New Game from The Witcher 3's Director Revives Classic Gameplay with NPC Dynamics
The upcoming RPG by former Witcher 3 directors lets players engage with important NPCs in new ways, offering a balance between choice and consequence.
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Time was, video games let you just kill whoever—sidekick, love interest, or even the antagonist. Some of the finest examples of this were Fallout: New Vegas and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. In Fallout, your choices drastically altered the plot, while Morrowind simply advised against taking certain actions.
In contrast, the new vampiric RPG titled The Blood of Dawnwalker, developed by former Witcher 3 directors Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz and Konrad Tomaszkiewicz at Rebel Wolves, offers players the freedom to eliminate critical NPCs.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Tomaszkiewicz stated, “We allow you to kill off a lot of NPCs, and a lot of them can be really important NPCs.”
This game clearly marks a divergence from The Witcher 3, where characters like the Bloody Baron couldn’t be harmed. Tomaszkiewicz emphasized that this shift is part of a larger design philosophy focused on player choice: “It’s a sandbox, meaning we’re trying to maximize your options of choice in the game.”
However, killing pivotal characters won’t be without repercussions. He added, “Sometimes this can lead to alternate outcomes or even cut off certain questlines… you being a Dawnwalker means that you have this blood hunger during the night, which can lead to NPCs dying if you’re not careful.”
This gameplay direction promises to engage players in new and experimental ways, opening discussions around choice and consequence in gaming narrative.
