FYNG at Gamescom 2025: KCD2 DLC Forged, Dawnwalker’s Vampire Timer, and The Expanse Tease

Why These FYNG Reveals Actually Matter

Find Your Next Game’s showcase at Gamescom 2025 had a familiar mix of flash and substance, but three projects cut through for me: a craft-heavy DLC for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, a vampire action-RPG built around a hard time limit, and a new take on The Expanse that’s teasing big exploration. Each speaks to a trend we’ve been watching: RPGs leaning into systemic stakes, not just bigger maps.

• KCD2’s “L’Héritage de la Forge” doubles down on grounded simulation and player-owned space.
• The Blood of Dawnwalker’s 30-day deadline could be the rare timer that raises tension without killing freedom.
• The Expanse: Osiris Reborn looks ambitious, but we need gameplay-engine reels aren’t proof.
• Gamescom remains the place where big RPGs show systems, not just cinematics. That’s the right direction.

KCD2 DLC: L’Héritage de la Forge brings steel, stone, and a real home

This caught my attention because Warhorse’s best trick is making mundane medieval life feel thrilling-mending mail, haggling for nails, getting lost after dusk. The new DLC, “L’Héritage de la Forge” (“The Legacy of the Forge”), arrives September 9 and leans straight into Henry’s roots. You’re headed back to Kuttenberg-KCD2’s biggest city—where an astronomical clock needs your craft. That alone screams “hand-authored questline with systemic friction”: resource gathering, smithing know-how, timing, maybe even civic politics if Warhorse goes there.

The other headline is player housing you can invest in and decorate. On paper, that’s a crowd-pleaser, but it’s also a design tightrope. I’m into the idea if it ties into KCD’s simulation—storage that affects encumbrance routes, beds that matter because sleep and sobriety systems still bite, workshop upgrades that change how you forge or repair. If it’s just a trophy room, that’ll feel like 2012-era filler. Warhorse tends to wire new features into the wider machine—remember how reading and literacy unlocked entire quest lines—so I’m cautiously optimistic this is more than a vanity shack.

Returning to Kuttenberg is smart too. Big cities in KCD are performance and AI pathing nightmares, but when they work, they’re living systems: guards change shifts, shops really close, and shortcuts are learned, not marked. If the clock commission becomes a time-sensitive, multi-stage build with real consequences for failure (miss a delivery, watch the town react), that’s the authentically “Warhorse” expansion I’m here for.

The Blood of Dawnwalker: 30 days to save your family… as the monster

We also got our first gameplay look at The Blood of Dawnwalker, an action-RPG co-led by a director who worked on The Witcher 3’s concluding adventures. That pedigree makes me perk up—CD Projekt’s finales understood pacing and payoff. Here, you’re a man turned vampire with 30 days to save his family, and time isn’t a flavor text—it’s the core mechanic.

Timers in RPGs are usually a fast way to annoy players. But when done right—think Dead Rising’s clock or Majora’s Mask’s loop—they create delicious pressure. Dawnwalker seems to aim for that pocket: every hunt, every detour costs time; every power you use likely has a price. The vampire angle makes the choice space spicy: do you lean into predation and risk alienating allies, or bottle the hunger and arrive underpowered to a boss you can’t afford to replay? If the 30-day window is flexible (branching outcomes rather than pure fail-states) and the world reacts strongly to your methods, this could be the ARPG that makes resource management feel genuinely narrative, not just math.

My lingering questions: How transparent is the clock? Are there soft resets or NG+ loops that reframe choices without trivializing them? And can the combat carry the weight—fast, readable, build-diverse—so the time pressure feels thrilling, not punishing? The Witcher DNA helps, but ARPG responsiveness is a different beast. Show us lock-on behavior, poise, and cancel windows, and I’ll fully buy in.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn teases scope, but show the systems

On the space side, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn dropped in-engine footage only—no gameplay yet—and name-checked Ganymede, Ceres, and Eros. That’s promising geography for any fan of the books or show: agricultural domes turned battlegrounds, haunted stations, and Belt cities with real political teeth. But after years of slick engine reels, I’m past being impressed by pretty asteroids.

What matters for an Expanse game is fidelity to its physics and politics. Will ship handling respect thrust-and-drift rather than dogfight-y space magic? Are resources scarce enough to make every burn a decision, not a loading screen? Do Belter factions and accents exist as more than window dressing? We already had a strong narrative take with The Expanse: A Telltale Series; Osiris Reborn should plant its flag in exploration and simulation to feel distinct.

I’m intrigued, but until we see UI, traversal, and a minute-to-minute loop (dock, patch, barter, burn, survive), this stays on the “potential” shelf. Bring a proper gameplay slice next time.

Why this trio hits now

Across these reveals, the pattern is clear: systems-first design is back in fashion. KCD2’s DLC deepens simulation with personal stakes; Dawnwalker weaponizes the clock; Osiris hints at space sim chops. That’s good news for players who want consequences and stories shaped by mechanics, not just prettier cutscenes. Still, the devil’s in the details—and in 2025, we demand proof, not promises.

TL;DR

KCD2’s “Legacy of the Forge” looks like classic Warhorse: grounded craft, a living city, and player housing that could matter—if it ties into the sim. The Blood of Dawnwalker’s 30-day vampire arc could be special if combat is tight and the clock drives meaningful choices. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn teases the right locations; now it needs to show real gameplay systems.