The Blood of Dawnwalker Prologue Walkthrough: Best Quest Order

Prologue rules before you leave the village

The opening section of The Blood of Dawnwalker is commonly called the Prologue. It is not a normal free-roam chapter: several quests are marked as time-sensitive, and there are not enough time segments to complete every activity in one pass. PC Gamer’s launch-window route reports eight segments in the day and recommends grouping nearby objectives instead of crossing the map repeatedly. PowerPyx likewise lists the Prologue quests as missable once the story moves on.

Make a manual save before a conversation that can change a character’s fate, and write down the current time segment in the save name. This gives you a clean comparison point without forcing a full restart. Our Release Date & Global Unlock Guide covers platform status and first-start checks, while the Achievements Overview explains why one run may not reveal every outcome. The route below is source-backed; record patch or platform differences before treating a result as universal.

Image credit: Rebel Wolves via PC Gamer. The image is an official game screenshot used by the cited guide.

The first choice: Esme and the force-feed decision

At the beginning, Pieter asks Coen to force-feed his mother Esme. PC Gamer’s repeated prologue runs report that this decision does not create a long-term branch, although it changes the immediate tone of the scene. Pick the response that fits your role-play, then create a second save before you begin spending the day on errands. Do not mistake “no long-term impact” for “no reason to save”: later dialogue and quest states can still be affected by time and by whether you finish nearby tasks.

Recommended quest order

This order follows PC Gamer’s compact route, with non-expiring detours moved out of the busiest windows.

1. Live Bait (morning): Help Yanna and the children near Coen’s house. Keep the objective local and return to Laslea instead of wandering into the woods.
2. Dead Drop (morning): Take the short path east to the outcast graveyard and inspect the marked tree. This is a quick pickup that fits naturally before the medicine run.
3. Withering Away (morning to noon): Visit Anca, collect the herbs, and return to Pieter. The medicine is the urgent part of the quest; do not spend the next segment on a long detour before handing it over.
4. Page-Turner (noon, optional): Stay with Anca if you want the extra conversation and relationship context. If you would rather preserve the route for another activity, the detour can be skipped in this run.
5. Enter Not and If A Tree Falls (afternoon): Take the forest road north, inspect the abandoned house, and follow the investigation prompts. These objectives are useful because they sit along the same travel line; avoid returning to the village between each one.
6. Deep Down (afternoon): Pick up Gavril’s lead near Laslea Gate and follow the trail into the underground ruins. Arriving before evening is important in the launch route: Lazar can still be alive, while waiting too long produces a worse outcome.
7. Blasphemy (late afternoon): Return to Gremla and investigate the missing banner. You can question the neighbors one by one or confront Premysl after finding the clues. PC Gamer’s tested route recommends asking Premysl to return the banner if your goal is to keep the nearby villagers alive for now.
8. Disturbed and Like Father, Like Son (evening): Investigate Kvet’s grave, follow the footprints toward Kostel’s shed, then return home for Pieter’s training sequence. Keep a save before training so you can replay the dialogue without repeating the entire day.

Detours you can postpone

Into The Den and the buried treasure are not as urgent as the village quests. PC Gamer notes that the bear fight and treasure can be handled later, while Gamer Guides separates non-expiring activities from quests that disappear after the Prologue. Someone Needs A Lesson and On The Run are valid role-play choices, but they compete with more urgent objectives. Record them and return on a later save if needed.

Withering Away: brew Esme’s medicine correctly

PowerPyx’s launch guide gives the practical recipe as hot water and three spoonfuls of herbs. Check the ingredient prompts carefully, complete the interaction, and return to the family before taking another expedition. A failed or unfinished medicine step can lead to Esme’s death when the Prologue advances. Because this is a high-impact result, keep the pre-brew save even if the first attempt succeeds; it is useful for testing later changes without rewriting the whole route.

Anca’s immediate reaction can vary with your tone, but a different response is not proof of a permanent romance or ending branch. We will only promote delayed consequences to a confirmed choice guide after reproducing them in the released build. For broader context, see our Dawnwalker vs. The Witcher 3 comparison.

Deep Down and the Forgotten Guardian

Deep Down sends Coen to the ruins below Blackwater Hollow. Use Focus to follow the trail, inspect the mural and nearby clues, and loot before leaving. The first named boss is the Forgotten Guardian. PC Gamer describes its unblockable double-sword slash as the attack to respect: dodge away rather than trying to absorb it with a directional block. Stay patient, keep stamina for the follow-up, and do not spend every consumable before you learn the timing. The fight is an early test of the directional combat the game expects later, not a damage-race encounter.

If the optional Ravenous Bear is your first difficult fight, treat it as practice for spacing and stamina rather than a required gate. It can be completed for the Into The Den chain, but its location and treasure do not justify missing a timed village quest.

Blasphemy, Mass, and leaving the Prologue

For Blasphemy, use Focus to inspect the banner clues, then decide how directly you want to confront Premysl. Returning the banner is the safer choice for a “keep the neighbors alive” route, while the alternative creates a harsher village outcome. Treat that as a route preference, not an objectively best ending: the game is built around consequences rather than a single morality score.

After Disturbed and Pieter’s training, enter the church for Mass. PC Gamer records two timed dialogue prompts; they appear to support role-play more than a radically different immediate result. Before entering, keep a save and note whether the medicine, Lazar’s rescue, and banner decision are complete. After Mass, the story pushes Coen toward the silver-mine rebellion and the Prologue closes. The thirty-day campaign begins after this transition.

Sources and image credits

• PC Gamer: full Prologue walkthrough and best quest order — route, time segments, dialogue variations, Deep Down, and image credits.
• PowerPyx: The Blood of Dawnwalker walkthrough — Prologue quest list, medicine recipe, and missable-quest warning.
• Gamer Guides: best quests to do during the Prologue — time/reward table and expiring versus non-expiring activities.
• Screenshots are official game images credited to Rebel Wolves and reproduced by PC Gamer in the linked walkthrough. They are included here for editorial reference, not as original site artwork.