Surprising Inspiration for The Blood of Dawnwalker May be the Secret to Its Success

Fallout 2 may be the one RPG that Rebel Wolves have paid more attention to than any other in their creation of The Blood of Dawnwalker, and this is both surprising (considering the new studio’s heavy former CD Projekt Red presence) and exciting. You’re probably wondering why that is, but when it was first revealed The Blood of Dawnwalker was touted as an open-world, narrative RPG inspired by ‘classic RPGs’, many of us wondered exactly how much heavy-lifting the word classic was doing, and now we have our answer.

The Blood of Dawnwalker Wants to Break Rules

In a brief interview with the folks over at Gamerant, The Blood of Dawnwalker‘s narrative director Jakub Szamalek was asked about the foundation of the game, and how they plan on balancing the narrative structure with an open-world formula, something notoriously difficult with games that offer exploration to the player:

”We’re building The Blood of Dawnwalker upon the foundation we established while working on the previous projects we were involved with as developers and artists, drawing inspirations from classic titles such as Fallout 2, which gave truly unparalleled narrative freedom, but at the same time trying to enrich the RPG experience with something we’re bringing to the table. We want to combine narrative freedom and a story-driven experience with an open world filled with meaningful quests and memorable characters, emotionally charged interactions with characters, and a strong gameplay experience.”

Lofty gameplay and narrative goals aside, the knowledge that the studio drew such heavy inspiration from Fallout 2 should be music to everyone’s ears. We’re already pretty sure that the pedigree of the staff should be enough to stave off most worries about the quality of the RPG mechanics and gameplay at the least, with many coming from the excellent The Witcher 3, but by looking so far back, they could also be changing the genre as a whole.

Many may not have played Fallout 2 when it was originally released, and now it may seem pretty dated, but when it first launched, it pushed the envelope in a way we’d never seen before. In fact, a modern-day equivalent would be how people look upon Baldur’s Gate 3 nowadays, coincidentally in the same genre. Pioneering dialogue choices, open-ended quests, and a time-limit mechanic on quests, the Fallout franchise is a huge inspiration for many in the genre, so it makes sense Rebel Wolves would be keen to take notice.

This may explain the unique way Rebel Wolves has introduced a time limit mechanic, and the Jekyll and Hyde-like abilities the protagonist has depending on the time of day, as they look to turn everything we know on its head in the genre and make something no one has seen before.

Rebel Wolves have been pretty generous with details on The Blood of Dawnwalker up to now, and we know a considerable amount about the world and characters we’ll be soon inhabiting. The release date is unknown, but a promise of a full gameplay reveal is scheduled for ‘Summer 2025’, presumably at Summer Games Fest. In the meantime, we can wonder exactly what other inspirations the developers have taken from Fallout 2, and what the other ‘classic RPGs’ mentioned include.

For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out how Days Gone Remastered has two big problems or everything you need to know about the upcoming sci-fi epic Directive 8020.

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Luke Addison

Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!