The Blood of Dawnwalker missions: Main chapters and game structure explained

Rebel Wolves' ambitious debut game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, is out now, and its nonlinear approach to storytelling means you can tackle its vampire-laden narrative however you like.

The prologue is the only part of the game that really confines you to one chain of events, and the game uses that opportunity to teach you about the time system that will influence all your choices throughout the game.

Even in the prologue, you aren't able to complete all of the available missions in one playthrough. Every major undertaking that you complete has a cost in time, and there are only 30 days to save your family once the main meat of the story is under way.

To help you wrap your head around this, we've written this guide to explain the absolute basics of The Blood of Dawnwalker's story, so let's get cracking with that now.

The Blood of Dawnwalker missions explained

By our count, there are essentially eight key beats in the overarching story of The Blood of Dawnwalker.

If it helps, you can think of these as the game's main missions:

1. Complete a handful of quests in the prologue area
2. When prompted, head to the Blood Mass
3. This will lead into a main mission, Smoke and Ashes
4. From here, you are free to explore as much as you like and try to recruit allies
5. Take down Ambrus (optional, we recommend doing it at level 10)
6. Take down Bakir (optional, we recommend doing it at level 20)
7. Take down Xanthe (optional, we recommend doing it at level 30)
8. Take down Brencis (we recommend doing it at level 40)

Taking down Brencis's goons – Ambrus, Bakir and Xanthe – is entirely optional, but the final stages of the game will be a lot harder if you don't thin out this herd.

The way we've laid it out above also gives you a level target for each of the latter 'missions', if it helps you to have some structure and hard numbers to guide you.

On the flip side of that, when you reach step four, you can head straight to Brencis, find a way into his castle, and try your luck against him, but we'd strongly recommend spending a bunch of in-game days levelling up and weakening his court instead.

Even taking down Brencis is optional, from a certain point of view. If you miss the 30-day deadline to save your family, those relatives will be doomed, but you can still keep playing if you're that way inclined.

If you do decide to take down Ambrus, Bakir and Xanthe before worrying about Brencis, there is some legwork required to get the attention of these goons.

Early on, you'll gain access to the 'Brencis's Court' menu, which will have some hints to point you in the right direction. You'll have some encounters with rebels, and there will be opportunities to attack convoys, orchestrate prison breaks and investigate blood banks too.

Complete enough of these activities and you'll start to see your infamy meter rising. You'll be told that security is getting tighter in certain places, so you'll want to strike those locations even harder.

You'll notice that, as you take more actions against these powerful foes (eg attacking Ambrus's convoys), a meter will fill up next to each villain on the Brencis's Court menu.

Essentially, once you've aggravated any member of the court enough, you'll trigger a boss fight with them, which will allow you to tick them off your list once and for all.

This is a very unique game, and it could take players on vastly different journeys of varying lengths. Have fun with it, try not to worry about the time mechanic, and just do what feels right to you!

Read more:

• Here's how The Blood of Dawnwalker blew my mind twice, with just its prologue

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