Right after the Prologue in The Blood of Dawnwalker, the wide valley of Vale Sangora unlocks for Coen, and you can literally turn around, walk to the border wall, and roll credits right away. While the game urges you to begin your 30-day race to rescue your family, you can actually abandon the entire conflict, trigger an early secret ending before even taking on a single main quest. Reach the gate at the mountain border pass along the Coward’s Path, and you get the choice: abandon your family and the campaign early or stay behind to fight. If it confuses you, don’t worry; we will help you to get over it.
Should You Leave the Valley Forever or Stay?
This choice appears after the Prologue when you reach the Valley exit in Coward’s Path. Once you are in front of the opened archway, Coen considers leaving with words:
“A road out of Vale Sangora… Looks like it hasn’t been blocked. I could simply leave the valley, here and now. Abandon everything — and everyone… but should I, really?”
Next, you are presented with two options:
- [leave the valley forever]
- [stay in the valley]
Unless you are playing for all achievements, you should stay in the valley for a normal playthrough. Leaving is a trap that ends your journey way too early, kills the 30-day rescue timer, and locks you out of all the main game content, side quests, and exploration. I came across the exit expecting another bit of world-building, then realized the game was basically asking, “Fancy going home?” Nice try.
What Happens If You Leave the Valley?
Choosing to exit triggers a joke ending that blocks Coen’s main questline. He mutters, “I’m sorry, but… I will have to seek a new home elsewhere,” and walks into the dark tunnel beyond the gate, halting the campaign on the spot and leaving Vale Sangora for good. This choice leads to a few consequences:
- Instant Credits Roll: The 14th-century storyline ends immediately without clearing any boss fights or resolving the family crisis.
- Secret Achievement: You earn the secret ending achievement/trophy “A Hero They Deserve” (“Escape Vale Sangora, escape responsibility. Phew.”), along with The Blood of Dawnwalker completion trophy if it’s your first run.
- Post-Credits Modern Day Teaser: Following the credits, a “PRESENT DAY” epilogue triggers. In a modern apartment, a delivery worker drops off a box of blood bags to a heavily wounded Coen. After guzzling blood from a bag to recover, an ominous figure with supernatural energy crashes through the apartment window. Coen powers up his vampiric runes, preparing to fight as the screen cuts to black—leaving a wild teaser for Rebel Wolves’ future plans.
No matter how much you play around or try to trigger different versions, that final cutscene never changes. It offers zero context or explanation for what you’re seeing, just a cryptic teaser left by the devs to get us hyped for whatever they’ve got cooking next.
What Happens If You Choose to Stay in the Valley?
If you decide to stay, Coen turns back, closing the prompt and returning you to the main campaign as normal.
- 30-Day Clock Resumes: You continue the race against time to save Coen’s family before Brencis executes his plans.
- Full Campaign Access: You retain access to the complete open-world map, companion quests, side activities, and main story boss fights.
- Standard Endings: You stay on track toward the main narrative endings based on your decisions throughout the campaign.
This is the choice you should make if you want to see the story through, obviously.
How to Exit Vale Sangora in The Blood of Dawnwalker
The valley exit is found in the Coward’s Path area on the western side of Vale Sangora. You need to reach the gate beyond the broken bridge, so wait for nightfall to let Coen enter his vampiric form to unlock his supernatural movement abilities.
- Fast travel to the Coward’s Path Shrine on the western border past the Briar Sloughs.
- Follow the dirt road west until you reach the ravine with the broken bridge. That’s also where The Cursed Chasm takes place.
- Use your Shadowstep ability (upgraded distance helps) to leap across the gap and latch onto the rocks, or use Planeshift and Shadowstep in combo to scale the ravine walls.
- Continue west up the winding gorge trail until you spot a tall stone watchtower with an open arched gateway.
The bridge crossing is the annoying part. You may need extra range on Shadowstep to make the jump comfortably. If your movement is a little short, use the terrain and climb around the cliff instead of repeatedly launching Coen into the abyss.
Tip: Make a hard save right in front of the archway before stepping through. This will let you watch the secret cutscene, unlock the “A Hero They Deserve” achievement, and reload back into your main playthrough without losing your campaign progress.
Once you interact with the door, you will get prompts to either exit the valley forever or stay behind, so make sure to have a backup if you only want to see the ending without torching your main save.
Finished testing Coen’s escape route? Keep your save intact and explore the rest of the game’s major decisions, secret endings, quests, and walkthroughs in our The Blood of Dawnwalker walkthrough and guides hub.
