The Blood of Dawnwalker's first big post-launch patch is out. Update 1.1 went live on October 22, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with no countdown. It adds a respec potion, a new easier Story mode, animal petting, bigger subtitles and a FrameGen update. The announcement counts "over 1100 improvements and fixes." This page sums up the official patch notes: the headline features, the quiet nerfs and exploit fixes that change how you play, the boss and quest fixes, and the open questions.
Quick answer: Update 1.1 is live now (released October 22, 2026; the Steam announcement went up at 09:17 UTC) on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. New features: the Draught of Mind Rebirth respec, animal petting, a new Story mode with extra combat assist (the old Story mode is renamed Forgiving, so there are now five difficulty presets), and larger subtitles plus subtitles for all lines. It also adds a merchant Buyback option, rebalances item upgrade costs, lets items be equipped in day and night presets at once, adds controller deadzone settings, and patches the beehive infinite-money exploit and double quest rewards. New Game Plus is not in 1.1. One known issue: the game may crash when switching FrameGen from OFF to ON on an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.
When did The Blood of Dawnwalker Update 1.1 come out?
Rebel Wolves announced the patch on October 16, 2026 as "planned for next week" and released it on Thursday, October 22, 2026, with no advance date. The Steam announcement went up at 09:17 UTC that morning. The official site and Bandai Namco Europe confirmed the same day that the update was out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
"Update 1.1 is now live on Steam!" — Rebel Wolves, official Steam announcement, October 22, 2026
Polygon described the launch like this: "Rather than giving fans a heads-up, the studio suddenly pushed it live this morning" (Polygon).
| Question | Answer (checked October 23, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Release date | October 22, 2026 |
| Platforms | PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X/S, same day |
| Official notes | dawnwalkergame.com and the Steam news hub |
| Size of the change list | "over 1100 improvements and fixes" (Bandai Namco Europe announcement) |
| Patch-note sections | New features, Highlights, Miscellaneous, General, Gameplay, Quests, Narrative, Art, Audio, Plugin, Stability |
| New Game Plus | Not included |
This is the first numbered feature patch since launch on September 3, 2026, after the earlier 1.0.x hotfixes.
What's new in Update 1.1? The four headline features
| Feature | Official wording | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Draught of Mind Rebirth | "Forget all your Swordmastery, Witchcraft, and Vampirism abilities, and use the time you spent learning them to master a different set of abilities." | The game's first respec |
| Animal petting | (listed without description in the notes) | The October 16 feature card showed petting dogs and cats |
| Story mode update | "Pick between the Forgiving game difficulty (previously called Story) and a new Story mode with additional combat assist." | Five difficulty presets instead of four |
| Additional subtitle settings | "Increase the font size and enable subtitles for ALL dialogue lines." | Subtitles for every line, not only main conversations |
How does the Draught of Mind Rebirth respec work?
The notes confirm what the potion does. It resets all three ability trees (Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism), so this is a full respec, not a single-point refund. The phrase "use the time you spent learning them" ties it to the game's 30 days-and-nights structure, where learning abilities costs time. The notes don't say the potion gives days back on the calendar. Read it as getting your investment back to spend on other abilities.
Still not stated in the official notes as of October 23, 2026: where you get the Draught, what it costs, whether it can be used more than once, and whether it touches your Ultimates or shrine perks. Players in the official subreddit's Update 1.1 thread were asking the same thing ("how do you use the respec thing?") on launch day. Our respec and Draught of Mind Rebirth guide covers what's known. If you're planning a rebuild, start with the skill tree guide.
What's the difference between Story and Forgiving now?
The mode you knew as Story is still in the game, now called Forgiving. The Story name goes to a new, easier mode with extra combat assist. The notes don't spell out what that assist does. From easiest to hardest:
| Before Update 1.1 (4 presets) | After Update 1.1 (5 presets) |
|---|---|
| — | Story (new, extra combat assist) |
| Story | Forgiving (the old Story, renamed) |
| Fair | Fair |
| Challenging | Challenging |
| Duelist | Duelist |
Duelist is still the top difficulty. The custom sliders are covered in our difficulty settings guide.
What do the Update 1.1 combat and FrameGen highlights change?
The "Highlights" section lists five changes:
- "Update to the FrameGen technology, including dedicated settings."
- "Adjusted animations and camera movements in combat."
- "Improved targeting, locking onto, and disengaging from enemies."
- "Better responsiveness of targeting and attaching to surfaces when using Shadowstep and Planeshift."
- "Blood and gore are no longer censored in the Japanese version of the game on Steam."
The Gameplay section adds more combat-feel fixes: "Improved the aiming of Shadowstep and Planeshift," a fix for dodging while guarding that "result[ed] in unintended character movement," and a fix for Coen being unable to use abilities "after running away from a fight." The notes give no exact numbers for the lock-on changes. In September, director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz told Eurogamer he planned a stun threshold ("three hits you need to take off this stun"). That number doesn't appear in the 1.1 notes, so treat it as a stated plan, not a confirmed value.
FrameGen gets its own settings. Under "Plugin" there's also a fix for screen flickering in window mode with DLSS Frame Generation on. It is not DLSS 5, which the notes don't mention. Our DLSS 5 explainer covers that, and the best settings guide covers the rest of the options.
Japanese version: the gore uncensoring applies to Steam only. The official Japanese account said on October 20 that the Japanese PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions get the same change in a separate update planned for early 2027 (GameSpark).
Which Update 1.1 changes affect your gold and gear?
The "Miscellaneous" section has the quality-of-life changes most players will notice first:
| Change | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Added a "Buyback" feature at merchants | You can recover an item you sold by mistake |
| Equipped items are hidden when selling | Harder to sell your own gear by accident |
| Rebalanced the cost of upgrading items, "especially on higher levels" | Late-game upgrades get re-priced; see the crafting and upgrade guide |
| Items can be equipped in both presets (day, night) at once | No more duplicate gear to cover both forms |
| Added controller deadzone settings | Lets you tune stick deadzones (can help with drift) |
| Merchant in Silberstein "available at all times" | No more waiting for him to appear |
| Stack tooltips now refresh weight and value after you consume an item | Inventory display fix |
What did Update 1.1 nerf or patch out?
These are the changes that alter builds and farming routes without a headline. All of them come from the official notes:
- Beehive money exploit removed: "Beehive can no longer provide infinite money." If you were farming beehives, that's over.
- No more double rewards: "Quest rewards can no longer be obtained twice."
- Duplicate legendary amulet removed: the same legendary amulet could appear at Xanthe's manor and be sold by Vicho. That's fixed.
- Omniblock: a bug let Omniblock's stamina reduction "exceed 100%, causing stamina to increase when blocking." Blocking now costs stamina as intended.
- Wild Blood: the buff was being "granted upon feeding even without learning the perk." You now need the perk.
- Buffs that now work properly: Broad Swipe (levels 3 and 4) bonus damage "should now be applied properly". Death from Above no longer has a shorter range than Voracious Bite. "Activation Charge Restoration from Actions" now correctly raises the "from Block" values. The Human Health Restoration stat was only working on consumables and now applies properly.
- Easier enemies: boar and wolf health is reduced "on higher levels." Wolves on the path between Sandy Gorge and Sanzhani are less aggressive. A cathedral courtyard guard was nerfed "so he can no longer kill Coen in one hit when approached before level 30."
- Home Sweet Home: fixes for "significant difficulty spikes" and for Coen dealing "less damage than he should" during that quest.
If your build leaned on Omniblock or an unearned Wild Blood buff, it will likely feel weaker after the patch. The Draught of Mind Rebirth means you can rebuild instead of starting over. The best build guide covers the main setups.
Which boss fights did Update 1.1 fix?
Several fixes target the fights players complained about most:
| Boss | Fix in Update 1.1 |
|---|---|
| Xanthe | Burning Blood no longer damages her shield during invincibility phases or keeps hurting her while she's untargetable. Soul Reaping no longer damages her after she leaves the arena. Piercing Shriek no longer breaks her attack animation. She can't become invulnerable during "The Cycle of Love." She no longer vanishes before the cinematic. Combat music no longer cuts out in the cathedral fight |
| Murohn | "Improved Murohn's attack animations." "Murohns' Lairs are now properly marked on the map during the day as well" |
| Brencis | Fewer autosaves during the fight. Coen's leg animations no longer distort when hit by Brencis's Life Lock. Brencis and his soldiers now have audible VO during the Astral projections |
| The Matriarch | No longer permanently loses her shield if stunned before shapeshifting back. Damage indicators now show during the fight |
| Ambrus | His shield can no longer disappear when he's blinded |
| Gargoyle | Easier to hit consistently with a short sword. No longer spawns inside tower textures after loading an autosave |
| All bosses | Health bars no longer stay on screen after you disengage. Bosses no longer stop fighting if you interrupt their opening taunt |
Fights that relied on Burning Blood ticking through Xanthe's invulnerability will probably take longer now. Our Xanthe boss guide, Murohn guide and Brencis final boss guide cover each fight.
Which quest bugs and crashes does Update 1.1 fix?
The Quests section is the longest part of the notes. These are the fixes for progression blockers players hit most:
- "Stronger Than Achilles": Anca now spawns, so the quest no longer stops.
- "Midnight Reckoning": hallway doors no longer close permanently and block progress.
- "A Hero's End": arena doors no longer lock you out, and you can now reach the final encounter location.
- "Leech Collector": the last event can now be completed.
- "Ambrus's Cellars: Uninvited": can now be completed.
- "The Bittersweet Toast": no longer loses objectives if you found a certain body early.
- "A Monk and a Saint": Mihai's chalice objective is no longer impossible if you found the crypt first.
- Ritual events: you can return and finish them even if you started one outside the ritual area.
- Time costs: several events and chests that didn't advance time now do (for example "Ambrus's Dungeons: Judge and Executioner" and "Ambrus's Cellars: Trouble Brewing"). This tightens the 30-day budget slightly.
The Stability section fixes infinite loading screens in "The Night of Horrors," "Someone Needs a Lesson," "Things Will Be Different Now" and "A Hero's End." It also fixes crashes when using Voracious Bite, after reading books or letters, at the end of the Lunar Games, and when loading saves from the main menu, plus short freezes when saving or loading. Some fixes are just funny: "Coen can no longer walk on water."
If you abandoned a side quest because it broke, our side quests guide covers which ones are worth going back for.
What's not in Update 1.1, and what's still broken?
- New Game Plus: not included. Polygon called it the patch's "biggest omission." The studio has said it is looking into NG+ but has given no date. See our New Game Plus explainer.
- Respec details: where you get the Draught of Mind Rebirth and what it costs aren't in the notes (as of October 23, 2026).
- Known issue (official): "Game may crash on switching FrameGen from OFF to ON (on AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT only)." If you have that card, consider leaving FrameGen off until a hotfix.
- Multiplayer: The Blood of Dawnwalker is single-player only, and 1.1 doesn't change that.
Is Update 1.1 worth coming back for?
Yes, if you stopped because of a build you regret, a broken quest or a boss you couldn't beat. All three get a direct fix: a full respec, a long list of progression unblocks, and an easier Story mode on top of Forgiving. If you were farming beehives or leaning on the Omniblock bug, gold will likely come in more slowly and blocking will cost stamina again. The game has sold over 1 million copies and, as of October 23, 2026, holds an 83 average on OpenCritic from 175 critics.
FAQ
When did The Blood of Dawnwalker Update 1.1 come out? Update 1.1 was released on October 22, 2026 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The Steam announcement went up at 09:17 UTC. It's a patch for the existing game, not paid DLC.
What's in The Blood of Dawnwalker patch 1.1? It adds the Draught of Mind Rebirth respec, animal petting, a new Story mode (the old one is renamed Forgiving), bigger subtitles and subtitles for all lines, a FrameGen update with dedicated settings, combat targeting and camera improvements, merchant Buyback, rebalanced upgrade costs, day-and-night equipment presets and controller deadzone settings. The update lists over 1,100 improvements and fixes in total.
Does Update 1.1 fix the beehive money exploit? Yes. The notes say "Beehive can no longer provide infinite money," and quest rewards can no longer be claimed twice.
How do you get the Draught of Mind Rebirth? The official notes don't say where it comes from, what it costs or whether it's reusable. That was still the case as of October 23, 2026. They confirm only that it resets all Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism abilities.
Is there New Game Plus in Update 1.1? No. NG+ isn't in the patch, and Rebel Wolves hasn't given a date for it.
Why does Blood of Dawnwalker crash when I turn on FrameGen? It's a known issue on the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT only. Switching FrameGen from off to on may crash the game. Rebel Wolves lists it as under investigation.
Sources: official Update 1.1 patch notes on dawnwalkergame.com and the Steam news hub (October 22, 2026); Bandai Namco Europe release announcement; Polygon's Update 1.1 coverage; Eurogamer's September 2026 interview with Konrad Tomaszkiewicz; GameSpark (October 20, 2026) for the Japanese console update; OpenCritic. Checked October 23, 2026.
