The First 5 is a busy gamer’s thoughts on the first five hours of a game. The main goal is to answer who I think the game is for, how the gameplay experience is, and whether it’s worth adding to your library. Today we will be talking about the latest vampire game experience, The Blood of Dawnwalker.
The Blood of Dawnwalker Key Facts
- Developed by Rebel Wolves
- Published by Bandai Namco
- Released September 3, 2026
- Dark Fantasy Action RPG
- Single Player Experience
- Cost $69.99 at Launch
So the game is not an everyday vampire story; it is a blend of Game of Thrones and Blade. You play as Coen, a young man who is trying to keep his Black plague-infected sister from the local rulers’ soldiers. They are trying to purge the plague, and killing people infected with it is easier than trying to cure it. So right before the pair are about to be murdered, a group of vampires, or as they are known in this world, vrakhiri, swoop in. Yes, they save the day in the most brutal and gory way possible. They then cure your sister by giving her blood, and the cutscene ends with a transition to the main menu screen. Just to be clear, this all happened during the opening cutscene (hell of a way to start).
First 5 Hours Of The Story **Lite Spoilers**
Within the first five hours of the story, you learn about a few core characters and that the vrakhiri, now rule the kingdom with a bloody fist. They are the government, the law, and even the church. Coen and his family are doing their best to live in this new vampire-run society, where the weak and those deemed criminal are drained of all their blood. His mother is mentally broken, his father is beyond angered, and there is a rebellion brewing among the mortals. Coen and his father are convinced to help the rebels, but it ended up being a trap. The big bad Vrakhiri leader, Brencis, kills most of them, then turns you into a vrakhiri in front of your father. But something goes wrong during the turning process, and Coen is now more than a simple vrakhiri. You are able to ignore direct commands from Brencis, basically turn human once the sun comes up, and as long as you drink enough blood, he does not become feral.
Brencis labels you defective and chains you to a tree to be killed by the sun, because your blood is mysteriously poisonous to him. Coen then wakes up as a semi-normal human in the care of a local witch named Anca who is tending to his wounds. This is where the world begins to open up. You learn that his family has been taken hostage and will be sacrificed in 30 days. Coen has a limited amount of time to weaken Brencis’ control while also building up the strength to take him down.
First 5 Hours of Gameplay
This game movement-wise will feel familiar to The Witcher 3. Combat feels like a blend of The Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance. You cannot simply button-mash your way through fights. Timing and stamina management are necessary even when fighting “weak” enemies. There is an omnidirectional blocking mechanic that can lead to parrying and abilities. During combat, a small shield will appear in the center of an enemy attacking you. It will show a light orange shield with a direction on it. If you, at the same time, block and move your left stick in the corresponding direction, you will successfully block. But if you do this right when the light orange shield turns dark orange, you can parry the attack.
During the daytime you have access to unarmed combat, witchcraft, and melee weapons. So far that includes various swords and even an axe. In the night, your claws, melee weapons, and vampiric abilities.
Combat within the first few hours was difficult for me because I was impatient. Died a lot to unnamed enemies and even got killed by a boar. Once you enter into a flow state with the blocking and parrying, you feel like you are in a light saber duel. Even though I was heavily outnumbered in a majority of the fights, my deaths came because of my mistakes or being underleveled.
Properly Leveled
Looking at the map, so far, there are no minimum recommended level markings on different areas, but I went a little too far south and got massacred. Initially I thought I just forgot how to play the game. Nope, getting one hit KO’d by basic enemies means you are not strong enough for that part of the world. So pro tip: if you are randomly obliterated, leave that area for when you are a higher level. Speaking of leveling, I made it over level 10 so far and have raised my vrakhiri corruption to level 3.
There are three skill trees: witchcraft, swordsmanship, and vampirism. They each have active and passive abilities that can range from boosting damage to turning into a wolf to traverse the world faster. With the vampirism abilities, some are locked behind a certain corruption level. So basically to get the full powers of a vrakhiri, you need to drain a lot of blood.
30 Days and 30 Nights
Coen only has 30 days to save his family, so time becomes a finite resource. Every mission and major task cost various segments of time. Learning certain abilities, participating in random NPC events, and completing a story mission all cost time. One positive and one negative about the time limit is that you cannot freely complete everything. You have to be somewhat intentional with what activities you participate in. While also pushing you to complete the story and not spend an ungodly number of hours running around doing anything else but the quest. Fear not; this is an open-world game, and there are clear indicators when you are about to spend some of your precious time.
After Five Hours…
The Blood of Dawnwalker is made for those who enjoy games similar to The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, and Shadow of Mordor. The game features fast-paced combat, a healthy amount of RPG mechanics, a world that is impacted by your choices, and the possibility of romancing a character. This game is a must-play for fans of action RPGs and vampires. I imagine based on the small amount of time I have had with the game that this title will have high replay value. The Blood of Dawnwalker, after five hours, stands out as a must-play game even though it has released during a competitive window of new games.
The Blood of Dawnwalker was played on a Lenovo LOQ 15 with an Xbox Series X Controller.
