The Blood of Dawnwalker director says companies should use AI, but with a crucial caveat

Rebel Wolves Addresses AI Controversy in Game Development

Rebel Wolves has moved to clarify its position on AI in game development following renewed scrutiny over The Blood of Dawnwalker, the studio's upcoming dark fantasy RPG. During a recent press visit to the studio in Poland, game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz addressed questions about how generative AI tools have been deployed during production, offering a nuanced perspective that emphasizes AI as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for human creativity 1

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Source: IGN

Tomaszkiewicz, who previously directed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, stated that "companies should use AI, but in a way which helps people to work, not replace the people." This distinction matters to developers and players alike as the industry grapples with the ethical implications of automation. The director's comments came during a group Q&A session where he explained that Rebel Wolves faces no external pressure to adopt these technologies, but has chosen to integrate them strategically 2

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Early-Stage Voice-Overs Drive AI Adoption

The primary application of generative AI at Rebel Wolves involves creating temporary voice-overs during the early stages of development. For an RPG recorded in six to eight languages, voice-over work represents a substantial investment that demands careful planning. Tomaszkiewicz explained that hearing dialogue spoken aloud helps the team identify narrative issues before committing to expensive recording sessions with voice actors 1

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"The moment when you start to hear the game, hear the NPCs and so on, is the moment when you figure out that something in the story works or does not work," he said. Making changes after professional recording sessions would be "really expensive" and create production issues that ripple through the entire development timeline. By using AI-generated placeholder audio for story iteration, the studio can refine scripts and lock in dialogue before human developers and voice actors step in to create the final product 2

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This approach aims to reduce production costs while simultaneously helping to avoid pressure on staff. "When you start to change stuff in the middle of production of the game, it makes pressure for the team. It makes problems and overtime and other stuff, and we wanted to avoid that," Tomaszkiewicz explained 2

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No AI-Generated Assets in Final Game

Rebel Wolves co-founder Tomasz Tinc made an unequivocal statement at the conclusion of the Q&A session: "Nothing that's in The Blood of Dawnwalker was created using generative AI. Nothing. People with blood and flesh made this game from the beginning to the end." This clarification addresses concerns that AI might have contributed to the final artistic or narrative content that players will experience when the game launches on September 3, 2026 2

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Source: Eurogamer

The distinction between using AI during the game development process and having AI-generated content in the shipped product represents a critical line for many in the industry. Once the team completes script refinement using AI voice tools, "we remove all those voices and record everything with the actors," Tomaszkiewicz confirmed 2

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Quality Assurance and Future Applications

Beyond voice work, Tomaszkiewicz envisions AI handling repetitive tasks that consume valuable developer time. He cited Quality Assurance (QA) testing as an example, where team members currently spend hours checking terrain for holes and collision issues. "At the same time, they could play the quest and tell me if they like the characters or if the gameplay loops are fun enough, or if the timings in the combat can be better," he noted 2

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This philosophy treats AI like any other tool advancement in the development pipeline. "It's like you can take a stone to put the nail into the board or you can use the hammer—it should work like this," Tomaszkiewicz said, suggesting AI should make work more efficient without displacing human developers .

When asked directly about their use of AI, lead quest designer Rafał Jankowski stated, "In the professional environment I'm not using it at all," indicating that the technology hasn't penetrated all areas of development at the 150-160 person studio . This suggests Rebel Wolves maintains a selective approach, deploying AI only where it demonstrably improves workflow without compromising the creative vision that human talent brings to the project.