Should you force feed mom in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

Attempting to feed Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker — (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

The choice to force feed your mom Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker is a very difficult one, as on the one hand, it's clearly a brutal and unpleasant act, but on the other hand, it's made clear that keeping her strength up for Brencis' Mass later on is essential to her safety overall. If you're stuck on what to do, we've played out both outcomes to see the difference between them, and will lay out the right choice when it comes to force feeding her or not.

If you're still in the early hours, make sure you know what to do before Mass in The Blood of Dawnwalker!

Should you force feed your mom Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker?

Coen chooses whether to force feed his mother Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker — (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

When Pieter decides to force feed Esme in The Blood of Dawnwalker, you're given three responses.

All right. Let's try.
I won't feed her against her will.
She's gone to mass before. (optional)

Picking the third option simply brings you back around to the choice between the first two options, and of those, I suggest that you don't try to feed her against her will.

Coen is sent to get medicine after the force feeding choice in The Blood of Dawnwalker — (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Having played out both outcomes, there actually isn't a real difference between the consequences of both choices that I can see. If you try to force feed Esme, she ends up thrashing and knocking the food away regardless, and this all leads to the same outcome, wherein Coen is sent to obtain medicine for her.

So considering that she doesn't get fed either way and you end up in the same place, you might as well spare yourself the distressing sequence of trying to force her, and leave it be. Later on you might be reexperiencing a lot of this in the The Blood of Dawnwalker Home Sweet Home quest, so keep these places in mind.

Make sure you understand the prologue of the game and know what you're getting from it. Find out how to find the banner in The Blood of Dawnwalker for Gremla, how to make Anca's Recipe in The Blood of Dawnwalker and brew the medicine, or simply find out whether to stay with Anca or go in The Blood of Dawnwalker when she suggest that you wait out the storm with her and learn Latin.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.

With contributions from

Oscar Taylor-Kent Games Editor