Image credit: Rebel Wolves

You can finish medieval vampire RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker even sooner than previously thought: it isn't just possible to end the game after the prologue, you can do it in the prologue too. (Beware, there are some prologue spoilers ahead.)

I'd previously reported that once you leave The Blood of Dawnwalker's walled-off settlement area, where the prologue takes place, it's possible - given the freeform nature of the game - to run immediately to its big final boss. Brencis, as he's known, is holed up in his castle, in the city in the middle of the map, and if you kill him, you beat the game.

This will be extremely hard to do at this early juncture. You'll be under-levelled, without powerful abilities to use, and I assume he'll have his vampire lieutenants there to defend him, who you otherwise try to hunt one by one in a normal playthrough. But theoretically it is possible.

Brencis is the bald, lead vampire in this pack. He is ferocious, make no mistake.Watch on YouTube

Incidentally, it's not the only post-prologue way to bring the game to a close - apparently cowardly players can simply choose to leave the Vale Sangora and not save their families. But there's an even quicker route to bringing Dawnwalker to an end, too, even before the prologue is through.

You see, you also face Brencis at the climax of the prologue, in a battle the game assumes you'll lose - a defeat that sets your course for the adventure to come. But it is possible to win this, and if you do, Brencis will die, so the main antagonist will be gone and the game will be over.

"Yes, you can finish the game at the end of the prologue by defeating Brencis if you are good enough; it is a possible ending," publisher Bandai Namco confirmed to me when I queried it after a recent Blood of Dawnwalker event. However, only a couple of developers have managed this internally at Rebel Wolves, I was told, and "it's extremely hard to actually do".

I have played this battle and can vouch for its difficulty. Granted, I was still acclimatising to the game's distinct combat controls, which is a respectful way of saying I was hopeless, but Brencis defeated me in two swipes, or thereabouts. I expect it will take hundreds of attempts to learn the battle well enough - and very sharp reflexes - to prevail.

I spent four hours playing The Blood of Dawnwalker recently and was very encouraged by it. I particularly liked the control the game exerts over time. This remains a somewhat controversial idea, because when people hear time will be limited, they naturally assume they'll be hurried them through the game, which is not the case. The system is more deliberate, more complex, and it instills tension and a greater sense of RPG purpose.

The combat also has the extra layer of depth I was looking and hoping for, and the quests I encountered were multi-part, well acted and well written, and involved agency and choice. It took a little longer to settle into the game's freeform open-world structure and acclimatise to its lack of a main story to follow, but once I did, I started to really enjoy it. Most of all, I found the game interesting, which I think counts for a lot.

The Blood of Dawnwalker releases quite soon, on 3rd September, on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.

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