Spoiler free review: The Blood of Dawnwalker
If you liked Vampire the Masquerade, this is the game you were waiting for. It pushed what a roleplaying video game can be. And it's actually quite scary. Not because of what could happen to you, but your profound impact on the world for every single person you encounter.
You actually have time and make choices about where to spend your time in this game, and your choices matter so much for the people you care about or happen to be passing by. It's a roleplaying game that didn't forget to put you in the role of the main character, and doesn't hesitate to show the cruelty of the world and the responsibility of your every action or inaction. It's real vampire media, bloody, sad, and it's mechanics, world and story can only be shown through an interact game. It's fresh, and never going exactly where you expect it to go.
It should be way more popular, it is a game made by people who actually enjoy the process and have honed their craft after years of figuring out exactly how they want to tell their stories, many coming from the Witcher 3 team. Every single person on the team seems to have enjoyed the role, and every moment is crafted so perfectly I'm surprised something like this can exist.
They stayed within scope of their vision, and made their assets, animations, and story beats count. Never did I feel like it was lacking despite not being a AAA game, and never did I expect the level of quality they presented. It makes vampires scary again, it makes video games feel immersive again, by tweaks to cutscenes and outcomes to so many quests you could replay it I imagine 3 times before it starts to feel less fresh.
Not sure how they made this. I'm so surprised it exists.
This is legitimately the game of the year. Thank you @BandaiNamcoUS for the key, I don't know how anyone is gonna follow this up
Good to go into it as blind as possible