The Blood of Dawnwalker 2 could leave the 30-day clock behind

Rebel Wolves, the studio founded by former CD Projekt developers, has confirmed a sequel to The Blood of Dawnwalker, and the first big piece of news about it is what might be missing. As reported by Vandal, drawing on an interview with Eurogamer, director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz acknowledges that the time limit on Coen's adventure, those 30 days and nights to save his family, is not an untouchable part of the series and that they have no plans to force its return if it doesn't fit the new story.

This matters because that clock was the first game's defining feature. All the tension of choosing between a main quest, a side job or hours spent upgrading your character came from knowing the calendar was ticking down without mercy. Removing it, or transforming it, completely changes how you play and plan, and, for those of us who make a living competing or creating content, how you run it and teach it too.

What you need to know

• The sequel exists: Rebel Wolves has confirmed it is already working on its next RPG, a follow-up to The Blood of Dawnwalker, according to Vandal.
• The gameplay loop isn't guaranteed: the studio doesn't take it for granted that the sequel will repeat the original's structure.
• The 30-day limit is under review: Tomaszkiewicz admits they are considering dropping it or applying it to only certain parts of the story.
• Nothing is decided: the director himself stresses that it's still very early and that they will experiment before making a call.
• The stated goal is to surprise: the sequel wants to go beyond simply repeating the formula that worked.

What the clock was and why it divided players

In The Blood of Dawnwalker, Coen has 30 days and their corresponding nights to rescue his family. Every activity eats into the calendar, so the game constantly forces you to ask whether a detour is worth it: does that side quest actually add anything? Is it better to level up now or push on to the next objective before time runs out? That constant pressure is, for many, what sets the game apart from other open-world RPGs where time simply doesn't exist.

But it's also the game's most debated mechanic. A system like that clashes with players who want to explore without anxiety, complete the map to 100% or lose themselves in the world without ever checking the calendar. That's why it's talked about as the most controversial mechanic: it is at once what defines the game most and what draws the most pushback from a certain type of player.

What the studio says and what could change

What Vandal takes from the Eurogamer interview is an open-door stance. Tomaszkiewicz doesn't say the time limit will disappear or that it will stay: he says they will test the mechanic, see whether it fits the whole story or only parts of it, and decide accordingly. The key idea is that they won't force it. In other words, if the sequel's plot doesn't need a deadline, they won't shoehorn one in out of loyalty to the brand.

The context works in favor of that flexibility. The studio is made up of people with a CD Projekt background, and Vandal notes that The Blood of Dawnwalker lived up to expectations. With that track record, Rebel Wolves seems to want to treat time as just another narrative tool rather than a design dogma. It's easy to imagine middle-ground versions: a clock that's only active in certain chapters, deadlines tied to specific storylines or an optional system. None of that is confirmed; they are scenarios that the director's own framing leaves on the table.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom, we'll say it plainly: the 30-day limit is the best thing The Blood of Dawnwalker has, and giving it up would leave you with just another action RPG in a genre that's already saturated. For serious players, that calendar turns every playthrough into an optimization problem: routes, priorities, resource management. It's the kind of design that builds community, guides, debates over the ideal quest order and, above all, speedruns and challenges with their own rulesets. Without the clock, a big chunk of that content disappears.

That said, we understand the reasoning. Forcing a mechanic that doesn't fit the story is worse than not having it, and a director who admits he hasn't decided anything yet sounds more honest than one who promises continuity just to reassure the fans. The real risk isn't that they remove the clock, but that they water it down until it stops mattering: a deadline so generous that nobody feels any pressure would be the worst of both worlds, because it would keep the label without the substance.

For content creators, the uncertainty has a practical upshot: the first game will remain the benchmark for speedruns and calendar challenges for quite a while, and the sequel, if it changes the loop, will need to offer another hook that's just as worth talking about. Rebel Wolves promises to surprise us; we're asking them to make sure the surprise isn't doing the same thing as everyone else.

What do you think?

Coen's clock forced you to choose, and that choice was the game. If the sequel removes it or turns it into something occasional, do we gain freedom or lose the series' identity? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord: should The Blood of Dawnwalker 2 keep the 30-day limit?