I'm not done with The Blood of Dawnwalker yet, but so far, I think it's a hell of an RPG that has its own voice while still feeling a little familiar. The limitations of Rebel Wolves' first dark fantasy action RPG are obvious, but easy to accept when The Witcher 3's pedigree permeates the whole thing. It's sorely missing a stealth system, though.
The betst open-world games needn't allow players to sneak around just because, but having actual stealth mechanics might be useful when you're roleplaying as a half-vampire dawnwalker who gains all sorts of shadowy tricks at night. This makes it feel like a chunk of the game was excised during development: Walking on walls and teleporting is allowed, but it feels odd – and incomplete – to infiltrate enemy bases this way only to be thrown into a fight the moment you trigger an enemy's MMORPG-like aggression radius.
The inability to be a silent killer also creates tension between the game's (otherwise fantastic) writing, impacting the way Coen embarks upon his perilous mission to save his loved ones. While I'm counting on Rebel Wolves to smartly iterate and expand on the formula in the now-confirmed sequel, I think The Blood of Dawnwalker's biggest weakness is playing things overly safe when it comes to dispatching enemies.
The Blood of Dawnwalker review: "Despite clear Witcher 3 DNA, I wish this vampire RPG was messier"
Some suspension of disbelief is required to accept that Coen is picking fights all over Vale Sangora without protecting his identity in order to undermine the Vrakhiri's invasion and control efforts. He makes a point early on that hitting the vampiric villains where it hurts is key to eventually saving his family. But making a ruckus too fast is problematic, as he takes a while to go from confused (albeit combat-ready) peasant to folk anti-hero. This is acknowledged right after the prologue: He's just too weak to draw more attention to himself than necessary.
Regardless, you're soon taking down entire outposts and clearing dungeons as Coen, the guy with disturbingly strange powers and foul-tasting Dawnwalker blood that even big boss Brencis couldn't stomach. There's an entire Far Cry-like zoned system in place that makes the leader's bloodthirsty captains (here called boyars) react to disruptions you create in their respective domains before triggering a confrontation with each. But while stronger warriors are sent to hunt you down and locations get more fortified – or locked off completely – as you grow stronger and grow your notoriety, the evildoers always feel too lenient.
As we've seen in other open-world games with infamy systems, there's no easy answer to the dilemma of properly reacting to players' chaotic actions in ways that both preserves the credibility of the established narrative and dynamically raises the challenge. Coen is a unique kind of menace, though. Whether day or at night, he's charging into conflict, sword out, ready for a proper melee. Even when he's walking around the city of Svartrau, he doesn't seem to mind being recognized until it's too late. I know he's no Agent 47 or Ezio Auditore, but this disconnect makes me wish The Blood of Dawnwalker had even more friction baked in.
It feels shockingly archaic and rigid for an action RPG that's delightfully bold and playful in other respects
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/the-blood-of-dawnwalkers-lack-of-stealth-makes-this-witcher-3-like-feel-incomplete/
