Konrad Tomaszkiewicz wants The Blood of Dawnwalker to be the "Holy Grail" of role-playing games. A layered experience that "moves a video game closer to the pen and paper RPGs" that he grew up playing – that inspired him to move into game design, where he has helped to bring shape to iconic adventures such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 during his time at CD Projekt RED.
Tomaszkiewicz is now heading up Rebel Wolves as its CEO and game director. The independent studio was founded in 2022 by former CDPR veterans looking to break free of the AAA model, and is now home to over 150 creators who hail from Capcom, Epic, Guerrilla, Lionhead, Techland, and beyond. Together, this group is applying the final layers of polish to The Blood of Dawnwalker ahead of its PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X release on September 3, 2026.
GamesRadar+ flew out to Rebel Wolves' headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, to get a behind-the-scenes look at this upcoming RPG. What we found was something quite unexpected, an open-world adventure that is putting player agency – your ability to truly roleplay within a virtual world – above everything else. "We strive to have emotional and engaging stories, with characters that you'll love and hate, within our narrative sandbox – all while we maximize player choice within the environment," says creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz.
The result is this labyrinthian experience, where every choice you make has a consequence that ripples outwards – often in ways that are difficult to anticipate. The Blood of Dawnwalker runs on an internal clock, with meaningful decisions pushing the worldstate forward one action at a time. And as day transitions to night, so too will you – Coen exists as a human by day and vampire by night, one state driven by curiosity the other by power. How you reckon with this dichotomy is at the heart of Dawnwalker's action.
Join us daily for this GamesRadar+ Special Edition that explores what The Blood of Dawnwalker says about the Future of RPGs. You'll hear more from the Tomaszkiewicz brothers on their approach to RPG design; lead quest designer Rafal Jankowski reflects on the openness of Dawnwalker's systems; environment artist Adam Payet touches on the challenges of sculpting such a reactive world; and plenty more voices from the studio will join us to help you dive deeper into the game.
Join us daily between April 28 - May 3 to explore the Future of RPGs with GamesRadar+
Exclusive Access
Rebel Wolves gave us a first look at the opening hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker. In this new preview, we got a better sense of how the labyrinthian narrative sandbox that powers this adventure will work, where every decision you make has some consequence on the world, characters, and quests you can complete in service of saving your family from ancient vampires.
There are a lot of fantastic looking RPGs scheduled to land in 2026, but after seeing The Blood of Dawnwalker this debut game from Rebel Wolves may just be our most anticipated. If you're short on time, read this quick recap to find the five reasons this immersive open-world RPG will be simply unmissable if you're a fan of your choices having profound consequences.
Dive Deeper
Creative Concept
Inside Rebel Wolves' desire to "get a few steps closer to pen-and-paper RPGs"
Story Focus
Why Rebel Wolves isn't afraid of creating its own vampyric folklore for The Blood of Dawnwalker
Combat Focus
The Blood of Dawnwalker devs "were afraid that people wouldn't want to play as human Coen"
New Blood of Dawnwalker gameplay
New Blood of Dawnwalker screenshots
