The Blood of Dawnwalker: a vampire RPG in which time has become the main resource

The first big project from the Rebel Wolves studio, which was founded by veterans of CD Projekt Red, was released on September 3 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.We expected a lot from it, so we collected critics' ratings, player reviews and the main controversies surrounding the game in one place.

Ratings and reviews in numbers

• on Metacritic the game has 83 points out of 100, on OpenCritic 84;
• according to OpenCritic, the game is recommended by 94% of 157 critics, it is in the top 7% of games according to ratings;
• on Steam, about 83% of reviews are positive: at the start it was from 76 to 79%, and within a few days the rating increased;
• record online on Steam exceeded 78 thousand people simultaneously;
• In the first three days of sales, more than a million copies were sold.

For comparison: The Witcher 3 has 92 points on Metacritic, so the newcomer did not reach the level of legend, but experts call the debut very confident.

A story about saving a family in the Carpathians

The action takes place in 1347, at the height of the Black Death, in the fictional valley of Vale Sangor in the Carpathian Mountains.The valley is ruled by the vampire lord Brentsis, who levies a blood tax on the inhabitants.When the slightest sign of resistance appears in the village of Laslea, the vampires burn it down and take away the family of the peasant Cohen.There are 30 days left before Brenzis's coronation, and during this time Cohen must return his loved ones.

Critics point out that the game quickly moves away from a simple “save your loved ones” scheme to a conversation about power and the price people are willing to pay for survival.The choice is almost always between two evils, and there are several endings, and none of them promises easy joy.Players most often praise the characters, dialogue and dark atmosphere.

Human by day, vampire by night

Cohen becomes the Dawn Walker: during the day he is an ordinary person, and at night he turns into a vrakhir, that is, a vampire.He wields a sword at any time of the day, but other abilities depend on time.During the day, blood magic is added to the sword, taught by a local herbalist.At night, the hero receives claws, fast movements and even the appearance of a wolf, and some tasks open only after sunset.

Vampiric power has a price: in order not to lose health, Cohen needs to drink the blood of animals or people.If its supply drops too low, the hero may lose control, attack allies and disrupt the mission.Some items also work only during the day or only at night, and the music in cities changes with the time of day.

Thirty days to save your family

The main feature of the game: time plays the role of a resource here.Every day is divided into 16 segments, eight for day and night, and almost everything important is taken away by one or more of them: both tasks and skill development.The clock does not tick in real time.Free exploration of the world does not waste time, and the game warns you before each action that wastes it.

Experts consider this mechanic to be the best idea in the game: it makes it impossible to do everything at once, and makes decisions more important than usual in an RPG.There are also opponents of such a system.Some critics write that the pressure ultimately turns out to be largely illusory, because you manage to finish all the important things long before the deadline.Others call the implementation uneven and punishing in places.Players are also arguing about this mechanic, and mods have already appeared online that remove the time limit.

Combat and open world

Battles are based on swords and abilities.The direction of attack needs to be read, like in Kingdom Come, but the icons above the enemies help here, so the system is softer and more accessible.Many people call the combat enjoyable and juicy, especially with vampire abilities.But just as many people complain that it becomes monotonous and there are too few enemy varieties.In addition, due to the abundance of ways to quickly restore health, the game turns out to be too easy.

The open world is moderate in size, and critics call it handcrafted rather than "algorithm-infused."The capital Swartrau is especially praised.However, there are also disadvantages familiar to the genre: tasks are often similar to each other, exploration is subject to markers on the map, there are observation towers, and fast movement does not waste time.The passage takes about 40 hours.

Player complaints

At launch, players complained about optimization, inconvenient controls and technical problems, and critics called the version for Xbox Series S unstable.Some buyers are also unhappy with the censorship in the Japanese version.But the main thing for our audience: there is no Russian language in the game.

The text and subtitles are translated into 13 languages, and there is voice acting in six: English, Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and German.The publisher warned in advance that there would be no official Russian localization, and the developers do not plan to add languages ​​other than those stated.The game's page on Steam has been translated into Russian and shows prices in rubles, but the game itself is not in Russian.Unofficial crackers already exist, but they may break after updates.

Platforms, languages and price

The game is available on PC (Steam), PS5 (with improvements for PS5 Pro) and Xbox Series X|S.The standard edition costs about $70.In Russia, the game is sold on Steam, the price of the standard edition is 4999 rubles.Eclipse Edition adds a digital world compilation, soundtrack and comic book.The game is designed for one player only, and the age limit is 18 years old due to extreme cruelty.

Verdict

The general conclusion of critics and players is the same: this is a strong and dark debut with great characters, unusual time mechanics and an atmosphere that many big RPGs lack.It is suitable for those who care about the plot and choice, and not endless activities on the map.Those who need the Russian language and those who do not tolerate repeated combat should be more careful with their purchase.Rebel Wolves calls the game the first chapter of a big saga, so there will definitely be a sequel.

The material was collected based on critics' ratings and player reviews, and not on our personal playthrough.