The Blood of Dawnwalker's first big post-launch patch is almost here. After a month of smaller hotfixes, developer Rebel Wolves is preparing a larger update — and game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has laid out exactly what's in it: a brand-new easier difficulty, a long-requested combat targeting fix, smoother combat escapes, and continued performance work. Here's everything confirmed so far, and what it means for how you play.
Quick answer: As of October 5, 2026, Rebel Wolves has confirmed (but not yet shipped) its first big content patch for The Blood of Dawnwalker, described by game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz as "quite close" and "somewhere in the beginning of October." The headline changes are a new, even-easier Story difficulty (bringing the total to five tiers), a rework of the stun targeting quirk (now a three-hit buffer), fluid combat escapes that ignore the nav mesh, and ongoing PC performance and controller fixes. New Game Plus and new enemy types are being explored but are not confirmed. Everything below is sourced from Tomaszkiewicz's interviews — treat it as the developer's stated plan, not final patch notes.
When is the Blood of Dawnwalker October patch coming?
Speaking to Eurogamer, Tomaszkiewicz said the first major update is "quite close" and targeted for "somewhere in the beginning of October" 2026. The game launched on September 3, 2026, so this lands roughly a month into its life — the typical window for a first substantive content patch on a new RPG.
To be clear about where things stand as of October 5, 2026: Rebel Wolves has already shipped incremental hotfixes (the official site lists a Hotfix 1.0.4, among others) addressing frame-rate and controller problems since launch. The update described here is the larger one — what the director himself calls "the big patch which will deliver a lot of upgrades for people." Official, versioned patch notes had not gone live at the time of writing; this guide covers what Rebel Wolves has publicly committed to, and we'll update it the moment the full notes drop.
The headline change: a new, easier difficulty
The single biggest change is a new difficulty setting — and it's an easier one, not a harder one.
"We will introduce an additional difficulty level, but an easier one, because many people are asking for a more easy difficulty." — Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, game director, to Eurogamer
Here's the twist that will confuse people if they don't read carefully: the new easiest mode takes over the "Story" name, and the current Story mode gets renamed. Tomaszkiewicz floated "Demanding" as a working name for the renamed tier ("we will call it Demanding or something like this"). So after the patch, the difficulty list changes from four tiers to five:
| Before the patch (4 tiers) | After the patch (5 tiers, planned) |
|---|---|
| Story (easiest) | New Story (new, even easier) |
| — | Demanding (the old Story mode, renamed) |
| Fair | Fair |
| Challenging | Challenging |
| Duelist (hardest) | Duelist (hardest) |
The new Story mode is built for accessibility — it's aimed at players who, in the director's words, "just want to learn the story and go through the game without this gameplay challenge." Duelist remains the top end; Rebel Wolves considers it (played without directional attack indicators) challenging enough and isn't adding anything above it.
If you're a new player trying to decide where to start, our difficulty settings guide still applies — just note that the labels are about to shift, and the custom sliders (enemy health, damage, aggressiveness, perfect-block window, auto-block) are unaffected.
Combat targeting: the stun "target-switch" quirk is being reworked
One of the most-complained-about combat behaviours since launch is getting changed. When you land a stun-like crowd-control move, the game has been auto-switching your lock-on to a different enemy — which, mid-fight, frequently feels wrong.
Interestingly, Tomaszkiewicz revealed this wasn't a bug. It was intended behaviour he designed himself:
"That's my fault, because it changed. It worked differently. When I was playing… I wanted to stun an opponent and then switch to the other one… that's why we made it switch for the other character. But people complain about it, and in the newest patch we will lift off and we will see." — Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
The planned fix introduces a three-hit buffer: "There will be three hits you need to take off this stun," he said. In practice that should let you stun an enemy and keep hitting the same target instead of being yanked away to another. Camera and targeting behaviour are also being adjusted alongside it. The team is framing this as experimental — they'll watch how players respond and tune from there.
This matters most on the harder tiers, where the directional dueling system punishes mistimed inputs. If you want a refresher on how the attack/parry directions work, see our combat guide.
Escaping fights becomes fluid (and animals won't "hard-catch" you)
Another quality-of-life change you'll feel immediately: running away from combat is being overhauled. Players have been getting stuck on scenery when trying to flee.
"Right now we're doing the fix where when you run or escape, you will ignore the nav mesh and it will be fluid — it will not be clunky… it will be a big change for people." — Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
The change extends to enemy animal behaviour during fast movement (wolf form or witch-sprint). Creatures will still try to hit you, but they will no longer "hard-catch" you if you successfully evade — meaning early exploration stops being punished by wildlife that latches on the moment you aggravate it. As the director put it, if an animal misses, "you are safe and you can run and explore the world freely."
Performance and controller fixes continue
PC performance was a major theme of launch-build reviews, and Rebel Wolves says it's ongoing work rather than a one-patch fix. The studio has already pushed hotfixes for frame-rate and controller support, and is still gathering hardware data. Tomaszkiewicz pointed to the sheer spread of PC configurations as the core difficulty — there are simply too many combinations to test exhaustively.
He was candid about where the studio draws the line on frame-rate expectations:
"It's not a shooter — it's not a game where it's so important. But people want to have good performance or performance above good: it's fine. We're working on it and we will still work on it." — Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
If you're tuning your rig in the meantime, our best settings and performance guide walks through the upscalers (DLSS/FSR/XeSS) and the per-setting FPS costs.
What is NOT changing: enemy "sponginess"
One thing players have asked about that is deliberately not being nerfed: enemy health / "sponginess." Tomaszkiewicz explained that how long enemies take to kill depends heavily on your build and gear, so blanket health cuts would break the top end:
"You can create builds where you're killing them really fast. If you create other builds, they will be more spongey… if we decrease the health too much and you create a really strong build, you will one-shot everyone." — Konrad Tomaszkiewicz
His advice, in effect: if enemies feel spongy, spend your Skill Points and build into damage. He noted that some players hoard perks to save time budget for more content — but unspent perks mean weaker fights. Our how to level up guide and best build guide cover how to convert those points into real killing power.
New Game Plus and new enemies: explored, not confirmed
Two things fans keep asking about got a cautious "maybe":
- New Game Plus: Asked directly whether NG+ is coming, Tomaszkiewicz smiled and said "Yes, we are [exploring it]" — but refused to elaborate. As of now there is no NG+ in the game, and it is not a confirmed feature of this patch. (See our New Game Plus explainer for how to get every ending in a single playthrough in the meantime, since there's no NG+ to fall back on.)
- New enemy types: "There is a chance but I don't want to speak about it yet," he said, deferring to the publishing team. Again — not confirmed.
Treat both as developer signals of intent, not shipped content. Don't buy, wait, or plan around either until Rebel Wolves officially announces them.
Why this patch matters
The Blood of Dawnwalker has had a strong start — Rebel Wolves confirmed over 1 million copies sold, and the game sits around Metacritic 83 / OpenCritic 85 "Mighty." But the two loudest criticisms in reviews and Steam feedback were exactly what this patch targets: combat feel (the "Simon Says" directional parrying and the targeting quirk) and launch-build performance. Adding an even-easier difficulty also widens the door for story-first players who were bouncing off the dueling system.
In other words, this is Rebel Wolves responding directly to the feedback loop — the kind of post-launch support that tends to lift a new IP's long-tail reputation. It's a single-player game, so there's no live-service treadmill here; just a studio sanding down the rough edges of an ambitious debut.
FAQ
When does the Blood of Dawnwalker October patch release? As of October 5, 2026, there is no exact date. Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz described the first big patch as "quite close" and targeted for "somewhere in the beginning of October 2026." Smaller hotfixes (such as Hotfix 1.0.4) have already shipped; this is the larger content update.
What is the new difficulty in the patch? A brand-new, even easier mode designed for players who want the story without heavy combat challenge. It takes over the "Story" name, and the current Story mode is being renamed (the director floated "Demanding"). That brings the game to five difficulty tiers: the new Story, Demanding, Fair, Challenging, and Duelist.
Is the combat targeting bug being fixed? Yes — but the developer clarified it was intended behaviour, not a bug. The stun move that auto-switched your target is being reworked with a "three-hit buffer" so you can keep hitting the same enemy, along with camera and targeting adjustments. Rebel Wolves says it's experimental and will tune based on player feedback.
Is New Game Plus coming to The Blood of Dawnwalker? Not confirmed. Tomaszkiewicz said the studio is exploring NG+ ("Yes, we are") but would not share details. There is currently no NG+ in the game, so plan to see all seven endings using a manual save before the final quest.
Will the patch fix performance? Rebel Wolves is continuing to work on PC performance and controller support, having already released hotfixes. The director described it as ongoing rather than a single fix, citing the wide range of PC hardware as the main challenge.
Are enemies getting easier to kill? Not through a direct health nerf. The developer said enemy durability depends heavily on your build and gear, so the fix for "spongey" enemies is to invest your Skill Points into damage rather than hoard them.
All quotes and change details above are sourced from game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz's September–October 2026 interview circuit (as reported by Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, IGN, GamesRadar and Kotaku) and are the developer's stated plans as of October 5, 2026 — not final, versioned patch notes. We'll update this guide when Rebel Wolves publishes the official notes.
