The Witcher Devs New AAA Vampire RPG Sets Launch Date, 2026 GOTY Contender
Topics: The Witcher, CD Projekt Red
Featured Image Credit: Rebel Wolves
Topics: The Witcher, CD Projekt Red
Rebel Wolves has confirmed that The Blood of Dawnwalker is set to arrive in September of this year.
The studio, established by former CD Projekt RED developers, is preparing to launch its debut game, a dark fantasy, open-world AAA RPG.
Set within the 14th century in the fictional gothic kingdom of Vale Sangora, inspired by the topography of the Carpathian Mountains, The Blood of Dawnwalker follows protagonist Coen.
Coen is a young man turned ‘dawnwalker’, a being who exists across both the human and vampiric realms.
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Tasked with saving his family within a 30-day time frame, Coen must shift between his two identities to overcome the many obstacles in his way.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is now confirmed to be launching on 3 September across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
To celebrate this development, Rebel Wolves has dropped a new story trailer offering a glimpse at what players can expect.
I had the opportunity to preview The Blood of Dawnwalker at last year’s Gamescom and it very quickly became my most anticipated game of 2026.
As a human, Coen is a competent swordsman and can wield necromantic spells. As a vampire, however, Coen can ‘shadow-step’, reaching high-up locations, and utilise other deadly abilities.
In the hands-off preview, we were shown two iterations of the same mission where Coen had to acquire information at a cathedral.
How it played out during the day as a human is vastly different from how the mission played out at night as a vampire.
Players can choose which way they’ll approach The Blood of Dawnwalker’s missions, leading to great replayability as everyone will no doubt want to experience both versions of every quest.
There’s also a unique time mechanic at play in The Blood of Dawnwalker.
Coen must find his family in 30 days but there’s no timer per se as that would likely put a lot of players off.
Instead, main missions “cost” time bringing you closer to the end of that 30 day period whereas side quests and exploration-related content is not tracked, so you’re free to do as you please.
This is basically the formula in most games; the countdown towards the end just isn’t typically spoken about.
“At this stage, there’s little to dampen my spirits when it comes to The Blood of Dawnwalker,” I said in our preview.
“In a year that already promises to bring us GTA VI, Fable, and Resident Evil Requiem, it’s a testament to the game’s ambition that it’s just usurped them all to become my most hotly anticipated title of 2026.
“Rebel Wolves hasn’t just used its AAA experience to adapt the modern RPG formula; it’s seemingly created something altogether unique that’ll surely make a mark if it sticks the landing upon release.”
Bring on September.
READ MORE: The Blood of Dawnwalker Preview: My Most Anticipated Game of 2026 Just Arrived