On Day 1, hundreds of people are already sharing their thoughts on the vampire RPG from the former Witcher developers. Most have praise to spare, but as is often the case, technical issues at launch are spoiling the fun for some.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2026—and since September 3, you can now immerse yourself in the dark, 14th-century vampire world.
Press reviews, such as our in-depth review of Dawnwalker, have been available for a few days now, and the first user reviews have also started appearing on Steam. These also show that fans of dark fantasy have plenty to look forward to—albeit with a few caveats, mostly of a technical nature.
Here’s what the first Steam reviews are saying
At the time of this article, the Steam ratings stand at 73 percent, which translates to “Mostly Positive.” The developers surely hoped for a slightly better result—after all, veterans like the former director of The Witcher 3 were involved.
But most of the criticism isn’t actually directed at the game itself. Nor is it aimed at the time mechanics—which were highly controversial before release—that aren’t actually as bad as they initially sounded.
The biggest annoyance for many right now isstutteringin cutscenes and the open world,crashesand, in some cases,issues with the recommended controller scheme, such as when Coen suddenly freezes. This apparently affects not only older systems but also high-end mid-range computers that exceed the specified requirements.
In our test, we were completely spared such problems most of the time, except for rare and barely noticeable frame drops. And many other players don’t seem to have these kinds of problems either—there are simply too many possible variables to predict exactly who will be able to play smoothly. The only solution here is to wait for patches from the developers.
Beyond the Tech: What’s Praised, What’s Criticized?
The game is receiving praise above all for its great horror atmosphere and strong story, though you have to keep in mind that most players have only been playing for a few hours and haven’t gotten very far yet. However, based on our own testing experience, we can tell you that the story continues at a high level, with a few real highlights in the optional quests.
Steam user Blade (whose judgment we trust blindly, if only because of his name) writes:
It’s The Witcher with more bite. This vampire RPG fills the void left by Bloodlines 2.
A well-known RPG expert also appears in the reviews: Influencer SynthPotato already has 44 hours of playtime under his belt, clearly having received an early review key. His rating comes in at 8/10:
A must-play for fans of The Witcher and other RPGs.The Blood of Dawnwalker gets so much right. The story, the lore, the open world, the activities, the incredibly unique structure—it’s all flawless and on par with The Witcher and Cyberpunk. I was completely hooked on this game for 40 hours—almost addicted to it at one point—because exploration is so much fun and the story never loses steam.
But unfortunately, the combat is a major flaw in an otherwise fantastic game. Because battles occur so frequently—since there’s no stealth system—so much of the gameplay feels flawed and unpolished, especially since combat feels so spongy and fights take far too long without ever giving you a real sense of progress. Still, the strong writing and the fantastic open world make this game worth playing through, even with these issues.
He’s already covered most of the criticisms (including ours), especially this one: battles take too long because enemies can take too many hits without going down, even later in the game. As a result, Coen never really feels powerful, except in those moments when he makes short work of boss enemies.
Have you already started playing *The Blood of Dawnwalker*, or are you waiting a bit longer until some of the technical teething issues have hopefully been patched? Do you play with a controller as recommended, or with a mouse and keyboard (that’s how most of our testers played through the game—it works just fine)? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
