The Blood of Dawnwalker, the upcoming game from Rebel Wolves—the studio founded by The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and staffed by ex-CD Projekt Red veterans and other developers—has plenty of fresh ideas, but it also bears a strong resemblance to The Witcher 3 in many ways. So during a recent visit to the studio's HQ in Poland, I had one burning question: does it have a Yen-and-Triss situation?
Fans of The Witcher 3 know exactly what that means. As Geralt, you're torn between Yennefer of Vengerberg, his lover from the original novels, and Triss Merigold, a sorceress he gets involved with in the first two games. Like the best RPG romances, your chosen relationship deepens over the course of the adventure.
So, does The Blood of Dawnwalker have romance options? "There are," confirms creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz. "It is, of course, up to the player if they want to engage with them or not." He won't reveal which characters will be potential love interests for protagonist Coen, but says "all of them are custom tailored plot lines, so you can expect high quality writing and high quality engagement with these characters."
However, Coen's romantic life has a twist that Geralt never faced: time. As we've reported, the entire game runs on a calendar system where completing objectives and quests advances time. You have only 30 days and 30 nights to save your family from evil vampires, so any time spent on romance is time stolen from that mission.
"So if you're trying to min-max the amount of time, maybe [doing romantic quests] might not be the most reasonable thing for Coen to do," Tomaszkiewicz says with a smile.
He emphasizes that romance is "not the main focus of the game," largely because of Coen's family situation and the fact that he's been transformed into a half-man, half-vampire. "But we definitely wanted to include it," he adds. "We believe that it's a thing that a lot of players are looking up to. And it is also another dimension where we can flesh out Coen's character."
You won't have long to decide between romance and family—The Blood of Dawnwalker launches September 3. For more, check out our preview of the RPG's consequence-filled prologue and our interview with game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.
