Romance in The Blood of Dawnwalker
Three partners, each behind a specific questline and one specific conversation. Plus the mechanic that lets you kill two of them by talking to them at the wrong moment.
Ancahuman
The herbalist from the prologue, and the most-searched of the three.
Quests, in order
- Withering Away (prologue) — staying for the Latin lesson is the moment GameSpot flags for romancing Anca
- Page-Turner (prologue, optional but flirtatious)
- Echoes of Silenced Bells — unlocks automatically after the prologue
- Between the Words — where most of the missable flirting is
- Where Old Devils Lie
- Stronger Than Achilles — ends at the Font of Life
What seals it
Back at the old inn after her questline, a specific set of dialogue lines unlocks the scene. Taking the Font of Life for yourself instead of the idol does not lock her out — you only lose some flirting on the way.
Lacra
The vampire at Westridge Outpost whose questline leads to the Patricide ending.
Quests, in order
- A Friend Like This
- Song of the Mountain
- Hive and Seek
- Our Rotten Roots
- The Night of Horrors — the romance choice is here, when you find the mandrake
What seals it
At the end of The Night of Horrors. Ask follow-up questions when she opens up to lure the wisps, then pick the affectionate options at the mandrake. You can oppose her at several earlier points and still romance her.
Crakehuman
Leader of the Manumits, Vale Sangora's rebels.
Quests, in order
- The Firebrand → Shadows in the Woods
- Where Loyalty Lies — stalls until you reach Infamy level 4, when the Manumits' hideout opens
- What Hunts the Night
- What Moves the Dead — say "First, I'll walk you back to the hideout" (costs one segment) to dress his wound
- Distant Shadows
- A Closer Look — the romance scene
What seals it
During A Closer Look, tell him that nothing he says can change the way you see him, then kiss him back. Skipping the wound-dressing scene does not block the romance, it just skips a lot of the build-up.
What the guides word differently
The smaller dialogue lines. A dialogue wheel changes with earlier choices, and Polygon and GameSpot word the minor options differently in places. The decisive lines are more settled — Crake’s, for one, reads the same in Polygon, GameSpot and PC Gamer. The rule that holds throughout: pick the warm option every time it is offered, so a single missed line is not the end of a romance.
Who, how many, and what ends a romance
- Who can you romance in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
- Three characters: Anca, Lacra and Crake. All three guides that cover this agree on the roster. You are not limited to one — the game lets Coen pursue more than one partner.
- Can you romance more than one character?
- Yes. Polygon states Coen isn't limited to a single partner — though Coen himself is fixed, as there is no character creator. Whether every combination survives to the epilogue is unsettled, so plan for the one you care most about.
- How do you accidentally kill a romance partner?
- Anca and Crake are human. If you talk to either while in vampire form and nearly out of health — Polygon puts Anca's threshold at less than one chunk, and for Crake says low on blood — Blood Craving takes over the conversation and Coen kills them. That ends the romance and, for Anca, her entire questline. Talk to humans by day, or at full health.
- Does the romance affect the ending?
- It affects the epilogue, not which ending you get. The guides note the epilogue changes depending on whether your lover is alive and the romance was completed; the ending itself is decided by the final quest and the timer.
Keep going
Day and night
Why Blood Craving only threatens the two human partners.
Endings
Lacra's and Crake's questlines each lead to one of them.
Font of Life
The choice that ends Anca's chain, and why it does not lock her out.
Echoes of Silenced Bells
The first quest in her chain, walked through.
What you can lose
Killing a quest giver is permanent — including these three.