Polish game developer Rebel Wolves shared the development philosophy and achievements behind its new title, 'The Blood of Dawnwalker.'
On October 20, members of the Korean and Japanese gaming media, invited by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the Rebel Wolves studio to learn about the game's development process, future plans, and tour the facilities.
Rebel Wolves is an RPG-focused development studio founded in 2022. It was established by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, former game director of 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,' alongside experienced developers from CD Projekt Red and other studios. Starting with an initial team of 20, the studio now employs around 166 people.
Speaking at the presentation, a marketing representative explained the background behind founding the studio: "We wanted to create an environment where we could focus entirely on the project itself without being driven by stock market pressure or tight deadlines."
Their goal is single-player-focused, story-driven RPGs. In particular, they pursue a complete package format where players can enjoy all content upon purchasing the game, maintaining a strict policy against introducing in-game microtransactions.
Their debut title, 'The Blood of Dawnwalker,' is an open-world dark fantasy action RPG set in 14th-century Europe. It follows the story of protagonist Coen, who lives as a human by day and a vampire by night. Players have 30 days and nights to rescue his kidnapped family, though saving them is not strictly mandatory.
A key feature highlighted by the developer is a narrative that changes based on player choices. Failing to save the family within the allotted time does not end the game; instead, the objective shifts from rescue to revenge. Players can also make various choices, such as joining forces with hostile factions or eliminating key figures.
Available abilities and quest resolution methods also change depending on day and night. At night, players can use special vampire abilities, but failing to manage bloodlust properly may cause Coen to attack conversation partners, affecting quest progression.
The marketing representative emphasized, "Our game does not have side quests in the traditional sense. Every activity connects back to the core story," adding, "What matters most is that players forge their own narrative."
Development cost approximately $40 million. According to the company, sales surpassed 1 million copies during its launch weekend, while maintaining about 87% positive user reviews on Steam at the time.
Publishing was handled by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Rebel Wolves explained that they signed a contract with Bandai Namco prior to the game's official reveal, receiving support for media events, marketing across global markets, and regional release strategies.
In the Q&A session that followed, questions were raised regarding the use of generative AI, the secret to achieving success with a relatively small development team, and strategies for targeting the global market.
Regarding AI usage, they stated that generative AI was not used in game development. However, during pre-production, AI was temporarily utilized solely for scratch voice lines to measure dialogue length in cutscenes, which were later completely replaced with recordings by actual actors.
As the secret to their development efficiency, they pointed to internal information sharing and a flexible working environment. Every two weeks, an all-hands meeting is held to share project and company status updates, and employees are given the freedom to choose remote, in-office, or hybrid work.
They also explained that they did not significantly alter the initial design established at the start of development and actively incorporated player feedback throughout the process. In fact, features such as combat camera distance adjustment and simplified combat controls were introduced based on user feedback.
Regarding future plans, they revealed that they intend to add a Photo Mode and New Game Plus functionality, as well as work on a sequel that expands the 'Dawnwalker' universe.
Finally, when asked whether market trends or the developer's creative vision takes priority, the representative reiterated the meaning behind the name Rebel Wolves.
"We are rebels. We don't want to follow trends. We want to make games that we ourselves want to play and enjoy."
