The studio behind The Blood of Dawnwalker is signaling that its long-rumored sequel could abandon the limited-resource time system that divided fans, with director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz insisting the team will “not force” the mechanic into stories where it does not belong. Speaking in an interview after the game’s launch, the Rebel Wolves CEO and game director opened up about how player feedback has shaped his thinking on one of the most debated design choices in this year’s RPG landscape.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is a critically acclaimed action role-playing game that places time at the center of its design. The clock acts as a scarce resource, constraining what protagonist Coen can accomplish and forcing players to make meaningful decisions about how they spend their limited hours. While many embraced the tension it created, others found the pressure claustrophobic—particularly in the early going, when relaxation through optional activities felt out of reach.
A mechanic that split its audience
The time system quickly became the game’s most polarizing feature. Our reviewer, Australian editor Shaun Prescott, praised the overall experience but noted frustrations with how tightly the clock restricted freedom early on. He expressed a desire simply to slow down and tinker with non-essential tasks—collecting items like nirnroot or playing Gwent—at his own pace rather than under constant time pressure.
The reaction was significant enough that players turned to community mods to remove the ticking clock entirely, a move Tomaszkiewicz fully accepts. He does not view modders as enemies of his design; instead, he treats them as part of a healthy relationship with an audience that cares deeply about how games are played.
“We will play with it. If we will have parts of the story, or the whole story, to which it fits, then we will use it. If we will have stories where it does not fit, we will not force it. We will play with this system and we will try to use it to boost the urgency of some events in the game. But I’m not saying that in every game we will have the same scheme or loop—it’s not like this.”
Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, Rebel Wolves CEO and Game Director
Defending the design philosophy
Tomaszkiewicz pushed back gently against some of the loudest criticisms, arguing that the complaint about not being able to see everything in a single playthrough is somewhat misguided. He pointed out that even acclaimed titles like The Witcher cannot offer complete coverage without multiple runs, since choices and consequences naturally branch the experience.
“We balanced it in a way that it’s possible to do around 80 percent of the content with the time mechanic so it’s not so bad,” he explained. “The arguments of ‘I want to see everything in one playthrough,’ I understand, but it’s false to begin with, because even in games like The Witcher, you cannot see everything in one playthrough because you have choices and consequences.”
The observation lands for many players who share the instinct to experience every corner of a game on their first attempt. Yet the reality of choice-driven design means some content will always remain locked behind decisions—a trade-off that is arguably inherent to the very freedom gamers say they want.
Complaints fading as players adapt
Interestingly, Tomaszkiewicz noted that frustration over the time mechanic has diminished considerably since launch. As players pushed further into the game, many discovered they actually had more time than initially feared—a realization he expects to keep growing as the community finishes their playthroughs.
“There will always be people who will have a problem with that because they don’t like time mechanics at all, but I think that is fine,” he said. “They can download the mod and play without it if they want.”
The studio’s confidence mirrors how other titles in the genre have handled similar constraints. Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, released to acclaim in 2022, built its own strict time system into the core experience, proving that well-executed temporal pressure can become a defining strength rather than a liability.
Looking ahead
Even though The Blood of Dawnwalker has only been available for a couple weeks, Rebel Wolves is already looking toward the future. The studio confirmed it is expanding its team to help “craft the next chapter in the Dawnwalker saga,” hinting that decisions made during development will directly reflect lessons learned from this release.
Whether the sequel embraces a fresh approach or refines what came before, one thing is clear: Rebel Wolves intends to let each project breathe on its own terms rather than repeating the same formula. For players who loved the urgency of Dawnwalker’s clock—or those who preferred it silenced—the studio has made plain that future choices will be driven by story, not convention.
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