The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Get the A Hero They Deserve Secret Ending

Vale Sangora is meant to be a trap. The prologue of The Blood of Dawnwalker spends its time explaining that the valley is sealed, that Brencis rules it, and that Coen has 30 in-game days to save his family. There is, however, an unblocked road out through the western mountains, and walking through it ends the game on the spot with the hidden “A Hero They Deserve” trophy.

Quick answer: At night, fast travel to the Coward’s Path Shrine in Briar Sloughs, cross the broken chasm using Planeshift and Shadowstep, walk west to the open gate, and choose [leave the valley forever].

Make a manual save before you approach the gate

Choosing to leave does not warn you twice. The moment the dialogue resolves, the screen fades, the trophy unlocks, and the credits begin. There is no return to the open world afterwards.

Create a manual save while you are still standing on the road, before the prompt appears. Loading that file drops you back in Vale Sangora with your progress intact, which means you can collect this ending in the same playthrough you use for the four normal ones.

Requirements to trigger A Hero They Deserve

Nothing about this ending is gated behind story progress beyond the opening hours. It is available as soon as the open world unlocks, and none of the vampire court bosses need to be dead first.

Requirement	Detail
Progress	Prologue completed and the open world accessible
Time of day	Night only, so Coen has his vampiric form
Abilities	Shadowstep, plus Planeshift for the climb
Recommended upgrade	One point in Shadow Dweller to extend Shadowstep distance
Starting point	Coward’s Path Shrine, Briar Sloughs, western edge of the map

Route to the exit gate west of Coward’s Path

Wait or skip time until night, then fast travel to the Coward’s Path Shrine. If you have not unlocked it yet, ride west from Laslea Glen past the woods of Briar Sloughs and the shrine sits at the end of the road.

Follow the road west until you reach the broken bridge over the ravine. Arriving here starts a side quest called The Cursed Chasm, which asks you to investigate the bridge and its surroundings. You can ignore the objective entirely.

The broken bridge and ravine on the road west of the Coward's Path Shrine in Briar Sloughs — The broken bridge west of Coward’s Path, where The Cursed Chasm quest begins. Image: Rebel Wolves

Jump the gap and spam Shadowstep to latch onto the rock face on the far side. Alternate Planeshift and Shadowstep to work your way up the canyon wall. If the leap keeps falling short, climb the cliff manually instead of trying to clear the gap in one go.

Once you are across, keep heading west through the snowy canyon. The road runs uninterrupted to a set of walls with an open door in them, and no enemies block the path.

The snowbound canyon path leading west toward the unblocked gate out of Vale Sangora — The canyon road past the chasm leads straight to the unblocked gate. Image: Rebel Wolves

The choice at the gate: leave the valley forever or stay

Approaching the door starts a cutscene. Coen notes that the road out of Vale Sangora was never blocked off, says he could simply walk away and abandon everything and everyone, then asks himself whether he really should.

Coen in a cutscene at the gate, remarking that the road out of Vale Sangora is not blocked — Coen realises the road out of the valley was never sealed. Image: Rebel Wolves

Two options then appear. Picking [stay in the valley] simply returns you to the world with nothing lost, so it is safe to open the prompt just to see it. Picking [leave the valley forever] commits immediately, and Coen apologises before saying he will have to find a new home elsewhere.

Cutscene of Coen with the subtitle reading but should I, really, before the leave or stay choice — The moment before the prompt appears, where Coen weighs walking away. Image: Rebel Wolves

How to confirm the ending triggered

The screen fades to black and the “A Hero They Deserve” trophy notification appears, followed by The Blood of Dawnwalker title card and the credits. Coen’s family is never rescued and the region stays under the vampire boyars.

Whether you watch the credits or skip them, a scene labelled PRESENT DAY plays afterwards. A delivery worker brings blood to a wounded vampire in the modern world, who then squares up to an entity coming through a portal, and the scene closes on a prompt to continue.

Present day post-credits scene with a delivery worker carrying a package past a wall keypad — The present-day post-credits scene, where a delivery brings blood to a wounded vampire. Image: Rebel Wolves

Note: this same post-credits scene plays on the other endings too, including runs where Brencis is defeated, so seeing it is not proof you got the escape specifically. The trophy pop is.

Why the escape fails to trigger

Only a handful of things stop this from working, and all of them happen before you ever reach the gate.

It is daytime. Coen has no Shadowstep in human form, so the chasm cannot be crossed at all.
Shadowstep runs out of distance mid-jump. Put a point into Shadow Dweller to extend its range, or climb the cliff face slowly instead.
You stopped to complete The Cursed Chasm. The side quest and the escape route are unrelated, and finishing it changes nothing about the gate.

What A Hero They Deserve counts for

The trophy description sums the outcome up bluntly: escape Vale Sangora, escape responsibility. It is one of seven endings, and one of two early endings alongside Together Forever, the time-loop conclusion.

Unlock	Does it count?
A Hero They Deserve trophy	Yes, awarded on choosing to leave
The Blood of Dawnwalker story-completion trophy	Yes, if this is your first completed ending
Duelist difficulty completion	No, that requires saving the people of Laslea
In the Nick of Time	No, the family is never rescued

Because the whole campaign is built around a ticking 30-day clock and a family you are supposed to save, the escape works best as a detour you take once, watch, and then undo with a reload. Load the manual save you left on the road, walk back east, and the valley carries on as though Coen never looked at the gate.