- Dawnwalker’s Blood Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz says the game’s 30-day time system offers a “sense of urgency”
- The game will give players 30 days to rescue the Coen family and the timer will add “emotional impact”
- Tomaszkiewicz says: “the world lives and does not wait for you”
Dawnwalker’s Blood Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz wants players to feel driven by a “sense of urgency” through the unconventional role-playing game (RPG) time limit mechanic.
In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at a hands-on preview event, Tomaszkiewicz explained why Rebel Wolves chose to include a time system that gives players just 30 days to rescue protagonist Coen’s family.
Every time players undertake a mission, time moves forward within the game world, so choosing how to spend time is vital. It’s a unique feature for an RPG because these games typically allow players to explore for hundreds of hours without consequences. However, as Tomaszkiewicz explained, in Dawnwalker’s Blood“The world is alive and it is not waiting for you.”
“If you have a particular goal and you decide to do something that is unrelated to that goal, you have some consequences, right?” said. “I think in games and RPGs where time is not important, you lose this sense of urgency and you lose the belief that this goal is real.
“If we give you the objective that your family is in the castle and something bad is going to happen to them, but if time doesn’t move forward and events don’t move forward, you won’t feel this sense of urgency or any emotion related to it, because you know they’re there and you’ll go there whenever you want.”
Tomaszkiewicz added that the timer also allowed the team to tell a story that has “a bigger emotional impact,” and while it may seem like a small thing, it changes almost everything and “changes the way you think about the content.”
“Not only does it give you the feeling that you are there, but you need to think about what you want to do and sometimes decide when not to do something,” the director explained.
“Going there and doing something is your choice, but not going is also your choice, and there will be consequences. It adds to the non-linearity of the game, because you know the world is alive and isn’t waiting for you; things will just happen.”
Dawnwalker’s Blood arrives on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.
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