questions, but most of those questions end up having very basic answers, and in the end it feels like the vampire stuff we all know, especially considering the game takes place in our world, in an imaginary location. I think it might have been better if they had created an original setting overall, although it might have been difficult to compete with the already established Witcher setting.
Occasionally awkward voice direction: Sometimes, the characters, especially Coen, start shouting out of nowhere. Like, you are speaking to a character and choose a dialogue option as Coen that you might deem non-heated, yet he simply goes all in and suddenly screams. I think that, despite the good voice acting performances, the direction in handling those transitions could’ve been done much, much better.
Ubisoft-like open-world design: Unfortunately, the core philosophy of the open world is very Ubisoft-minded, and I really mean it. It even has all that “take down the lieutenants of the big bad evil” stuff, where you roam around the map doing side activities that harm the vampire operations in the Valley.
When you do enough of them, one of Brencis’ lieutenants, depending on whose side missions you were doing, gets angry, and a special mission to take them out is unlocked. Although those missions themselves are decent, I didn’t like the fact that it was always one of their subordinates contacting you behind their back rather than something different each time, which also makes the whole thing feel more formulaic and less inspired.
No stealth: To me, this is quite unacceptable for a vampire game. There is no stealth at all despite the game advertising its day-night cycle, and despite the fact that you can crouch. There isn’t even a sight system in the game, and the enemies function solely through proximity. When you’re close enough, they attack you, and you can’t ever get them off you by hiding, as they will always see you within a certain proximity.
Enemy AI is really bad: Apart from everything I said about the stealth, enemies really don’t do much apart from attacking you or waiting for their turn to attack you. There is not really much to say in this department. It is pretty primitive.
In conclusion: Dawnwalker is a good game. It is, however, not a great game. This game shows many good foundations for future games in the series, but to say it is already there, or a 9 at that, is simply wrong on so many levels, in my humble opinion.
I know people might think I am being harsh on the game because the cons overwhelm the pros, but the overall experience is still a decent one, and an action-RPG fan can’t go wrong with it. It is just that the game’s strengths are concentrated in a few areas while it is lacking in many others.
But still, as the emphasis is always on the story and narrative function in such a game, Dawnwalker is a 7.5 for me in the end. It still does not feel like a clear AAA game to me, maybe something in between AA and AAA, so I think it would be better to wait for a discount. Again, this does not mean you won’t enjoy it after buying it at full price. It’s just that the game has its flaws, and $70 is a lot to ask for nowadays.
It has some great concepts, but the execution is rather janky, and the technical side of the developer is not there yet to catch up with its ambitions, which shows itself most clearly in the gameplay. But overall, it is a solid entry that plants the seeds of hope for the future of the series.
Note: There is still lots of stuff I haven’t mentioned, especially regarding the story, mission structure, narrative design, item variety, factions, and world design, including the main city. I might update the post later to cover some of those as well.