At the beginning of September, The Blood of Dawnwalker was released, the new title from former Witcher makers. MeinMMO editor and vampire fan Benedict Grothaus fought his way through the entire game on vacation, only to then immediately start The Witcher 3. Not the best idea, but a great, albeit nerve-wracking experience.
Yes, I kept my promise and am finally playing through The Witcher 3, this time all the way to the end, promised! Just because I really want to play “Songs of the Past” upon release next year.
On September 29, the free remaster of the game featuring Geralt was released and I immediately donned my best armor to head out with both swords and start slaying monsters.
I started playing The Witcher 3 earlier and sank several dozen hours into it, but never completed it. However, I just finished The Blood of Dawnwalker right before, which was released on September 3.
The gameplay of the vampire RPG had me so hooked that I just wanted more and thought I was perfectly prepared for The Witcher. Yes… not so much, as it turns out. Nevertheless, the games have a lot in common.
Two completely different games that are far too similar
You can clearly tell while playing that behind The Blood of Dawnwalker and Rebel Wolves, the studio behind the game, are former developers from CD Projekt Red. The premise is almost identical: A lonely outsider fights against monsters and humans in a dark medieval world to save his family.
However, the two RPGs also play very similarly:
- Both Coen and Geralt have two “combat modes”: Vampire and human or steel and silver.
- Both heroes have magical assistance that can be improved via skills, but can never do without the sword entirely.
- Consumables grant buffs against certain enemy types or for personal status values and are particularly important for boss fights.
- Decisions have consequences and can determine which important NPC survives and which dies.
In general, I can say with certainty: Anyone who liked the gameplay of The Witcher 3 should definitely check out The Blood of Dawnwalker. Just be careful not to play the games directly one after the other like I did. Because their similarities can become a disadvantage here.
Daring griffin, eat my… torch?
The Blood of Dawnwalker and The Witcher 3 not only look similar, they also play similarly. I played the vampire RPG from Rebel Wolves with a controller on “hard”. Accordingly, I felt well prepared to also play The Witcher on “blood, sweat, and tears”. Hubris, as Brencis would say.
Since I still felt like I was controlling Coen while playing, I also had the controller layout of The Blood of Dawnwalker in my head. Only:
- Where in Blood of Dawnwalker the attack is on the right shoulder buttons, the witcher draws his torch or uses a bomb or a spell.
- Quick slots are only on two of the four cross directions in The Witcher, the others are reserved for the two swords.
- The X button in The Blood of Dawnwalker is the interaction button, while in The Witcher 3 it is assigned to the light attack.
So you can probably imagine how often I stood in front of enemies, frantically switching my swords while trying to drink Swallow or pulling out and putting away my torch instead of striking with my sword.
I don’t know how many times I died in the first few hours because of this, but enough that I repeatedly quit out of annoyance. Although that has settled down now, it still happens regularly that I threaten innocent farmers with a punch in the face instead of talking to them…
Dawnwalker does some things better, but The Witcher is still really good after 11 years
I still haven’t finished The Witcher 3, but I found the combat system in Blood of Dawnwalker better and smoother in many respects. Especially in vampire form, I feel like I am a supernatural being that humans stand no chance against. The mutant Geralt moves almost sluggishly in comparison.
Overall, at least this aspect of the game plays more seamlessly in The Blood of Dawnwalker than in The Witcher 3. However, the vampire RPG also has several years of technical development that the hit from CD Projekt Red lacks. After all, The Witcher 3 originally released in 2015.
Especially considering the age of the game, I am absolutely impressed with how well the Witcher RPG looks now with the remaster, especially in direct comparison with the considerably newer Dawnwalker. Colleague Benedikt has already praised the visual improvements of the Witcher professionally.
Although my vacation is now over, I will still be playing The Witcher 3 frequently over the next few weeks, even though I have other games on the slate like Enshrouded, Heroes of the Storm, and WoW Forever that also require attention.
But I have already devoured the first two parts, so I really need to tackle part 3 properly this time! This time I will also complete the Witcher game, for sure… And I already know that my Geralt will end up with Yen, Triss is just too nasty a beast.
I personally was more taken by The Blood of Dawnwalker conceptually, especially because I already knew Geralt’s world from the books. However, I see vampires far too rarely, especially well done ones, and Rebel Wolves did a great job of making them truly nasty: The bloodsuckers of the new vampire RPG are neither Edward nor Dracula, and have a really nasty way to transform humans.
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