Rebel Wolves' debut title, Blood of Dawnwalkers, is one of the best-reviewed games of the year. Although it will likely lose out to higher-rated horror titles like Resident Evil: Requiem and Grand Theft Auto VI in this year's Game of the Year awards, I believe this game is a retro-styled horror RPG with a rich Gothic atmosphere and a narrative worthy of multiple playthroughs. According to the studio, the core secret behind the game's creation is simply not chasing current trends, but rather making the kind of game the team truly wants to play.
Korean media outlet Inven (via Otakukart) recently visited Rebel Wolves' headquarters in Warsaw, where studio management shared their game development philosophy. The idea of making only the games they truly want to make, unaffected by stock market fluctuations or industry trends, is entirely reasonable. Discussing the original intent behind founding the studio, a spokesperson described by Inven as a "marketing representative" stated: "We wanted to create an environment where we could focus entirely on the project itself, without being constrained by stock market pressures or tight development schedules."
Although Rebel Wolves has secured support from external investors—including minority shareholder NetEase and the game's publisher, Bandai Namco—it remains an independent studio with full creative autonomy over its titles. The studio's co-founder and CEO is Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who directed The Witcher 3, and the team includes many former CD Projekt Red developers. As a result, Blood of Dawnwalkers inevitably bears some resemblance to The Witcher series, but the game possesses a strong, unique style of its own. I look forward to seeing this distinctive trait further expanded in the sequel. In the studio's own words: "We are rebels. We don't want to follow trends. We just want to make games that we ourselves would enjoy playing."
As for what form this philosophy will take in future projects, it may remain unclear for quite some time, but the sequel will likely retain the controversial time-limited mechanics from Blood of Dawnwalkers. I believe timed missions are a brilliant design choice, adding a genuine sense of risk and consequence to decision-making, but I also understand why some players might experience fear of missing out, which is completely understandable.