The Blood of Dawnwalker lands first trailer that gives big The Witcher vibes

The Blood of Dawnwalker’s first trailer is here in all of its dark and twisted glory, though it might be some time before we see any The Blood of Dawnwalker achievements. The trailer has some wonderful echoes of one of the best Xbox RPGs — The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt — with the ex-CD Project developers at studio Rebel Wolves loudly showcasing their heritage.Kes’ Take — The new AAA RPG from Rebel Wolves has shades of The Witcher (and that’s okay)The Blood of Dawnwalker is a new AAA action-RPG coming to Xbox Series X|SDeveloper Rebel Wolves is formed of ex-CD Projekt Red developersIn the first trailer, you can feel The Witcher’s DNA shining through in the music, landscapes, and fantasy settingWe have the first trailer for an action RPG that should be on your radar — The Blood of Dawnwalker. Being made by Rebel Wolves, a developer formed primarily of ex-CD Projekt Red staff, the dark fantasy theme is in full swing, and its AAA budget is on show in the first trailer. I’ve embedded it below, so check it out, and then tell me it doesn’t give you more than a little hint of The Witcher.To be fair, if a lot of your development team has worked on The Witcher 3 — the greatest RPG of the Xbox One generation — you should probably dive into some of what made that game great in your new project. Rebel Wolves seem most comfortable with a return back to dark fantasy for their Xbox Series X|S debut in an open-world RPG where you play as Coen, a Dawnwalker.In a world of vampires, humans, monsters, and plagues, Coen will be straddling the world of day and night, human and beast, to try and save his 14th-century European homeland. There will be a Persona-like mechanic of a ticking clock on your questlines, and it sounds very much like player choice will be at the heart of a diverging narrative.I think what pushes The Blood of Dawnwalker and The Witcher comparisons from ‘famous ancestor’ to a ‘matching DNA’ are the shared themes and tone. It’s not just the dark fantasy genre, but The Blood of Dawnwalker also seems to be all about player agency and grey morality — how do you shape the response to a complex moral problem? We only just saw this appear in The Witcher 4’s reveal trailer, too.Then you have your monstrous protagonist, here it is a Dawnwalker which seems to be a half-monster staddled between worlds in Rebel Wolves’ lore. Does that remind anyone else of our favorite Geralt of Rivia — half-man, half-mutant? Our human civilization is even on the verge of breaking from the Black Death here and from the Nilfguardian War over there!The Blood of DawnwalkerA few other callbacks I loved were things like the score by Mikolai Stroinski, which has that Polish folk influence, much like one of his other projects — The Witcher 3. I mean, The Blood of Dawnwalker’s setting is also heavily influenced by medieval European society, with the landscape bringing that rolling green grass and snowcapped mountains of southern Poland and north Slovakia in the Tatras to mind. Again, The Witcher 3 also used its developers’ homeland as an influence in these areas.I bring all this showcased DNA forward not to slight The Blood of Dawnwalker, but because it fascinates me. There is something about the tone and setting of The Witcher’s continent that appealed to me over other fantasy RPGs. This first trailer for Rebel Wolves’ new game has recaptured both those things wonderfully, and now I’m excited to see how it differs from its RPG heritage.In any case, I’m hoping we get a double dose of dark European fantasy on our list of best open-world games by the time Dawn of Bloodwalker comes out. We have no release window just yet, but we will be seeing more gameplay in Summer 2025. So, thoughts on the trailer TrueAchievements team? Is anyone else really vibing with the tone and setting? Let me know in the comments below!



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