Blood of Dawnwalker Is Meant to Hurt by Day and Hunt by Night
Playing The Blood of Dawnwalker as a human is supposed to feel hard. Playing as a vampire is supposed to feel powerful. That gap is deliberate.
Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz told Eurogamer that players should feel underpowered by day and dominant by night. The idea for the lead character, a Dawnwalker caught between forms, was built to work like a werewolf. Weaker in daylight. Stronger after dark.
Protagonist Coen did not fully turn into a vampire. By day he fights as a man. By night he fights with claws, fangs and blood-fuelled skills. The design favours the night.
The difference is in the details of combat. Vampire claw damage rises as Coen levels up, with no extra spending needed. As a human, he needs a better sword, found, bought or upgraded. That alone changes how each fight plays.
Survival works differently too. In human form, healing during a fight depends on crafted potions. In vampire form, Coen can bite enemies to restore health, or drink blood vials found in the world. Some vampire skills also add an extra segment of health that refills to full after combat.
Daytime is not without its own tools. Coen can use witchcraft abilities during the day that are locked at night. For new players, that trade-off takes some learning. Steel and spells by day. Speed and hunger by night.
The effect showed in testing. Eurogamer's reviewer failed an assault on the castle of the vampire Brencis while attacking by day as a human, then succeeded with the same mission at night as a vampire. Stealth, movement and raw damage all tilt after sunset.
The game can still be played and finished in human form. That choice matters because Coen has only 30 in-game days and nights to rescue his family, according to an earlier hands-on preview. Players who drink the blood of humans or animals also raise a corruption level tied to vampirism.
A new difficulty option is also on the way that would effectively replace Story mode, the easiest difficulty setting, as the current bottom rung, Eurogamer reported on 21 September. For fans, this means the day-night split stays, but there will be more room to tune how punishing it feels.
