Ready your silver blades and holy water because July’s IGN First is The Blood of Dawnwalker. This upcoming RPG from developer Rebel Wolves casts you as Coen, a cursed man who must live as a human by day and a vampire by night. Mastering both sides of his existence is the key to saving his family from a court of evil bloodsuckers.

To kick off our month of exclusive content, we bring you brand new gameplay from one of The Blood of Dawnwalker’s prologue quests. In Deep Down, a young Coen – not yet afflicted by the vampirism curse – explores an underground ruin in search of Lazar, a local man who’s gone missing. In the depths of the caves he finds much more than just a lost man. By examining an ancient mural, Coen learns of old heroes and hidden treasure.

This eight-minute gameplay video showcases a few elements, including an investigation system that allows you to discover hidden lore and reveal the existence of special loot. And, of course, there’s swordplay – the video concludes with a swift boss fight against The Forgotten Guardian.

The month ahead will see us further explore the world of The Blood of Dawnwalker, with in-depth developer interviews on topics such as the evil vampire court, skill trees, the world’s fantasy races, and how the time and narrative systems work. And, of course, there’s more gameplay to come.

For more right now, check out our previous Stick with IGN all month to learn much, much more about this ambitious RPG, helmed by the director of The Witcher 3 and built by a team made up of many ex-CD Projekt Red staff.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s Executive Editor of Features.