2025
January. Official Reveal
The Blood of Dawnwalker was officially revealed on January 13-14, 2025 with a cinematic trailer showing the game's setting, Coen, and the vampire-ruled valley of Vale Sangora.
Throughout 2025: The Secret History of Vale Sangora
Rebel Wolves released a sixteen-part promotional lore series written in-character by Albertus Taurinus, a fictional chronicler documenting the valley's history. The series established Vale Sangora's pre-vampire culture, religious sites, folklore, and the political situation under Skender Dragosti before the Vrakhiri takeover.
June. Xbox Games Show
The first gameplay trailer debuted at the Xbox Games show on June 8, 2025, confirming a 2026 release window and showing combat, the day/night split, and Vale Sangora's environments.
June. Gameplay Deep Dive
On June 21, 2025, Rebel Wolves held a 50-minute gameplay deep dive livestream showing over 20 minutes of pre-beta footage. Systems shown included directional combat, hex magic (Burning Blood, Feral Mind, Compel Soul), vampiric abilities (Shadowstep, Plane Shift, Plague Shift, Clawride, Blood Whips), the three skill trees, and equipment.
August. Gamescom
Press saw approximately 25 minutes of hands-off gameplay set in and around the Svartrau Cathedral. The same quest was shown twice, once during the day (investigation, Compel Soul hex, NPC dialogue) and once at night (stealth infiltration, murohni fight, Dawnwalker boss). Multiple outlets noted Dishonored and Arkham influences in the night gameplay.
November. Bulletin Board #1: Vrakhiri
Community Bulletin Board #1, titled "Vrakhiri, Our Vampiric Masters," introduced the four Vrakhiri in detail: Brencis, Xanthe, Ambrus, and Bakir. Voice actors were announced for all four.
Late 2025. Additional Shows
The game appeared at PAX, TwitchCon, and Poznan Game Arena (PGA). A longer gameplay show in November demonstrated a more polished build.
December. Bulletin Board #2: Svartrau
Bulletin Board #2, "Svartrau Town Crier," detailed the time system (hourglass icons, time only advances through quest completion and dialogue), the Blood Craving mechanic, daytime magic, and the moral complexity of the Vrakhiri ("no black and white morality").
2026
January. Bulletin Board #3: Music
Bulletin Board #3, "Music in Our Blood," revealed the three soundtrack composers (Kolodziejczyk, Musial, Stroinski) and named three tracks: "Ballad of Night and Day," "Battle of Retribution," and "Desperate Measures."
January. Launch Year Trailer
On January 3, 2026, Rebel Wolves released a "Launch Year Special" trailer confirming 2026, debuting the main theme (AUKSO Chamber Orchestra). This shows new characters and locations, and featuring gameplay from a PC beta build. The key art of Coen under a solar eclipse was revealed.
January. Community Q&A
On January 27, 2026, the team held a community Q&A. Key reveals: garlic is useless against vampires, no horse (supernatural traversal instead), armor but no helmets, game scope grew beyond Blood and Wine DLC size, the game continues after 30 days, and confirmed creature types including murohni, kobolds, uriashi, likho, and psoglavi.
February. Bulletin Board #4: Under the Eclipse
Bulletin Board #4 revealed key art by Wojtek Fus, named Coen's sword Peregrini Aurorae (Dawn's Pilgrim), detailed the three Hex Magic categories (offensive, defensive, investigative), and described the rune scars on Coen's left arm. Concept art by Damian Bajowski was also shown.
April. Road to Launch Event
On April 28, 2026, Rebel Wolves hosted a Road to Launch livestream from the studio, fronted by Dominika Burza, the studio's global community lead. The stream confirmed the official release date, opened pre-orders, revealed the four editions, and bundled three major in-engine reveals: a Story Trailer, a Gameplay Overview Part III narrated by writer Ariana Siarkiewicz, and a behind-the-scenes feature on combat motion capture.
Release Date
The Blood of Dawnwalker was confirmed for release on September 3, 2026, launching simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders opened the same day, with a Sangoran Wayfarer's Armour Set announced as the pre-order bonus armour for Coen. The set is also obtainable in-game later by players who did not pre-order, so no content is permanently locked behind the pre-order window.
Story Trailer
The new Story Trailer revealed that Brencis’s coronation as a prince is set to take place in 30 days, framing the central deadline of the 30-Day Cycle. The trailer introduced several members of Coen’s family and village, alongside Coen, Lunka, and Brencis. His mother Esme was named at the reveal; his father and two other siblings appeared unnamed until a June 30, 2026 lore bulletin identified them as Pieter, Yanna, and Mirto:
Marat, a leader within the rebellion against the vrakhiri.
Yanna, Coen’s second-oldest sibling, later named in the June 30 lore bulletin.
Mirto, another of Coen’s younger siblings, later named in the June 30 lore bulletin.
Esme, Coen’s mother.
Pieter, Coen’s father, a former mercenary who worked the silver mines, later named in the June 30 lore bulletin.
Anca, a village healer who had also been teased in the January 2026 launch year trailer.
Lacra, another villager previously teased in the January 2026 trailer.
Gameplay Overview Part III
Writer Ariana Siarkiewicz narrated a roughly in-engine Gameplay Overview captured on PC. The video stitched together a wide cross-section of systems and progression mechanics:
Vantage points used to scout Vale Sangora and mark points of interest from elevation.
Wolf transformation introduced as an early-game perk that lets Coen travel quickly at night, described by the team as their nod to the original Dracula novel and to the studio's Wolf Pack identity. The game has no horse, so the wolf form fills the long-distance traversal role.
Mercurial Fervour, a hex magic effect used to move quickly during the day to balance against the night-time wolf form.
Combat abilities demonstrated in the cut: Death from Above, Voracious Bite, Piercing Shriek, Charge, Broad Swing, Burning Blood, and Ravenous Flock.
The Precision perk, earned by finding and reading a manual rather than purchased on a tree, signalling that some perks come from world exploration.
Quick Selection, a streamlined ability hotbar UI that replaces the earlier skill wheel. The studio attributed the change to community feedback on previous gameplay showings.
Haunted sites that can only be entered during the day and reward ancient texts, tying daytime exploration into the lore economy.
Shrines that act as fast travel points and double as the only places where perks are purchased. Each perk costs experience points plus a segment of time, shown by an hourglass icon, reinforcing time as a resource.
An officer infamy and aggression system, an extension of the broader notoriety system, with Ambrus's blood warehouses presented as the example officer activity that escalates pressure on the player.
Editions
Four editions were revealed during the stream:
Standard Edition, a digital release of the base game.
Eclipse Edition, a digital release that adds a digital world compendium, a digital comic book, and the digital soundtrack.
Day One Edition, a physical first print of the Standard Edition for retail worldwide while supplies last, including a SteelBook and a printed map of Vale Sangora.
Collector's Edition, which bundles everything in the Eclipse Edition together with a physical world compendium and a Coen figurine. Available through Bandai Namco stores and selected retail partners.
Tech Requirements
The stream presented a tech requirements infographic across minimum, recommended, and ultra targets, produced by graphic designer Mateusz. This was the first official spec guidance for PC players ahead of pre-order; the studio later revised the minimum and recommended figures downward in a June 23, 2026 optimization update.
Behind the Scenes
A behind-the-scenes feature focused on combat performance. Stunt coordinator Maciej Kwiatkowski provided the motion capture performance for Coen. Former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jan Błachowicz performed the role of the vampire boss Bakir, grounding the boss fight in real MMA strikes and grappling.
Developer Panel
A dev panel closed out the stream with Lead Gameplay Animator Daria Bury-Zawada, Writer Piotr Kucharski, Producer Dorota Rutkowska, and Senior Level Designer Maciej Wiśniewski. They discussed the Polish mountains as a visual reference for Vale Sangora, the active weather system covering rain, fog, and snow, the use of environmental storytelling through notes, letters, and traces of past events, and the intentional moral ambiguity of Vrakhiri rule, weighing the blood taxation of vrakhiri governance against the tyranny of the prior mortal lords.
June. Summer Game Fest
At Summer Game Fest on June 5, 2026, Rebel Wolves and Bandai Namco premiered a new trailer for The Blood of Dawnwalker that mixed cinematics, gameplay, and story from the game's launch content. Alongside it, the studio reaffirmed that this first chapter tells a complete, self-contained story: a definitive conclusion shaped by the player's choices, set entirely in the 14th century with no cliffhangers or unresolved plot threads.
The same showcase closed with a separate CGI teaser for the wider Dawnwalker Saga. Future installments were confirmed as standalone games spanning different centuries, continents, and cultures, each with its own self-contained story and no time-travel or cliffhanger connective tissue. The modern, present-day imagery shown in that teaser belongs to the future direction of the series rather than to The Blood of Dawnwalker, which remains set wholly in its 14th-century valley.
June. Community Bulletin Board #9: Coen’s Roots
On June 30, 2026, Rebel Wolves published Community Bulletin Board #9, "Coen’s Roots." It detailed Coen’s home village of Laslea, his family, and his childhood: his father Pieter (a former mercenary who taught him swordsmanship and worked the silver mines), his mother Esme, and his three younger siblings Yanna, Mirto, and Lunka. It confirmed that Coen secretly studies Latin and reaffirmed that vampire blood has healing properties, the mechanism Brencis used to force the valley into submission during the plague.
July. Deep Down Gameplay
In early July 2026, roughly eight minutes of new gameplay from an early quest called Deep Down were released. The footage showed a still-human Coen exploring an underground tomb in search of a missing villager, using Focus Mode to read murals for hidden lore and loot before a boss fight against The Forgotten Guardian.
July. Hands-On Previews and Two Million Wishlists
In early July 2026, the first hands-on previews went live, built on roughly four-hour sessions with the prologue. Reception was broadly positive, highlighting the day and night split, the eight-segment time system, and the risk of Coen losing control and feeding on an NPC mid-conversation. On July 10, 2026, Rebel Wolves announced that the game had passed two million wishlists, up from one million in January and roughly 1.5 million in June, and reaffirmed the September 3, 2026 release date.
July. Gone Gold
On July 15, 2026, Rebel Wolves announced that The Blood of Dawnwalker had gone gold, roughly seven weeks ahead of the September 3 launch. The studio paired the announcement with a short line about Vale Sangora awaiting players. Going gold means the build submitted for certification and manufacturing is final, which also lines up with the confirmation that the console disc carries the complete game.
July. Gamescom 2026 Appearance
On July 21, 2026, the studio confirmed it would bring a booth to gamescom 2026 in Cologne, running August 26 to 30. Unlike the hands-off Gamescom 2025 showing, this one is playable: the announcement invited attendees to play The Blood of Dawnwalker at the booth and to talk to the developers there. It is also the first time the public rather than press would go hands-on, and it places the last major public showing about a week before release.
July. Exclusive Quest Gameplay
A further gameplay segment built around a single quest went out on July 21, 2026 as part of a month-long preview push. It followed the same pattern as the earlier Deep Down footage: an early-game quest played through in full rather than a cut-together montage.
July. Developer Q&A
A developer question-and-answer session on July 19, 2026 settled several outstanding questions: the PC version uses no third-party anti-tamper DRM, there are no minigames, and the open world holds hidden treasures, monster nests, ancient ruins and bandit camps to find. The team also confirmed multiple epilogues and a plan for smaller free post-launch add-ons.
July. The Sanzhana Revealed
A late-July interview introduced the Sanzhana, winged creatures who buy teeth harvested from the dead and pay in time manipulation. Creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz framed them as a deliberate exception to the game's otherwise fixed time economy.
July. Bulletin Board #10: Swordmastery
Published July 29, 2026, the tenth Community Bulletin Board covered combat in depth. It confirmed the omniblock and omniattack options alongside the fully directional approach, the Historical European Martial Arts research behind the animation, the three-phase construction of every attack, and books as a source of new techniques. It also answered a long-standing community question about weapon variety, naming short, long and great swords plus axes and other pickups. See Combat and Equipment and Crafting.
August. Stories from Vale Sangora
On August 3, 2026 the studio streamed a roughly 38-minute session in which its writers told lesser-known stories from the valley, presented as an evening of secret tales rather than a systems showcase.
August. Steam Achievements Revealed
On August 10, 2026 the studio published the achievement list: 46 in total from launch day, 25 visible and 21 hidden. The post named a large share of the visible ones and, in doing so, confirmed several mechanics that had not been stated outright before, including a level cap of 50, the denarii currency, the Artery Strike execution, Perfect Blocks, and an ultimate perk in each of the three skill trees.
August. Everything You Need to Know
A pre-launch overview trailer went up on August 13, 2026, walking through the main features and mechanics with under a month to go. It leaned on the duality of Coen's nature and how that changes the available playstyles depending on the time of day. The same post pointed buyers at the edition line-up and an unboxing of the Collector's Edition.
August. Edition Guide
On August 18, 2026 the publisher put out a full breakdown of the four editions: Standard, Day One, Eclipse and Collector's. The guide confirmed that the Day One Edition carries the same price as the Standard Edition, that Eclipse digital content can be bought later as an upgrade on top of Standard or Day One, and that no edition grants early access. Every buyer starts on September 3, 2026 regardless of which version they hold.
August. Launch Trailer at Gamescom
The Launch Trailer premiered during gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, 2026, and the studio published it alongside a written announcement the following day. The trailer is framed as a final look before release, running through the journey across Vale Sangora and the confrontation with Brencis. Game director and co-founder Konrad Tomaszkiewicz used the announcement to point players at the studio's playable booth: “We also hope that today’s trailer will encourage even more players to visit our booth at gamescom in Hall 6.1 and try our game.” The booth ran in Hall 6.1 across the show, which took place August 26 to 30, 2026 in Cologne.
August. Bulletin Board #11: Skills and Power
The eleventh community bulletin board went up in late August 2026 and is the clearest first-party statement of how progression works. It names the three trees as Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism, and confirms that all three draw on one shared experience bar and one kind of skill point that can be spent anywhere the player likes. It also sets out what earns experience, that unlocking an ability costs skill points and time together, and that Swordmastery and Witchcraft abilities are gated behind manuals while Vampirism tiers are gated behind Corruption. See Skill Trees.
September. Launch
The Blood of Dawnwalker released on September 3, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Each region unlocked at midnight Central European Summer Time rather than in a single worldwide instant, and pre-loading had opened two days earlier. The studio asked players to hold off on streaming until the global PC unlock had passed.
A day-one patch shipped with the release, described by the publisher as a further polish pass over the whole game. The opening cinematic was published in full on the same day.
September. Hotfixes
Two PC hotfixes followed inside forty-eight hours. Hotfix 1.0.2 arrived on release day and hotfix 1.0.3 the day after. See Update History for what each one changed.
September. Reviews
The review embargo lifted on August 31, 2026, three days ahead of release. Aggregate critic scores settled in the low eighties out of a hundred across roughly sixty reviews, with none recorded as negative, while storefront user reviews landed in the very positive band during the first week.
September. Cast Interview
A conversation between Coen’s performer and another actor known for a vampire role was published on the official channel on September 4, 2026, the first significant piece of post-launch video from the studio.