The Blood of Dawnwalker Will Give Players the Freedom to Skip Meeting Entire Factions in the Story

Developer Rebel Wolves has made no secret of the fact that one of the biggest features about upcoming RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker will be the concept of the “narrative sandbox”. In a recent interview with Xbox Wire, creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz spoke quite a bit about the idea, revealing that giving players the freedom to approach the story how they want also means that they might miss things.

“We wanted to give players as much control over the narrative as possible — a clear objective, but many paths to achieve it,” said Tomaszkiewicz. “That, to us, is the unique strength of video games as a storytelling medium: player agency. The way the game adapts to your actions.”

He explains that this also means that players will have to make choices regarding protagonist Coen’s status as a vampire, as well as how he interacts with various factions. For example, Coen can decide to align with a human rebellion, or even never end up meeting the rebellion despite finishing the game.

“Some players might embrace their vampire side and give in to its temptations,” he explained. “Others might cling to their humanity and reject the monster within. You can align with the human rebellion or finish the game without ever meeting them. You can take the fight to Brencis at any time, choosing from multiple paths to do so.”

“This open, player-driven approach is what we call the narrative sandbox. It’s the philosophy at the core of our storytelling.”

Tomaszkiewicz also spoke about how combat will work in The Blood of Dawnwalker, explaining that Coen will have access to classic medieval fighting styles owing to his training at his father’s hands. Coen can also go on to learn magic. Tomaszkiewicz explained that the spellcasting in The Blood of Dawnwalker will be “darker and grounded”, and will be tied to the concepts of blood, heat and air.

“As a human, he also learns how to use magic — raw, ritual-based, with dark, primordial origins,” he said. “We’re not going the high fantasy route with colorful explosions. Our spells are darker and grounded — tied to blood, heat, and air that seems to pulse and breathe. The visuals can be striking, but in a more visceral, eerie way. To cast a spell, you first have to literally open up your body to the occult by carving runes and becoming a living conduit. Magic flows through you.”

This has been far from the first time Tomaszkiewicz spoke about the freedom that players will have in the “narrative sandbox” offered by The Blood of Dawnwalker. Back in February, he revealed that players will have complete freedom to kill NPCs that might even be important to the story.

In yet another interview from back in January, Tomaszkiewicz explained that the term “narrative sandbox” comes from the method used by Rebel Wolves to create the world, story and quests in The Blood of Dawnwalker.

The Blood of Dawnwalker recently got a trailer revealing its gameplay, as well as letting us know that it will come to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.