The Blood of Dawnwalker created some decent buzz after releasing their official announcement trailer. One point of particular interest is their vampire lore. Why did Rebel Wolves bother to make their vampires so different? And are gamers going to care enough that it would compel them to play the game?
As reported by MP1st, Rebel Wolves clarified that the protagonist and playable character, Coen, is not a vampire or a human. They shared this description of what a Dawnwalker is:
“Dawnwalkers look like regular humans during the day, but turn into vampires after dusk. However, they are neither humans nor vampires—but something in between.”
They went on to explain that the vampires in their announcement trailer weren’t being unnecessarily cruel when they killed those soldiers. Their vampires have to pull their fans out and insert them all the way into a person’s body to reach their heart to actually turn them.
We believe we know why Rebel Wolves has a particularly violent interpretation of what vampires are. As a team of former CD Projekt RED developers, they’re actually taking inspiration from their Polish heritage, to showcase it to the world in surprising fashion.
Poland’s vampire traditions date older than Bram Stoker’s Dracula, all the way back to the 4th century AD. Poland has various kinds of vampires, but in all their incarnations, the great common denominator is the line between death and life.
The ancient peoples of Poland believed that evil people remain evil even after they die. And so, their lore around strzygoń, upiór, and their other local vampires revolves around ways to stop them from coming back. This is why Poland is filled with graves where they have placed a scythe around the body’s neck, among other gruesome practices.
At the time of the great plagues, many Polish families and even entire villages dug up their dead, believing that they were vampires cursing the living. And this was how vampire graves grew to proliferate in the country.
In Rebel Wolves’ alternate history, those much feared vampires took over. And your character is made a half vampire so that he could stand a chance against these monstrous rulers.
It’s a twisted idea that moves away from our (earned) fascination with Dracula, to make a new vampire mythos. One could compare it to Stephen King’s take on fully American vampires, Salem’s Lot.
It also raises questions on what the vampires actually did to Coen’s sister in the announcement trailer, that he now apparently feels the need to rescue her and his family from them. We’re sure Rebel Wolves savors the opportunity to introduce us to more of their positively bloodthirsty universe in the lead up to the release of The Blood of Dawnwalker.
