'The world is living and it's not waiting for you' — The Blood of Dawnwalker director says the RPG's 30-day timer gives the story a 'sense of urgency' and 'emotional impact' | Tech Radar

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'The world is living and it's not waiting for you' — The Blood of Dawnwalker director says the RPG's 30-day timer gives the story a 'sense of urgency' and 'emotional impact'

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The Blood of Dawnwalker 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 Coen's family, and the timer will add "emotional impact"

Tomaszkiewicz says, "the world is living and it's not waiting for you"

The Blood of Dawnwalker game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz wants players to feel driven by a "sense of urgency" through the role-playing game's (RPG) unconventional time-limit mechanic.

In an interview with Tech Radar Gaming at a hands-on preview event, Tomaszkiewicz explained why Rebel Wolves chose to include a time system that gives players only 30 days to rescue protagonist Coen's family.

Every time players take on a quest, time moves forward within the game's 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 consequence. However, as Tomaszkiewicz explained, in The Blood of Dawnwalker, "The world is living and it's not waiting for you."

"If you have some particular goal and you decide to go and do some stuff which is not connected with this goal, you have some consequences, right?" he said. "I think that in the games and the RPGs where time is not important, you lose this sense of urgency, and you lose this belief that this goal is real.

"If we give you the goal that your family is in the castle and something bad will happen to them, but if time wouldn't move and events wouldn’t move it forward, you wouldn't feel this sense of urgency and any emotions connected to it, because you know that they are there, and you will go there whatever time you want."

The Blood of Dawnwalker director says the game's time limit system won't 'punish' players — 'You’ll be able to complete a majority of the game before the time runs out'

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'Clair Obscur showed that you can take a genre and do it in a different and interesting way' — The Blood of Dawnwalker director says the ambitious game was made out of a 'love for RPGs'

Tomaszkiewicz added that the timer also allowed the team to tell a story that has "a bigger emotional impact" and while it may look like a small thing, it changes almost everything and "changes your thinking about the content."

"It's not only giving you the feeling that you are there, but you need to think what you want to do, and sometimes, to decide when not to do something," the director explained.

"Going there and doing something is your choice, but not going there is also your choice, and it will have consequences. It adds to the non-linearity of the game, because you know the world is living and it's not waiting for you — stuff will just happen."

The Blood of Dawnwalker arrives on September 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.

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Demi is a freelance games journalist who helps cover gaming news at Tech Radar. She's been a games writer for five years and has written for outlets such as Game Spot, NME, and Games Radar, covering news, features, and reviews. Outside of writing, she plays a lot of RPGs and talks far too much about Star Wars on X.

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• News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
• Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more
• Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
• Unlock instant access to exclusive member features
• Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards