Witcher 3 director's new occult game sets our imaginations whirling

Former director of the Witcher 3 reveals Dawnwalker, a new dark fantasy RPG from his recent indie studio.

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In 2022, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz left CD Projekt and opened a new indie studio called Rebel Wolves. The Polish game dev's resume was impressive--he had worked on mega-hits at Cyberpunk 2077, serving as director of The Witcher 3 and co-director of Cyberpunk 2077--and he went on to recruit other former CD Projekt workers including Cyberpunk writer Jakub Szamalek.

Now Rebel Wolves have revealed their first game. It's called Dawnwalker, and if the key art is anything to go by, we could see a kind of dark Jekyll and Hyde approach with the main character. When I first saw the image, it immediately reminded me of Blade, Geralt of Rivia, and Corvo Attano wrapped into one occultish package.

• Read more: From Witchers to Vampires - Former CDPR devs unleash Blood of the Dawnwalker
• Read more: Witcher 3 director's new game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, gets its first extended trailer

The art indicates we may be able to transform into a some sort of supernatural monstrosity and use special abilities during the night, like mist teleportation or hacking enemies with claws. There's a sense of duality with the name itself, with Dawnwalker possibly referring to a mercenary or hero that's not meant to be able to travel during the day, potentially someone like Blade.

Whatever the case may be, Dawnwalker's art is certainly captivating and development has been in swing for a bit. When Rebel Wolves received a strategic investment from billion-dollar service game juggernaut NetEase, we got brief snippets about Dawnwalker that hinted it'll try to recreate the best parts of The Witcher 3.

In the press release, it was expressed that Rebel Wolves wanted to "create original IP in the single-player, narrative-driven RPG genre" and that Dawnwalker was to be "a dark fantasy RPG with a focus on storytelling and accommodating the players' choices."