The Blood of Dawnwalker's October Update Adds a More Forgiving Difficulty for Players Who'd Rather Skip Combat

The Blood of Dawnwalker's first major update, arriving in October, will introduce an even easier difficulty option for those who prefer to avoid combat entirely. Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz from developer Rebel Wolves shared this news in a recent interview with Eurogamer, hinting at a series of combat adjustments and other gameplay improvements. A key highlight of the early October patch is the revamped difficulty settings, designed for players who want to experience the story without shedding too much blood.

When the update drops, the new easier mode will take over the current easiest setting, Story Mode, and keep that name. The existing Story Mode will be renamed and likely made slightly tougher. The Blood of Dawnwalker currently offers four difficulty levels—Story, Fair, Challenging, and Duelist—and next month's addition will raise that to five.

"We're adding another difficulty level, but an easier one, since many players are requesting a more accessible experience," Tomaszkiewicz explained. "The current Story mode will become a different difficulty—we'll call it something like Demanding—and we'll introduce a new Story mode that's even easier for those who don't want to deal with combat, who just want to enjoy the story and progress without the gameplay challenge."

Details on how this easier mode will work are still under wraps. Tomaszkiewicz's comments suggest it might allow players to bypass combat altogether, though the exact implementation remains unclear. No release date for the update has been announced, but with its early October launch, the wait won't be long.

Rebel Wolves is also working on improving gameplay performance, particularly for PC players, and adding a fluid option for escaping fights if things get too tough. Other planned tweaks include adjustments to targeting and the camera. Tomaszkiewicz mentioned player feedback about how targeting works for Coen and how the upcoming patch will address it.

"You'll need to take three hits to break out of this stun," he said. "We'll see how players respond because, as I mentioned, it could create another issue, but we'll monitor it. Maybe players will switch targets smoothly, and if they just want to stun, that's fine, and if they want to stun and land a few hits, that's also fine. We'll see."

The rest of the October patch contents are still unknown. While features like New Game Plus are confirmed to be in development, the team is pushing forward after a successful launch.

The game released on September 3 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, selling over 1 million copies in just two days. For more on The Blood of Dawnwalker, you can read about how Bandai Namco and Rebel Wolves brought their vision to life on a $40 million budget, and how some players are using a mod to bypass one of the game's core mechanics.