Overview
The Blood of Dawnwalker's quest system has no formal distinction between main quests and side quests. Instead, players encounter stories of varying scale and significance, all feeding into the Narrative Sandbox framework. The player's objective throughout the game, saving Coen's family from Greifberg, can be approached through countless combinations of quests, alliances, and actions.
Dual day and night paths
Many quests offer two distinct approaches depending on the time of day. Human/day approaches tend to involve diplomacy, favors, and combat using the directional sword system. Vampire/night approaches let players use supernatural abilities and stealth, but they face different enemies and greater resistance from Brencis's nocturnal forces.
Cathedral quest example
Rebel Wolves demonstrated this duality at Gamescom 2025 with a cathedral quest in the Silberkreis district:
Night version (Day 8): Coen infiltrates the cathedral and encounters the ancient vampire Xanthe, who uses Shadowstep abilities to move through the building. The encounter focuses on vampire-on-vampire combat
Day version: Coen searches for Saint Mihai's legendary sword. He fights Muron, a creature born from a failed vampire transformation, and eventually encounters the corrupted Saint Mihai himself. Mihai was a historical Dawnwalker entombed alive centuries ago by villagers who discovered his nature. Centuries of starving during the day while regenerating at night drove him insane
These are not slight variations. The two paths feature entirely different enemies, narratives, and rewards.
NPC interactions
NPCs have their own lives and react to the player's actions and to the changing state of the world. Side characters can become allies, enemies, or casualties depending on the player's choices. The blood craving system adds another dimension: feeding on an important NPC during a nighttime interaction can permanently lock the player out of that character's quest lines.
Time constraints
The time-as-a-resource mechanic means quests have real stakes. Helping one village might mean another falls while the player is away. Some quests have implied countdowns where events progress whether the player is present or not. Because only 30 days and 30 nights are available, completing every quest in one playthrough is impossible by design.
Romance
Former Witcher 3 lead quest designer Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz confirmed that romance is part of the quest system: "Of course there is romance... You can expect to build relationships with characters." These relationships are woven into the narrative sandbox rather than being separate romance questlines.