The Blood of Dawnwalker’s ending officially revealed 3 months before release

Rebel Wolves Studio founder and game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz confirmed that the modern-day footage was from an end-credits scene in an interview with Polygon at Summer Game Fest Play Days. In discussing the upcoming game, it became quite clear that Rebel Wolves and Bandai Namco are already laying the groundwork to establish a connected franchise of games, like Mass Effect or The Witcher, and called their shot early by spoiling The Blood of Dawnwalker’s post-credits scene in its latest trailer.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is set in 14th-century Europe and follows the escapades of Coen, who has become a Dawnwalker and is trying to stop vampires from using the Black Death plague to their advantage. It’s an ambitious, Witcher-like RPG that Tomaszkiewicz claims will last up to 70 hours for players, and will be chock-full of choices that impact both the narrative, and how characters react to Coen on a personal level.

Despite how ambitious this project is, Tomaszkiewicz clearly sees the game as the first stepping stone on the path of a new marquee RPG franchise. When pressed about why the studio showed the post-credits footage set in the modern day early, his answers all reflected that sentiment. In fact, Tomaszkiewicz had franchise ambitions from when he started work on The Blood of Dawnwalker.

“We knew that it would be a saga,” Tomaszkiewicz said. “You know this way that we have a high-level story which we will tell through all parts of the game, which will lead to the modern times. It’s also an invitation and the promise for players that we will go through it together, through the different eras, different countries, different legends, different myths, and different species of the night. Different vampires, maybe?”

Image: Rebel Wolves/Bandai Namco

For now, though, the focus is squarely on Coen’s 14th-century adventure. Rebel Wolves appeared to be packing it with detail, as the developers told me it’ll have over 100 cutscenes and 500 dialogue exchanges for players to find. Players won’t be able to see everything either, since choices affect the flow at which certain content appears, and also because of its constant running clock.

Players won’t be able to see all of The Blood of Dawnwalker’s content in a single playthrough, as time will move forward when quests are completed and other actions are taken. Players will ultimately only have 30 in-game days and nights to complete the game. I asked narrative designer Piotr Kucharski how the development team accounts for the fact that they’re making content many players will not see, and he finds it equal parts challenging and rewarding.

“Whichever choice the players make, you have to make it a satisfying choice,” Kucharski explained. “I’m a big fan of failing forward, so even if you do something that is not a great attune for the character, you still get some bit of lore or some story bit that will be interesting to you. It is challenging, of course. There are so many branches, and within so many branches in the story we’re testing the quests and playing them and seeing and iterating them.

Those choices will have ramifications beyond The Blood of Dawnwalker, too. Another reason Tomaszkiewicz gave for showing the post-credits scene early was to give players an understanding that their choices will carry on to future games, so they should make sure they are “happy” with the save they wrap up the game with. Narratively, Kucharski teased that “even if they won’t find the answers right now in the first chapter of our story, there will be a big payoff on the way to the grand finale.”

Image: Rebel Wolves/Bandai Namco Entertainment

Finally, Tomaszkiewicz said that Rebel Wolves revealed the modern-day scenes during Summer Game Fest to motivate the development team, too. He confirmed that some developers in the concept art and writing departments are already working on The Blood of Dawnwalker’s sequel, and that “it’s better to have the plan and know how it will develop,” as early as possible.

Because Rebel Wolves has done this, the studio can stay consistent throughout the franchise, no matter what era future games are set in. He also hopes the franchise’s setting-hopping nature will help his dev team avoid burnout.

“For us inside [Rebel Wolves], it also has a meaning because it gives us the direction and the signposts of where we are going with the team,” Tomaszkiewicz explained. “I knew from experience that when you work a lot on one IP, you can burn out or be tired after that. We searched really hard for a way to not lead to that situation… We thought in our case, it will be moving to different eras to expand the feature list to tell different stories, explore different lessons, and the history of different countries.”

Image: Rebel Wolves/Bandai Namco Entertainment

It can be concerning when companies put the car before the horse when crafting a franchise. In The Blood of Dawnwalker’s case, though, it seems Rebel Wolves is being so open about the franchise’s future because it truly wants to create the next Mass Effect or The Witcher-like RPG saga. While it’s a bummer that they had to spoil a post-credits scene in order to ensure that players were on board with the game’s ambitious sale, Tomaszkiewicz seems confident that Rebel Wolves has a hit on its hands.

“The team is happy, excited, scared, panicking,” he joked. “At the same time, we’re really excited for the next things we will do. It’s a really interesting time, but also this is the time when we will take our child and show it to the world and see how people will react to it. I’m confident, and I know it will be good.”

The Blood of Dawnwalker will be released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on Sept. 2. Tomaszkiewicz isn’t concerned about coming out in such a crowded month, and told Polygon, “I think that the RPG audience is huge and that people are waiting for games like ours.”