The Blood of Dawnwalker - Fantasy ARPG from ex-CD Projekt RED developers

[deama]

you'll have to deal with the sun.

What if I cover myself with thick clothing? or bring an umbrella?

"Avoiding the sun" mechanic would lose its novelty pretty quickly; there was a mission in Mass Effect 2 where we had move quickly under the sun to not get cooked, there is a reason we only saw that mechanic only once in the whole trilogy + the 4th gaym.

That's an interesting point, and yes, it would make it easy if the game was only set in the woods.
But imagine you trying to go inside a town and the guard stops you for inspection, so you have to uncover yourself, exposing yourself to the sun.
It'd probably would give you a nasty penalty in general to persuasion as you'd look like some covered up hobo, probably merchants wouldn't even want to talk to you and tell you to go away.

Obviously that'd be hard to make a game like that, but there haven't been a lot of boundry pushing these days.

 

[thesecret1]

But imagine you trying to go inside a town and the guard stops you for inspection, so you have to uncover yourself, exposing yourself to the sun.

"Sir, stop!"
"Officer?"
"Inspection time. Come on, clothes off."
"W-what?"
"You heard me. Strip."
"No!"
"If I don't see that schlong in the next 10 seconds, I'll have to assume you're a vampire and take appropriate action."

 

[Quillon]

But imagine you trying to go inside a town and the guard stops you for inspection, so you have to uncover yourself, exposing yourself to the sun.

If vampire features made to be more prominent such situation could happen at night also.

If you want boundary pushing follow Kojima; dude made a pretty long game consists of only fetch quests and everybody loved it, vampires in daylight should be a walk in the park after that

 

[Harthwain]

That's basically V Rising, afaik.

I thought that game was simply a hack'n'slash so I didn't bother with it. I will have to look at it again. Thanks.

 

[deama]

But imagine you trying to go inside a town and the guard stops you for inspection, so you have to uncover yourself, exposing yourself to the sun.

If vampire features made to be more prominent such situation could happen at night also.

If you want boundary pushing follow Kojima; dude made a pretty long game consists of only fetch quests and everybody loved it, vampires in daylight should be a walk in the park after that

I mean, the obvious skin burning from the sun would reveal it I would assume.
Or they could just put a cross next to you.

 

[Abu Antar]

But imagine you trying to go inside a town and the guard stops you for inspection, so you have to uncover yourself, exposing yourself to the sun.

"Sir, stop!"
"Officer?"
"Inspection time. Come on, clothes off."
"W-what?"
"You heard me. Strip."
"No!"
"If I don't see that schlong in the next 10 seconds, I'll have to assume you're a vampire and take appropriate action."

Always happens to me at airports.

 

[Barbarian]

I was cautiously optimistic, but this is probably going to be utter shit.

I mean despite the posturing by the devs, there is nothing innovative about the setting, the hero or the way it portrays vampires. Even the "half-vampire hero" trope is several decades old(e.g: Marvel's Blade). I would be more excited if the protagonist were to be a regular human for instance.

This is supposed to be a semi-historical setting, but it is obviously just your average cliché medieval hollyweird vision. I.e: The utterly evil nobles from the trailer chasing the little girl, the dirty and miserable people wearing gray clothes with dirt smeared on their faces, "the plague" killing everyone, etc.

They have given serious "vampires are bad but the nobles we had before were just as bad" vibes with that trailer, which is shit.

Nothing about Christianity or the Church, but I assume they will got the usual route of "religion is fake, vampires don't fear the Cross at all, in fact they laugh in the face of faith, etc and etc".

 

[Quillon]

Idk if its gonna be shit or not but it just isn't very exciting, like everything they been talking about is done before and they are just arranging legos in slightly different order.

 

[Barbarian]

Btw, I miss that about vampire fiction. The hit that started it all - Dracula - amply featured this. In fact a major theme was about the victorian agnostic protestards being incredulous about Dr. Van Helsing's faith and the folk lore about the vampire horror(Romanian peasants warn Jonathan Harker about Dracula but he ignores it), having to learn the hardest of ways about the evil they faced.

That the heroes needed actual faith in a higher power and elder traditions to have a chance against the monster was one of the main themes of the novel, and one that ressonated with people who read it then and who read it now.

There was that AA rpg a couple of years ago called "Vampyr", I remember playing it and being excited in the beginning of the game because vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional. Even the vampire hunters you found roaming the streets - which were basically factory workers who formed militias carrying crosses, molotovs and guns. But then off course they threw it off the window and the game cared more about gays and diversity. The ending was absolutely retarded(original vampire was King Arthur lol) and there was this shitty explanation of "vampires fear the cross because of majistical reasons, they fear the star of david and hindu symbols too!".

 

[Barbarian]

Only vampire rpg I'm aware of which features traditional vampire lore in their setting(including them fearing crosses and holy water being an effective weapon) was this extremely weird and unique cyberpunk mix called "BloodNet".

ghostdog did a great LP of it.

There is even a quest about getting a holy sword from a knightly order of vampire hunters.

 

[Tyranicon]

vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional.

The efficacy of christian holy symbols on vampires usually imply the existance of God and that is not palatable to most modern gamedevs or the megacorps that own them.

It's an interesting worldbuilding conundrum, as vampires are traditionally handicaped by a lot of rules, and these rules are generally enforced by God, protective spirits, what have you. For example, how vampires often need to be invited into private homes (IIRC, something that's true for Vampyr as well).

Unfortunately, a lot of vampire media and their creators don't feel a need to explain any of this or worse, just handwave it.

Trust me, vampires would be super duper interested in why there's an overwhelmingly powerful force stopping them from doing certain things. And they have the egregiously long lifespans and resources to figure it out.

 

[Barbarian]

Yeah, the same studio which made Vampyr later on went to make the first ever adventure game with a tranny protagonist or something of the sort. They are megawoke and were so already back then. It was a weird design decision.

I remember playing through the early game, seeing this scene and being quite excited - like "WTH? Is this the first vampire game loyal to ye olde Dracula tropes?". Voice acting and presentation were great btw. The game quickly sunk to shit though.

But it was just silly bait. Classic frontloading. I don't remember the exact explanation they gave for vamps fearing crosses but it was extremely retarded.

 

[Barbarian]

vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional.

The efficacy of christian holy symbols on vampires usually imply the existance of God and that is not palatable to most modern gamedevs or the megacorps that own them.

It's an interesting worldbuilding conundrum, as vampires are traditionally handicaped by a lot of rules, and these rules are generally enforced by God, protective spirits, what have you. For example, how vampires often need to be invited into private homes (IIRC, something that's true for Vampyr as well).

Unfortunately, a lot of vampire media and their creators don't feel a need to explain any of this or worse, just handwave it.

Trust me, vampires would be super duper interested in why there's an overwhelmingly powerful force stopping them from doing certain things. And they have the egregiously long lifespans and resources to figure it out.

That is why we need a Mel Gibson esque game developer with enough funds to make a hit and shit on their faces. There are deeper reasons than being an atheist moderntard mind you, these people are as repelled by a Christian Cross as Bram Stoker's Dracula was.

I mean they don't mind a videogame where greek deities are real(and there are plenty) or where asian doctrines about karma and reincarnation are presented as truth, but a game where vampires fear the Cross is verboten? Fuck them.

 

[mediocrepoet]

vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional.

The efficacy of christian holy symbols on vampires usually imply the existance of God and that is not palatable to most modern gamedevs or the megacorps that own them.

It's an interesting worldbuilding conundrum, as vampires are traditionally handicaped by a lot of rules, and these rules are generally enforced by God, protective spirits, what have you. For example, how vampires often need to be invited into private homes (IIRC, something that's true for Vampyr as well).

Unfortunately, a lot of vampire media and their creators don't feel a need to explain any of this or worse, just handwave it.

Trust me, vampires would be super duper interested in why there's an overwhelmingly powerful force stopping them from doing certain things. And they have the egregiously long lifespans and resources to figure it out.

They replaced Vox Dei with Vox DEI.

 

[mediocrepoet]

A scene from the modern classic "Chudula"

*brandishes up vial of estrogen* "Back foul beast! The power of woke compels you!"

 

[Storyfag]

A scene from the modern classic "Chudula"

*brandishes up vial of estrogen* "Back foul beast! The power of woke compels you!"

Silly xem! Nothing. Ever. Happens!

*vial shatters*

 

[Storyfag]

This reminds me of Bloodlines, by the way. A fifth of a century ago, it was possible to poke innocent humour like the estrogen bottle.

 

[Modron]

This reminds me of Bloodlines, by the way. A fifth of a century ago, it was possible to poke innocent humour like the estrogen bottle.

Now when they include this stuff it's not as a joke, I played this demo for some immersive sim a few years ago and the first drawer I opened contained Hivemind's stash of estradiol. It was a canadian made game so I should of known better.

Found it:

 

[cvv]

So far I've been p. lukewarm about this gaym but this concept art gave me a genuine gamer boner.

 

[Barbarian]

Not sure if nice environments are enough of a pull.

What is their budget anyway? I know they have the witcher 3 credentials, but they are probably a small sized studio with AA game constraints. A game with similar scope as W3 might be outside their limits.

 

[cvv]

Not sure if nice environments are enough of a pull.

It's not just about the environments, the picture indicates the vibe and tone they're likely going for - dark, uneasy, grim, stark. Feels like Bronze Age in Norway or some such. Love it.

 

[Ibn Sina]

I am only cautiously optimistic because they are using Medieval period of Earth as a setting with some fantasy thrown in it so it is not some bog fantasy trash created from the ground up with elves, stunties and other shit. Elves and shit like that don't belong in vampire games. If they can keep most standard and derivative DnD style magic like fireball and shit nonexistent and only relay on non explained dark and stygian magic: hexes, curses, unexplained horror stuff and blood magic it will be great.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional.

The efficacy of christian holy symbols on vampires usually imply the existance of God and that is not palatable to most modern gamedevs or the megacorps that own them.

It's an interesting worldbuilding conundrum, as vampires are traditionally handicaped by a lot of rules, and these rules are generally enforced by God, protective spirits, what have you. For example, how vampires often need to be invited into private homes (IIRC, something that's true for Vampyr as well).

Unfortunately, a lot of vampire media and their creators don't feel a need to explain any of this or worse, just handwave it.

Trust me, vampires would be super duper interested in why there's an overwhelmingly powerful force stopping them from doing certain things. And they have the egregiously long lifespans and resources to figure it out.

In one 1997 tabletop game, The Everlasting, the writer went with something very new agey. There is a God, but it’s not specifically tied to the Abrahamic religions. It’s just a generic good creator deity, designed to be inoffensive to readers. You can play as an angel who goes around doing social work and fighting crime.

The vampires aren’t repelled by crosses specifically. Rather, each bloodline is repelled/harmed by blessed items based on the religion of their patient zero. So the scions of Dracula are vulnerable to Christian paraphernalia, but the scions of the Moche creator god are not.

You can read a review here: https://writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/halloween-jack/the-everlasting-book-of-the-unliving/

 

[thesecret1]

In one 1997 tabletop game, The Everlasting, the writer went with something very new agey. There is a God, but it’s not specifically tied to the Abrahamic religions. It’s just a generic good creator deity, designed to be inoffensive to readers. You can play as an angel who goes around doing social work and fighting crime.

The vampires aren’t repelled by crosses specifically. Rather, each bloodline is repelled/harmed by blessed items based on the religion of their patient zero. So the scions of Dracula are vulnerable to Christian paraphernalia, but the scions of the Moche creator god are not.

You can read a review here: https://writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/halloween-jack/the-everlasting-book-of-the-unliving/

Thanks for the info, sounds like garbage

 

[Litmanen]

vampires feared holy symbols and it seemed quite traditional.

The efficacy of christian holy symbols on vampires usually imply the existance of God and that is not palatable to most modern gamedevs or the megacorps that own them.

It's an interesting worldbuilding conundrum, as vampires are traditionally handicaped by a lot of rules, and these rules are generally enforced by God, protective spirits, what have you. For example, how vampires often need to be invited into private homes (IIRC, something that's true for Vampyr as well).

Unfortunately, a lot of vampire media and their creators don't feel a need to explain any of this or worse, just handwave it.

Trust me, vampires would be super duper interested in why there's an overwhelmingly powerful force stopping them from doing certain things. And they have the egregiously long lifespans and resources to figure it out.

In one 1997 tabletop game, The Everlasting, the writer went with something very new agey. There is a God, but it’s not specifically tied to the Abrahamic religions. It’s just a generic good creator deity, designed to be inoffensive to readers. You can play as an angel who goes around doing social work and fighting crime.

The vampires aren’t repelled by crosses specifically. Rather, each bloodline is repelled/harmed by blessed items based on the religion of their patient zero. So the scions of Dracula are vulnerable to Christian paraphernalia, but the scions of the Moche creator god are not.

You can read a review here: https://writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/halloween-jack/the-everlasting-book-of-the-unliving/

What if the patient zero was an atheist? Or a pastafarian?