A New Hope For Vampire RPG Fans On PC
Vampire fans have had a long wait for a truly great role playing experience on PC. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines became a cult classic thanks to its ambitious world, memorable characters and immersive role playing, even if it was buggy and rough around the edges. When Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 finally arrived in 2025, many PC players hoped for a modern version of that magic.
Instead, Bloodlines 2 delivered a very different kind of game. While it had its highlights such as the standout Malkavian detective companion Fabien it landed as a simpler and more streamlined experience. The game offered fewer meaningful side quests and a weaker sense of character progression than the original. For a lot of PC RPG fans it felt like a missed opportunity.
That disappointment has left players wondering if we will ever get a deep ambitious vampire RPG that really takes advantage of modern PC hardware and design ideas. The good news is that another project is waiting in the wings and it has serious RPG pedigree behind it.
From The Witcher 3 To A New Vampire World
The Blood of Dawnwalker is an upcoming dark fantasy RPG from Rebel Wolves a Polish studio founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz. PC gamers will instantly recognize that name. Tomaszkiewicz was the game director on The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt one of the most highly regarded PC RPGs ever made. That alone makes Dawnwalker worth paying attention to if you care about big story driven games on PC.
What makes this project even more interesting is why it exists at all. Tomaszkiewicz and the team had ideas that were simply too risky and experimental for a big established studio and a known brand. He has said that the team wanted to do something new and crazy and that the only way to make it real was to create their own studio instead of trying to convince a major company to take the risk.
That attitude is promising for PC players who love systems driven RPGs where choices matter. It suggests a game that is not just a safe copy of past hits but something that tries new mechanics and gives players more freedom in how they shape the story.
Time As A Core RPG Mechanic
The Blood of Dawnwalker casts you as Coen a half human half vampire protagonist on a quest for revenge. Powerful vampires have taken his family and seized control of a valley in the Carpathian Mountains. The main goal is simple take them down and get your family back but the way you do it is where the game becomes interesting.
Time is a central resource in Dawnwalker and it changes how both combat and story play out. Instead of just being a background detail day and night directly affect what you can do and how the world responds.
Daytime gameplay: During the day Coen is closer to human. Combat feels more grounded and relies on weapons and more traditional fighting styles. He can still use magic by tapping into hexes but he does not have full access to his vampiric strength.
Nighttime gameplay: At night Coen becomes a full predator. His vampire powers unlock and he can tear through enemies with claws and supernatural abilities. Night fights are more brutal and explosive and will likely reward aggressive play styles.
This duality encourages PC players to think tactically about when to tackle certain missions. You might choose to infiltrate a location during the day when guards are weaker but your powers are limited or return at night when you are stronger but the situation has changed and enemies may react very differently.
Branching Quests And Real Consequences
Time in The Blood of Dawnwalker is not just a flavor mechanic. It also shapes the narrative. Different quests and story paths can appear or lock away depending on whether you approach objectives in the daytime or at night. That means playing at different times can push the story forward in completely different directions.
Major characters may live or die based on when and how you decide to act. Even if the timing does not cause huge plot swings Rebel Wolves wants players to have the freedom to make harsh choices including killing important non player characters. This is a deliberate callback to older PC RPGs such as Morrowind where almost any character could be killed even if it broke quest lines.
For modern PC RPG fans this approach is refreshing. Many newer games protect key NPCs to keep the story on rails. Dawnwalker is aiming for a more old school style of freedom where the game trusts you not to ruin your own experience and lets you live with the outcomes of your decisions.
While the game clearly shares DNA with The Witcher 3 in terms of dark fantasy tone and narrative focus it is not just reskinning that formula with vampires. The time as resource idea and flexible story structure suggest something more experimental that could stand out in the current PC RPG landscape.
Why PC Players Should Watch This One
The Blood of Dawnwalker does not have a firm release date yet but it is expected to arrive next year. For PC gamers who felt let down by Bloodlines 2 or who just want a new deep RPG to test their rigs this is one to keep on the radar.
There are several reasons it is especially exciting for the PC crowd:
Strong RPG pedigree from the director of The Witcher 3
Ambitious systems built around time choice and consequence
Player freedom including the ability to kill important NPCs and accept the results
Vampire fantasy with clear mechanical differences between day and night gameplay
If Rebel Wolves delivers on its promises The Blood of Dawnwalker could be exactly what many PC players have been missing. A dark complex vampire RPG that respects your choices lets you shape the story and gives your hardware something meaty to chew on.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/if-you-thought-bloodlines-2-lacked-bite-remember-that-the-witcher-3s-director-left-cd-projekt-to-make-a-vampire-rpg-and-its-out-next-year/
