The Blood of Dawnwalker is a thrilling RPG, but leaves a number of loose threads in its wake. It's one of my favorite new games of 2026 all the same, especially since I have faith that developer Rebel Wolves will shed some light on all my questions come the second game in this potential "saga".
Even though I've not long rolled credits on Coen's first adventure, I'm already imagining what might come next. There are a handful of things I'd love to see addressed in The Blood of Dawnwalker 2, from Vicho (fie on all who let him die) to the lasting consequences of welcoming every vrakhir under the moon into Coen's own head, but let's start with six of my most pressing questions after finishing The Blood of Dawnwalker.
1. What's Lacra's deal with the Arbiters and Council of Augurs?
At the end of The Blood of Dawnwalker, Coen gets a few nasty surprises: the rest of his family survived the ordeal, but little sister Lunka is now a feral half-vampire. Brencis called it a parting gift to ensure his victory even in defeat, which is pretty mean considering I forgave him after all that and invited him into my head. Anyway, right as you try to administer a potion concocted by Anca, which may or may not actually work, another one of Coen's potential flames enters, pursued by a man in a hooded cloak.
The man is an Arbiter, he explains, a fellow Dawnwalker sent to Vale Sangora on behalf of a mysterious organization called the Council of Augurs – and it sounds like Lacra is one of them as well. He tells Coen that the only cure for Lunka is to transform her into a proper vrakhir, and he also wants Coen to come with him… Somewhere.
I'm not sure if I only got this scene because I stormed the castle with Lacra instead of with Crake or going at it solo, but with so many unanswered questions (what is an Arbiter? Who is the Council and what do they want?), I'm going to need Rebel Wolves to make haste on this sequel ASAP.
2. What happened to Coen's mother?
We know that Esme, Coen's mother, suffered a terrible trauma that caused her to experience a break from reality. It happened before the events of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and while we do get glimpses of what might have contributed to it – the tragic death of Coen's little brother Alin, her husband Pieter's past as a roving merc-for-hire – there seems to be a lot more to it.
Even if we never meet Esme and Pieter again in the Dawnwalker saga, I hope that doesn't spell the end to my mission to learn more about Coen's family history. He has his little sister Lunka in tow, after all, and even a vrakhiri child will want to know more about where she came from. Some of my favorite missions in The Blood of Dawnwalker provide further insights into who Coen is and where his family came from. Even my most-hated quest of all tugged at my heartstrings and offered some of the best written moments in the whole game, so I hope Rebel Wolves isn't done with the Laslea clan's lore drops just yet.
3. What's with the confusing title?
Every games journalist I speak to about The Blood of Dawnwalker has made the same comment about its title – when you have to write it out as often as we do, it's hard not to grumble about how it simply doesn't make sense. Coen is the Dawnwalker, so if the whole game is predicated upon the unique powers granted by his tainted blood, why isn't it titled Blood of the Dawnwalker?
I think we got half the answer during The Monk and the Saint, a mission that takes Coen deep beneath Svartrau Cathedral on the hunt for the Sword of St. Mihai. The old Saint was a Dawnwalker himself, interestingly enough, and when we fight and defeat his decaying corpse, he has some words of wisdom for Coen.
It's clear that Dawnwalkers, while rare, had been around for some time. If Coen isn't Patient Zero, perhaps there is one out there who is the Dawnwalker? Then again, with Dawnwalkers not having the eternal lifespan of a full vrakhir – they do age, albeit much slower than mortals – the likelihood of this primordial being still drawing breath in Coen's age is rather slim. Unless it was St Mihai himself, and we just killed him. I'd love to see the next games digging deeper into the history of Dawnwalkers.
4. What will happen to the 30-day timer?
Rebel Wolves has already admitted that the RPG's 30 day timer will not necessarily return in a sequel. It's a great way to push urgency in The Blood of Dawnwalker; the timer counts down the days until Brencis' coronation and, consequently, the day Coen's family will meet a grisly end unless he can stop it.
It makes sense that unless Coen is under a similar time constraint in Dawnwalker 2, having an hourly currency might not make sense. But the time limit, contentious as it may be, has become something of a unique selling point for the game. It's a novel quirk that gets people talking, so if Rebel Wolves is considering doing away with it in a future installment, it'll be scrambling to find another clever way to add some friction to Coen's next adventure.
5. Will our "invited" guests stay for long?
As we slay Brencis' court in The Blood of Dawnwalker, we are given a choice: invite the defeated vrakhiri into our minds to save them from Anachora (aka, some sort of vampire hell), or leave them to be torn apart by this terrifying nothingness. I was feeling particularly benevolent – or curious – and decided to welcome every single one of them into Coen's head. Including Brencis and Isbrand.
This made for some pretty amusing epilogue comments (Brencis teases Coen about being too shy to go and visit Anca in her hut) but it begs the question: will I be subjected to this constant chorus for the rest of my time in the Dawnwalker saga? And if so, can Isbrand be a bit less shouty?
6. Will any of our romance interests show face again?
With Dawnwalker set to span a "saga" and that infamous flash-forward to Coen in modern day, it makes sense that the next games might jump into the future. But with the epilogue scene giving us a rundown on what happened to the people Coen met on the way (depending upon how you handled the outcome of each character's stories), I'm a bit confused. From Lacra to Vicho and Crake, Coen details what became of each person in the aftermath of his assault on Greifberg Castle.
Does this scene mean that we won't be seeing many of our new friends in future Dawnwalker games? Or is it meant to give us a snapshot of what happens to them in the years between this game and future ones? Because I, for one, will not rest until I get the slow burn Coen/Vicho romance I have been yearning for since I first met the unstable yet sweet, self-hating bloodsucker.
We're playing The Blood of Dawnwalker for this month's RPG Club - have you joined?
