Vampire Eyes in Dawnwalker
The photo goes under the text, otherwise it would have been too heavy for an average-sized post
Since Cohen is an unusual kind of vampire, and it’s hard to say how the eyes of other vampires work in Dawnwalker, his case stands out. In Cohen’s gameplay trailer, his heterochromia is immediately noticeable: one eye is blue with a yellowish corona around the pupil, and the other is golden. In the first trailer, his mortal eyes appear more grayish? bluish? — it’s difficult to see clear signs of heterochromia. The lighting may simply be hiding it, or perhaps the heterochromia concept hadn’t been developed yet.
In the second trailer — most likely in the moment before Brencis attacks him — you can see the gray color of his eye. Afterwards, every shot shows his eyes during or right after his transformation, where the heterochromia is perfectly clear.
1 Cohen’s eyes didn’t change. He always had heterochromia: one eye the color of night — a cold tone, the other the color of day — a warm tone. It was a sign of his fate: to become a being of both day and night.
2 Cohen’s eyes did change, but only partially. He originally had gray eyes. As a vampire, they should have turned fully golden — but they didn’t. This suggests he is physically stuck between two worlds. With this interpretation, vampire eyes are golden. (The cold/warm metaphor still works, though in this case “day” symbolizes the vampiric influence.)
In cosplay, vampires have white eyes. But in the game, we’ve only ever seen the white glow in vampire characters, because they always appear at night — so cosplay might simply highlight that effect.
This glow is also present in Cohen, but it appears only in dark, like a predator’s tapetum. All vampires have this glow.
In Ambrus’s concept art, where he looks exquisitely beautiful and gem, his eyes are a vivid blue. Brencis has cloudy eyes, the Mongol has black ones, and Xanthe’s red-glowing pupil likely changed to white in the final version. I don’t think Ambrus is depicted as mortal in that concept art. Still, the idea of vampires retaining their mortal eye color may have changed during development.
My personal preference: Either the eyes don’t change at all, or they turn golden and gain a glow in the dark. But I also love when vampire eyes turn red — I’m fond of the classic style. Dawnwalker blends classical vampire themes with new ones, reconsidering vampirism from multiple angles. I like the eye-glow detail, like a predator’s; the animalistic aspects of vampirism appeal to me. This is explored in the game, though sometimes the focus leans more toward a “cursed human–undead creature” rather than a “cursed, powerful new predator.” But the full picture of Dawnwalker’s vampirism is still yet to be revealed.