Quick! Hit left scratch ear! Hit down rub belly! Slap right bum pats! Annnnd you’ve died because you failed to parry a paw coming for you with the force of a vampire’s claw. This is how I assume things will go if I boot up The Blood of Dawnwalker once its 1.1 update debuts. Devs Rebel Wolves, in their infinite wisdom, claim to be set to add in “directional animal petting” as part of it.

Some of the contents of update 1.1, which the studio are planning to release next week, were teased by game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz in September. Specifically, the introduction of an easier difficulty setting. It’s now been revealed to be a rebranding of the game’s previous lowest setting as “Forgiving”, while a new “Story” difficulty’s been added in for those who want a bit of extra help with combat.

Movement both in combat and while phasing about/walking on walls as a vampire should now be less janky, while switching between enemy targets should be more seamless. Frame generation’s also gotten a kick up the backside in the hopes of improving performance.

Beyond those, a Draught of Mind Rebirth potion’s being added in. When drunk, it resets all of your perk and ability points, allowing you to try out a different Coen build without having to start the story from scratch. Then, there’s the “directional animal petting”. “What happens when you merge a directional combat system with the ability to pet dogs and cats?” is all Rebel Wolves have said about this.

No. Please, lads. I’m crap at directional parrying. Please say there’s an omni-petting button that strokes cats no matter which direction they might be leaning in and eliminates any chance of having to dodge a flurry of scratches that are specifically coming from the left, right, up, and right. At the very least, please make sure that when Coen’s around animals, he always has his zippy vampire dodge animation at the ready, rather than the human one that got me swiped more times than I can count while playing for my Blood of Dawnwalker review.

In all seriousness, I’m sure I’ll manage. They’re just cats and dogs, how effective in combat can they b-