The Blood of Dawnwalker Review
The Blood of Dawnwalker – despite having a slightly clunky sounding name – might be one of the best vampire games I’ve played, and certainly one that has jumped right up my list of GOTY candidates. Thanks to Bandai Namco I’ve been taking some time with this blood-thirsty new release to bring you our extended Blood of Dawnwalker review and common-sense parent’s guide.
If you’re looking to find out if Blood of Dawnwalker is any good, or if it’s safe for kids – read on. You can get questions in the comments here or on social media – or read on to see how it went down with us.
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The Basics – What is The Blood of Dawnwalker About?
The Blood of Dawnwalker is a vampyric, dark-fantasy action RPG set in 1300s Europe. It’s a narrative-driven romp through the 14th century, with players taking on the role of Coen. As a freshly-sired Dawnwalker, you’ll tread between light and dark with gameplay shifting between night and day.
This one brings in a fairly unique time progression system as well. Following the prologue Coen has just 30 days to save his family from [Spoiler Free Bad Things™]. Navigating the politics of the vampyric court and the needs of the local population, players will work through exploration, investigation and brutal combat (with swords and claws both coming into play).
The timed aspects of The Blood of Dawnwalker won’t be for everybody – but while I was initially wary they’ve since become one of my favourite things. You will not have time to do everything. A huge portion of the side quests (and pretty much everything you do in the main quest) will take time, and you only have 30 days to stop [Spoiler Free Bad Things™] happening to your family.
I’ve also really fallen hard for the vampire-leaning mechanics here – plane shifting, mystical movement and blood thirst being my favourites. As you lose health during night-time gameplay, your blood thirst can lead to deceptive dialogue options, and even attacking those you love – if your health is low enough – without the player’s control. It’s the first time I remember anything similar that leans so heavily into vampire-specific mechanics, and I’m here for it.
Is The Blood of Dawnwalker Safe for Kids?
Rating: Adults Only.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is rated by PEGI at 18 and above and by the ESRB at a Mature 17+. You may not be surprised, but this one is packed with buckets of blood and violence. It also contains language and sexual content and is a really easy one to say – we’re not letting our own Micro-Bandits anywhere near it.
How Does The Blood of Dawnwalker Play on Steam Deck?
Rating: Playable with Issues.
The official Steam rating for The Blood of Dawnwalker on Steam Deck is Unsupported. It was a nice surprise to find that it’s actually roughly playable on the portable Steam Platform, although it’s not perfect. Players should expect relatively low FPS with potential drops during busy scenes but the controls work well enough, and it runs fairly smooth, most of the time.
I’m not sure I would go for it if I only had the Steam Deck to play on, but it works well enough to have on the side if your thirst for the blood-filled combat gets too much.
The Run Down
Our Five-Point Quality Check for The Blood of Dawnwalker
Gameplay – 9/10: The Blood of Dawnwalker feels like an intense blend of The Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance, wrapped in a vampire skin. It has great vampire mechanics, good combat, and a great mix of gameplay to allow players to mix it up depending on how they are feeling.
Visuals – 9/10: There are a good mix of biomes in this one, with villages, forests, plains, rivers and more, all with pretty great attention to detail. Environments are great to look at, and the close up animations are pretty good as well.
Audio – 7/10: The voice acting has been solid, and the effects and music have been decent here. While it’s definitely good, there’s nothing which has blown me away completely and it’s blended into the background, which isn’t a negative but it doesn’t give me a WOW factor.
Narrative – 9/10: There’s a great story running through The Blood of Dawnwalker. It’s a title which has great character growth and I love the fact that your choices actually impact the world around you rather than just being a different dialogue option. A fantastic narrative awaits players, with plenty of background lore to discover as well.
Replay – 7/10: While there is a large amount to explore and uncover, the time mechanics do impact replay value a little. It’s not enough to make it bad, and I love the time limitations for what they do, but it does mean that completionists will not be able to get everything in one run, and with the length and pacing I’m not convinced I’d do another run to finish off every quest.
The Verdict
Is The Blood of Dawnwalker Worth Grabbing?
Overall, our Pixel Bandits’ Interview with the Dawnwalker score for The Blood of Dawnwalker is an outstanding 9/10. It’s a title which manages to blend vibes of some of the RPG greats, while also bringing its own unique mechanics and identity to the party.
Time mechanics might seem off-putting at first, but I grew to love them pretty quickly – with their addition giving even more sense that your choices here actually matter, and can affect the world around you.
The split between night-time and daytime and the various different gameplay elements mean that whatever you’re in the mood for, you can take Coen into combat, exploration, investigation and more – really mixing things up and keeping it interesting.
Overall, The Blood of Dawnwalker is high up on my list and I would not be surprised if it ranks very highly on my GOTY list for 2026. If you’re after an action RPG with soul then this one, ironic at it may be, is one for you.
As ever, to provide our Pixel Bandits review and common-sense parent’s guide for The Blood of Dawnwalker we received a game code or codes from the folks at BANDAI NAMCO