30-day cycle

How it works

After the prologue, Coen has 30 days and 30 nights to rescue his family from Brencis and his inner circle. This is the central structural mechanic of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it shapes every decision the player makes.

The clock does not tick in real time. Walking around the world, exploring, fighting, and looting do not advance the day counter. Only specific narrative actions (completing quests, making dialogue choices) move the calendar forward. Every action that costs time is marked with an hourglass icon showing exactly how many days or nights it will consume. You always know the price before you commit.

Time as a currency

Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has described time as "a currency which players are in control of fully." If a quest costs two days, you see that upfront. If you choose to spend those two days helping a village, that's two days you don't have for something else. The system creates constant trade-offs. You cannot do everything in 30 days, and the game knows this.

Roughly 80% of the game's content is accessible in a single playthrough. The remaining 20% is locked behind branching decisions and time constraints that make it impossible to see everything at once. This is intentional. Replayability comes from making different choices with the same time budget.

No main quest

The developers have been explicit about this: there is no main quest in the traditional sense. There is one goal (save your family) and everything else is optional. You decide which leads to follow, which factions to support, and which parts of the valley to explore. The game does not distinguish between main quests and side quests. There are just quests, and you choose which ones matter to you.

Tomaszkiewicz has cited Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 as direct design inspirations for this structure. Both Fallout games gave the player a clear objective and a time limit, then let them pursue it however they wanted. The Blood of Dawnwalker follows the same principle: "It's more similar to the old Fallout, where you have a clear goal and everything is optional, you decide."

What happens after 30 days

The game does not end when the deadline passes. If you fail to rescue the family within 30 days, the story continues, but with consequences. What those consequences are depends on what you did or didn't do during the 30 days. The family's fate changes based on your actions.

Players can also attempt the rescue before the 30 days are up. Going early is possible but increases the difficulty, since you've had less time to prepare, build alliances, and gather information. The system rewards thorough preparation while punishing both rushing and procrastination.

Consequences of inaction

Doing nothing is itself a choice the world recognizes. If a village asks for help and you move on, something happens to that village. If a faction offers an alliance and you never follow up, they proceed without you (and they remember. The developers have said that "even inaction is a choice) one the world around Coen will recognize and respond to."

Multiple endings

The ending system forms what creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz described as "a very complicated web of connections." There are multiple endings not just for the overall story but for individual characters. Some choices may branch into potential sequels. The designer responsible for tracking all the branching paths has been compared to "the Charlie Day meme with red tape."

Game length

A single playthrough takes approximately 40 hours on average. The game was originally scoped to be roughly the size of The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion, but it grew during development. Given that each playthrough involves different choices and missed content, the total playtime across multiple runs is substantially higher.