Rebel Wolves' Debut RPG Feels Like a Legitimate GOTY Contender After Extended Hands-On

The Blood of Dawnwalker is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated RPGs in recent memory, and extended hands-on time with the title is only fueling that excitement. Journalists who spent four hours with the game came away genuinely impressed, describing a layered experience that touches on visceral combat, meaningful relationship systems, and a world steeped in gothic intrigue. For a debut release from a brand-new studio, those are remarkable early impressions. The game is the brainchild of Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — one of the most critically acclaimed role-playing games ever made. After departing CD Projekt Red, Tomaszkiewicz founded Rebel Wolves and assembled a team heavily populated by fellow CDPR alumni, lending the project an immediate sense of pedigree that most new studios simply cannot claim. The vampire-themed setting distinguishes Dawnwalker from the studio's obvious Witcher lineage, suggesting the team is eager to carve out its own creative identity rather than simply recreate past glories. Prior to this hands-on session, the game had only been shown in curated demo form — a 90-minute preview back in April gave observers a look at the world but left many questions unanswered. Actually playing the game, even for a limited window, reveals a fundamentally different picture. Hands-on impressions suggest the systems interact in ways that feel cohesive rather than bolted together, a common pitfall for ambitious RPGs in early development. What makes the buzz around Dawnwalker particularly notable is the timing. The RPG genre has seen incredible highs in recent years with titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring raising player expectations considerably. If Rebel Wolves can deliver on the promise shown in these early sessions, The Blood of Dawnwalker could be positioned as the defining RPG release of 2026 — a title that sets the tone for the year the moment it launches.