Bandai Namco has unveiled its latest title, The Blood of Dawnwalker, crafted using the cutting-edge Unreal Engine 5. However, early reports indicate that players are encountering significant stuttering issues, which could hinder the immersive experience the game aims to deliver. Adding to the frustration is the puzzling decision to impose a 30FPS cap on cinematic cutscenes, a move that raises eyebrows given the game’s modern aspirations.
Performance Insights
In an attempt to gauge the game’s performance, I utilized a robust setup featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, complemented by 32GB of DDR5 RAM running at 6000MHz, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The operating system was Windows 10 64-bit, paired with the GeForce 616.64 driver. Upon launching the game, players are greeted with a cinematic that is frustratingly locked at 30FPS. This decision seems particularly illogical for a title released in 2026, where expectations for fluidity are high.
Interestingly, some cutscenes—specifically those requiring player decisions—do run at an unlocked framerate. This inconsistency can create a disorienting experience, leaving players hoping for a future update that might rectify the situation. Alternatively, the community may have to rely on modders to address this oversight.
The prologue area of the game offers a promising start, running smoothly without any noticeable issues. However, as players transition into the village, the experience takes a turn for the worse. Stuttering becomes prevalent with every camera movement, which is particularly problematic in a third-person action RPG where fluid navigation is key. This is not merely a case of occasional hiccups; the stutters are consistent and can severely detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.
Utilizing Unreal Engine 5’s Lumen technology, The Blood of Dawnwalker demands considerable resources, especially when set to Ultra Settings. At Native 4K resolution, the game struggles to maintain a stable frame rate, hovering around 45-50FPS in the village. However, by enabling DLSS Quality, I managed to keep the frame rate above 60FPS consistently. While I had tempered expectations regarding performance at Native 4K with Lumen, the visual fidelity of the game does not quite meet the high standards set by other titles utilizing the same engine.
Given the anticipation surrounding this release, it is clear that The Blood of Dawnwalker may have arrived prematurely. The technical issues present suggest that the development team may have underestimated the time required for optimization. A comprehensive PC performance analysis will be published later this week, where I will be testing a variety of AMD and NVIDIA GPUs to provide further insights into the game’s performance across different hardware configurations.
