Believe it or not, there's a direct line between Geralt's adventures and Rebel Wolves' new vampire RPG. The Blood of Dawnwalker has been out for a short while now, and the early numbers suggest something pretty fascinating: CD Projekt Red fans aren't just loyal to the studio—they follow the people who actually made those games.
Analyst Rhys Elliott from Alinea Analytics crunched the Steam data, and the result is striking. Roughly 58% of Dawnwalker players also have time logged in The Witcher 3. That's not surprising on its face, considering Dawnwalker is directed by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the mastermind behind so much of what made The Witcher 3 special. But the scale is still wild. This isn't some limited-time event or free promotional thing. It's a full-price, brand-new IP, and more than half of its current player base clearly came straight from the world of Ciri and Dandelion.
Reception for Dawnwalker has been mostly positive across the board, too. Steam reviews currently sit at "mostly positive," and critics have been largely warm toward it, even if our own review landed at a 3/5 with a few caveats. There's a sense that people aren't just showing up because of marketing, but because they trust the names attached to the project.
Honestly, I'm one of those weird RPG fans who could never quite get into The Witcher 3, despite trying multiple times. It's a me problem, I know. But Dawnwalker clicked with me almost immediately. I'm only a few hours in, and while the grimdark setting and dense RPG systems are exactly what I'd expect from a CDPR veteran team, the time-as-a-resource mechanic is what really surprised me. On paper, I worried it'd make every main objective feel like a ticking countdown. In practice, it adds a meaningful sense of urgency without ever becoming annoying, and it makes the world feel more alive and responsive.
You can see The Witcher 3's DNA all over Dawnwalker as well. The branching quests, the fluid swordplay, the way NPCs react to your choices—it's all there. That said, Dawnwalker isn't matching The Witcher 3's universal acclaim, at least not yet. That could change as more people dig deeper into the world, especially since Rebel Wolves has talked about this being the start of a larger saga.
If you're just jumping in, don't miss our rundown of the best Prologue quests to do before Mass in The Blood of Dawnwalker. It'll save you some headaches.