The first thirty seconds of The Blood of Dawnwalker's latest trailer had me begging for the end. Mostly because I, like many others, was successfully fooled into thinking it was a completely different game.
A doomed courier delivers a box to a high-rise apartment in some major city at the dead of night, and suddenly, I'm convinced this must be a Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 DLC. But Coen's sudden appearance – silver-streaked at the temples, strung out in an armchair, suckling on a bloodbag in the murky gloom – had me fully locked in. A modern-day scene in a late-medieval fantasy game makes absolutely no sense, but I should know by now to expect the unexpected when it comes to this upcoming RPG.
Catching up with developer Rebel Wolves at Summer Game Fest 2026, the beginning seems like a good place to start. Its modern-day teaser is a "promise" that The Blood of Dawnwalker's future extends beyond plans for a single game, game director and Rebel Wolves CEO Konrad Tomaszkiewicz tells GamesRadar+. "Our ambition is to create this series of games which will lead to this particular point and tell the story of Coen – not only Coen – and give players the opportunity to shape his character and see how it will end."
First blood
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Outlining plans for a series before releasing its debut game is a strong sign of confidence. So much so that, much like in The Witcher and Mass Effect trilogies, players will be able to carry their Blood of Dawnwalker saves between each game, preserving their world state and creating seamless continuity.
"When you have the last save, your choices will go with you," Tomaszkiewicz confirms of The Blood of Dawnwalker's finale, citing expertise with similar systems while directing The Witcher 3 at CD Projekt Red . "From the beginning, we were telling people that we're planning a saga, and right now, this is the proof that we are doing it."
Coen's journey already sounds fraught. Turned into a half-blood vampire after a marauding vampire clan besieges his 14th-century village, his supernatural powers only come out at night. By day, he channels rune-based magic and more traditional melee swordsmanship to fend off the vamps – despite being one of them himself.
As an immortal being, at least partially (those grey hairs glimpsed in the modern-day sneak peek suggest a slowed-down aging process), it makes sense that Coen's story might break temporal boundaries. But driving towards that future of an epic vampire saga, one spanning hundreds of years, is no mean feat. It requires writers like Piotr Kucharski to employ their own near-supernatural abilities: the gift of foresight, working not only from the ground up, but from the top back down again.
"It's challenging, there's no getting around this, but it's also so much fun," Kucharski shares. "Because we already know some bits of the story – we have this big structure, we know where we want to end it, and so on – it gives you [a] good cohesive starting point to talk about things.
"Having this cohesive structure when talking about ideas, we can [tell when an idea is cool] but will make it really difficult for us to work [from] in the future." This gives Rebel Wolves the confidence to scrap those moments for something more reliable and future-proof. "The structure we give ourselves is also something that really helps us, because you know you have something to build on, and it sometimes helps you to answer some questions really quickly."
Whether a specific number of games are planned is something the team can't comment on just yet.
The Blood of Dawnwalker "saga", as Tomaszkiewicz puts it, is "not necessarily" going to be a trilogy. "But obviously it cannot be too long, because creating these kinds of games takes time." Even a trilogy might take Rebel Wolves "eight years" from now to reach a prospective end – "if we're really fast" – so the focus is on creating a branching narrative with plenty of future-proofing.
For Kucharski, that starts with offering players choice and consequence. "To us the basic question was, does [each] choice have impact? And it doesn't have to be something, you know, long term," he says, using something like a "gut punch" as an example of a lower-stakes consequence for your actions. But we all know that revenge is a dish best served in the final act. "I love those moments when you make a choice, then you play for like three hours, and then you realize that there is a consequence in a different quest."
Tall tales
We were telling people that we're planning a saga, and right now, this is the proof
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
No matter where the road ahead takes The Blood of Dawnwalker, I can already hear the synovial pop of bones clicking into place as something remarkable takes shape.
"I have a lot of hopes that we will bring a new fresh feel to RPGs," director Tomaszkiewicz rounds off. Dawnwalker's narrative sandbox appeal is key in that, functioning in a "totally different" way to the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, but immersive combat is the second feather in Dawnwalker's cap. While he hopes players enjoy fighting as Coen, the focus is on grounding players in the world itself. "The meaning of immersion [is] that 'I'm there, I'm inside, I'm doing it, I need to pay attention, and I'm having fun.' Sometimes I'm just running and fighting because I like to do that.
"Those two things will show that there is still huge space for RPGs to evolve, and it's worth trying things – this action, inaction, and so on. It's also giving you this feeling of urgency in a good way that you believe in." With only 30 days and 30 nights to complete his task, each of Coen's actions could push the clock hands forward. "I believe that this difference between us and other RPGs is important, because I hope that we will be an inspiration for [developers], and before we finish the sequel, we also will be inspired by them."
