The Blood of Dawnwalker Devs Discuss Making a Vampire Sport, Quests With Participant Company on the Forefront, and Extra

If The Blood of Dawnwalker is not already on gamers’ radars, it must be. The debut recreation from new studio Insurgent Wolves, The Blood of Dawnwalker, is a choice-driven motion RPG set within the Carpathian countryside, and it simply so occurs to characteristic loads of former Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 employees on its improvement staff. Judging from what was just lately proven off of the title, The Blood of Dawnwalker is exactly the form of recreation that ought to attraction to each followers of CD Projekt Purple’s earlier work and anybody with an curiosity in vampire fiction.

After an preliminary reveal trailer from which Insurgent Wolves was capable of acquire some fan suggestions and refine the event course of, the staff took The Blood of Dawnwalker to Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany, to indicate off its present state. As a part of that showcase, Sport Rant sat down with lead quest designer Rafał Jankowski and author Piotr Kucharski to debate what makes The Blood of Dawnwalker distinctive amongst vampire video games, and the way its quest design will really feel acquainted to anybody who enjoys branching pathways and selections with actual consequence. The next transcript has been edited for brevity and readability.

Blood of Dawnwalker’s Scope and the Journey So Far

Sport Rant: What does it really feel wish to get thus far? At Gamescom, you’ll be capable of present folks the experience of playing Blood of the Dawnwalker. What’s it like to succeed in that milestone?

Jankowski: I will converse from my coronary heart. That is the very first time ever for me to be taking part within the promotional marketing campaign for a recreation, and I am completely delighted with what’s taking place round right here. We have been capable of share some extent of perception concerning the recreation.

I feel it is truthful to say that we’re extraordinarily proud of how the entire improvement of the challenge is continuing and that we’re capable of share what’s taking place, how the entire thing is shaping up. Personally, I’m tremendous completely happy. I’m tremendous excited.

Kucharski: I like his reply; nothing so as to add right here [laughs].

Sport Rant: One of many issues that I feel is considerably distinctive concerning the recreation, particularly, is that you just confirmed off some gameplay, you bought some fan feedback, after which we noticed a response to that suggestions. What has that dialogue been like — speaking to gamers and studying what they’re and are not focused on about your recreation — and the way has that influenced the selections made?

Kucharski: We strongly consider that suggestions is an important issue when making video games, and we additionally consider that we’re making the sport for the gamers and that they know what they need. So, each time attainable, we attempt to hear, and if we are able to, implement the suggestions.

Typically you possibly can’t actually do something about that suggestions since you see the larger image, however the gamers solely see a glimpse. However I nonetheless assume all suggestions is viable; all suggestions ought to be listened to. Typically you would possibly assume that you just’re proper, but when lots of people let you know, “You know what, we would prefer something like this,” so long as you don’t should overhaul the entire thing, then perhaps it’s the fitting solution to go.

Jankowski: It was a fantastic alternative, sharing this piece of gameplay footage in June after which gathering some suggestions from the gamers, scrolling a little bit bit by way of YouTube feedback after which discussing the suggestions, contemplating our choices. It was a tremendous alternative to form the sport a little bit extra in step with gamers’ expectations. However yeah, I do agree that we see the larger image, so in fact we reserve ourselves to make the ultimate choices.

Sport Rant: I’m curious concerning the recreation’s scope, as a result of we noticed within the presentation a capability to expertise a mission or expertise attending to a conclusion two other ways, day or evening. Would you say that, all through the sport, gamers have alternatives to sort out issues in several methods?

Jankowski: The sport is all concerning the participant’s company, selection and consequence, proper? Therefore, the entire concept of getting this narrative sandbox. I like to emphasise how the sport’s structured. We give our protagonist a easy purpose to rescue his household. They have been captured by the prince, our antagonist, and the participant has 30 days and 30 nights to rescue them.

After which the entire world, the entire expertise opens up from there. We don’t actually have a principal quest arc main towards a particular purpose. Every little thing is form of non-compulsory within the recreation; you possibly can even attempt to storm the fortress straight away after the prologue. An especially troublesome process, so we encourage the gamers to discover the valley, discover content material that they discover fascinating, discover some allies perhaps, degree up, discover some gear, and so forth.

The entire expertise could be very open, and one other layer of it’s that lots of our quests have two paths — the day path and the evening path. We even have some content material that is time-of-day particular. Some issues can solely be completed throughout the evening, as a result of they require having access to some particular place.

Kucharski: There are additionally the branches inside branches. For instance, what we noticed right now will not be the one path to take. Earlier, we have been in search of a sigil, and we discovered it close to the treasury, however there are different methods to seek out that very same sigil. Some quests can be extra like that, and there will be very completely different branches and approaches — day, evening, and inside day and inside evening.

Some quests can be extra simplistic than that, as a result of generally the story does not actually need us to give you a number of completely different approaches. However to reply your query, it’s difficult. We work very intently with the writers and the designers; it is a very tight-knit operation. We’re like, “OK, so the place can do this, this, and this,” and as soon as the dialogues have been written, and we see how this little reply right here will impression one thing else so somebody will react another way. Truthfully, it’s one of the crucial satisfying emotions on the earth.

Jankowski​​​​​​: I’m a quest designer first, and I really like the problem coming from this difficult construction. As a result of, yeah — it is enjoyable figuring all of it out. I completely like it.

Kucharski: It is a puzzle.

Jankowski: Yeah.

Sport Rant: Having the ability to end the sport virtually instantly after the prologue, have been you inspired by Zelda?

Kucharski: [laughs] I do not know if we’re impressed by Zelda, however what I can say is that we wish to see these streams the place gamers determine they’re going to complete the sport in half-hour. That form of problem at all times sparks a really good dialogue between gamers, which is superior. And likewise, if we see folks try this, we’re like, “Great!”

Jankowski​​​​​​: Our principal inspiration in relation to the sport’s construction was Fallout — particularly, Fallout and Fallout 2. In these video games, the participant will get this sort of easy mission early on within the story, after which it is as much as them to determine how they wish to sort out it.

Sport Rant: What’s the expertise like of making your individual brand of vampires? What guidelines do you create? What do you borrow from? What do you make distinctive?

Kucharski: Effectively, to begin with, it is a fantastic expertise for me personally as a result of I’m an avid fan of the Vampire: The Masquerade RPG system. I’m even a recreation grasp. So once I obtained onto this challenge, I used to be like, “Dreams do come true,” actually. There’s a plethora of issues you possibly can draw from. We’ve got video games like Vampyr from Dontnod. You will have Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, fairly a number of titles to be impressed by.

And naturally, there’s the vampire media of tv and of films. You will have True Blood, for instance, a pleasant showcase of vampires dwelling amongst people, and everyone seems to be conscious of it. Nosferatu involves thoughts. Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, particularly, with the sport set in Carpathia. There’s the entire Romanian side. So quite a lot of issues to attract from, and it’s very thrilling. But it surely’s additionally thrilling, as you talked about, so as to add our personal twist to a few of the established vampire lore.

Jankowski: Early on throughout the improvement, we have been contemplating what vulnerabilities — these typical vampire vulnerabilities — we have been going to get within the recreation. We did take into account not permitting Coen to enter a home with out being invited, however it did not work out ultimately [laughs].

It is a query that we confronted early on in improvement. As a result of there are numerous, many vampire media already on the market, we needed to ask, “OK, how do we make it our own?” Arising with this beautiful distinctive protagonist — the human throughout the day, vampire throughout the evening — was our reply to that.

How Narrative and Gameplay Intertwine in Blood of the Dawnwalker

Sport Rant: When it comes to the other ways to sort out a quest, we did not see a ton of fight. How a lot of that mixing can gamers anticipate? May somebody play by way of a lot of the recreation with minimal or no combat?

Jankowski​​​​​​​: A “no combat” run is out of the query. The very first thing that involves my thoughts is that, once you storm the fortress, there can be opposition ready for you, proper? So fight is a vital a part of the expertise. We don’t provide a complete pacifist path, and we would like the gamers to have enjoyable with our fight system.

We’re placing quite a lot of effort into making it approachable at first once you begin messing round with it, after which it should pose some extent of problem to grasp it.

Kucharski: However you should have the chance in some quests to bypass the fight and simply discover a peaceable solution to deal with issues.

Sport Rant: What are the challenges concerned with creating an undead character who’s immortal, but additionally making it fascinating and interesting for gamers? How do you determine how a lot harm he takes, how a lot harm he offers, issues like that?

Kucharski: So Coen is a child vampire, OK? [laughs]. He is a really recent Dawnwalker, so he isn’t overpowered; he isn’t probably the most highly effective being within the valley. That helps us to regulate the problem. Our gameplay designers would most likely have a extra private reply than we do, however we wished Coen’s energy to tie into our narration.

We would like Coen to be somebody weak, and it means many various issues, together with in fight, in fact. Each human and vampire Coen — he has his weaknesses, his strengths. Designing that could be a problem, however I feel that we’re actually getting there.

Jankowski​​​​​​​: Yeah, undoubtedly. We do need the nighttime within the recreation to really feel harmful. The world that we’re creating is stuffed with many various creatures of the evening. A few of them do pose a problem to vampires. They won’t be an apex predator, however they’re highly effective, even when they’re not the end-all be-all.

Kucharski: There’s at all times an even bigger fish, proper? [laughs].

Jankowski​​​​​​​: Undoubtedly. We even have Blood Starvation. Coen’s powers come at a price; he must feed on different beings, and if that is ignored by the participant, it might trigger some unexpected penalties.

Blood of the Dawnwalker is a 30-Day and 30-Night time Story Encouraging A number of Playthroughs

Sport Rant: Are you able to give a way of how large the script for Blood of Dawnwalker is?

Kucharski: I am not conscious of the quantity proper now off the highest of my head, however there’s a quantity, and it’s fairly large [laughs]. Due to all of the branching tales and selections, we spent numerous time writing, rewriting, iterating, and so forth. I feel it’s proper up there with some greater titles, and also you’ll have quite a lot of dialogue to undergo.

Jankowski​​​​​​​: Nevertheless, in relation to the size of 1 playthrough, we assess it to be round 40 hours lengthy. Once more, that is simply an evaluation proper now throughout improvement; we’ll be capable of be extra positive about it in a while after we’re nearer to the discharge date. We would like this to be a satisfying, compact expertise, and the sport is designed for a number of playthroughs.

Sport Rant: We noticed that gamers had quite a lot of company when it comes to how they wish to sort out a quest, however how a lot company does the participant have within the character or notion of Coen as a vampire character? Are there selections that affect his relationships with different characters?

Kucharski: He is a pre-made character, in fact, so there are some boundaries that, as writers, we now have to maneuver round. What we aimed toward was that Coen is a really humane character together with his personal background that’s already established, but additionally, we wished our gamers to have the selection in how they wish to react to changing into a vampire.

Or how you consider Coen’s household, as a result of perhaps this can be a household that has some issues. Perhaps Coen will not be so very keen on his household. We would like you to craft your individual Coen, in a manner.

Gamers will make selections, and there can be reactions from NPCs. There can be fairly a number of characters with whom it is possible for you to to ascertain some form of a bond. And it may be all the pieces from being shut mates to being rivals who do not actually like one another however work with one another as a result of they should.

Sport Rant: You talked about that there is not one overarching quest, however there’s what looks like an overarching villain. How do you tie the villain into the alternatives the participant makes?

Jankowski​​​​​​​: We wished Brencis to be extra of a gift, proactive villain, so we devised this notoriety system for the sport. Some actions will make Coen’s notoriety develop. He’ll turn out to be increasingly recognizable within the valley, particularly by Brencis’ forces, which is able to make his life a bit tougher.

Then there’s one other layer for it. Brencis can be reacting to gamers’ actions by issuing edicts, new legal guidelines that change the scenario within the valley and the way the troopers behave. One instance is introducing curfews. We did not need him to simply sit on his throne ready for Coen.

Sport Rant: When it comes to designing quests, you do not wish to maintain gamers’ palms an excessive amount of, however you additionally wish to be sure that they’ve a transparent finish purpose. What’s the course of like of getting to perform this for multiple branching paths and determining the place all of the transferring items go?

Jankowski​​​​​​​: Effectively, there’s plenty of brainstorming, quite a lot of iteration. We begin with a paper design for a given quest, and we travel discussing the concept, the proposed paths, between ourselves and our colleagues. Then the paper design goes to the director of the given space, and we rapidly transition to implementing it so we are able to see the way it performs out on the display as quickly as attainable. We would like to have the ability to discover the weak spots in order that we are able to iron out the design.

The method is difficult, but additionally very enjoyable, as a result of it includes quite a lot of brainstorming and cooperation between quest designers and writers. Ultimately, I really feel like we are going to provide our gamers quite a lot of freedom.

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