Compel Soul, and every corpse worth talking to
Anca teaches it on the first day, and it is the ability people forget they have. It works on the dead, by day, in human form, and it usually wants a prop.
Compel Soul is a witchcraft ability, not a vampire power. Its in-game description reads: “Allows you to speak with restless souls. Use together with objects associated with the dead to obtain additional information. This Ability doesn’t take up a common slot in the Active A panel.” On day one Anca may hand it to you at the ruins of your home, so you can ask the dead soldier where your family went.
Day only
It is marked day only, and the witchcraft tree is the daytime one.
Human form
Reportedly human-form only: vampiric regeneration heals away the runes the magic is cut into.
No slot cost
The description says it does not take a common slot in the active panel.
The bodies worth compelling
| Body | Quest | Catalyst | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| The soldier outside your house | Smoke and Ashes, day one | Brencis's banner — an apple and a drinking gourd lie there too, but the banner is reportedly the one that works | That Brencis has taken your family to his castle for the coronation in thirty days. |
| The dead nun in the chapel | Echoes of Silenced Bells | The prayerbook and the rosary | That St. Tyna's relic is in the sacristy. She may also describe them tearing the body apart. |
| The corpse in the almshouse | A Monk and a Saint, day route | Not named — the fight and the loot come first | What happened to the caretaker, which is what the Deacon trades the library key for. |
| The body by the blood trail | Star-Crossed Lovers, in Maragir | The small knife and the bottle of wine beside the log | How he died, which is what you report back to the armourer. |
| St. Mihai, after the fight | A Monk and a Saint, day only | The Worn Sheathe and the Broken Chains | What actually happened to him — background rather than loot. |
| The body left at the blood trail | Of Wolves and Men, by the riverside trail | The clues around it | Reportedly a second way to finish the mission, which ends in the Wolven Bracers. |
| The corpse at the Bloody Dagger dig | Zanti's excavation | The dagger nearby | Reportedly, that the dagger is a key, which opens the chest holding the Ancient Footwear. |
The almshouse body is the one that sits on a critical path: the day route through A Monk and a Saint runs through it. The night route walks past the whole investigation by breaking into the library with Shadowstep instead, which is the split that page lays out.
It also makes your other spells faster
It has four levels, and from the second onward each compelled soul permanently shaves witchcraft cooldowns: one per cent at level two, one and a half at three, two at four. Level one gives a one per cent reduction after two uses. That is a small number attached to something you were going to do anyway.
The achievement, Dead Man Talkin', asks only that you speak with one dead person. About 77.3% of Steam players have it, which makes it the number 2 most unlocked achievement in the game — the clearest sign that this is a first-hour tutorial beat rather than a hidden trick. The full achievement list is here.
When it will not work, and what it cannot do
- How do you compel a corpse in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
- Stand at the body and cast Compel Soul, but the soul rarely answers for nothing. Use Focus Mode to find a catalyst nearby — something that mattered to them or something that killed them, usually highlighted or circled by moths — then use it and ask again.
- Why can't I use Compel Soul?
- It is a daytime ability and, reportedly, a human-form one: it is marked day only, and it is said to be unavailable in vampire form, which the lore explains as vampiric regeneration healing away the runes cut into Coen's skin.
- Can you compel Mihai?
- Yes, but only in daylight and only after you have beaten him, and it is optional, a bonus rather than a step. Pick up the Worn Sheathe and the Broken Chains first.
- Does compelling the dead skip fights?
- Probably not. At the almshouse and at the Bloody Dagger dig the fight comes first and the body is compelled afterwards. What it saves is legwork: information, a key, and sometimes a second way to finish a quest.
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