At the close of Summer Game Fest 2025 during the Xbox Games Showcase, fans got to catch a glimpse of The Blood of Dawnwalker – and from what developer Rebel Wolves is saying, the upcoming vampire RPG is shaping up to be quite something.
Speaking in a post-stream announcement on Xbox, Rebel Wolves creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz explores how the studio managed to strike a fun balance between human and vampire gameplay in protagonist Coen. "From the start, our goal was to make both of Coen's forms, human and vampire, equally engaging, fun, and meaningful to play," writes the lead. "Each brings unique abilities and influences the world, quests, and story in different ways."
Tomaszkiewicz, who previously worked on iconic CD Projekt Red RPGs like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, continues, explaining how Rebel Wolves wanted to properly nail the vampires in The Blood of Dawnwalker: "When it comes to vampires, we wanted to honor the classic vision – the elegant "nobility" of the night, while also introducing some twists that make our vampires stand out in more distinct, sometimes unsettling ways."
That's not all, though. There's some Nosferatu-esque lore in there, too. "To turn a human, a vampire must pull out one of their teeth and pierce the heart of their chosen target," states Tomaszkiewicz. "This ritual is one of our biggest changes to vampire lore, and it plays a crucial role in Coen's transformation into a dawnwalker." It didn't all work out for the main character, however – as the dev says, "something went wrong."
While Tomaszkiewicz doesn't spoil any further details, I can't help but be wildly excited at the prospect of a good vampire game with ties to both history and established mythology. Coupled with what he's said about The Blood of Dawnwalker featuring "combat that feels authentic" because they "studied medieval fighting styles and even have a few trained swordsmen on the team," this all has me thrilled to finally play the RPG in 2026.
Searching for more new games to wishlist? Here's a full rundown of the Summer Game Fest 2025 schedule to look back on for a better idea of what happened when.
