Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

"Werewolves? Where? Wolves? Men that are wolves? Many wolves. Everywhere. Many men. That is enough for M'aiq." I usually wait until I've finished a game before writing a review, but this time I couldn't resist. If you believe Oblivion is better than Skyrim, play this. My Khajiit instincts immediately took over, and I went straight for the stealth archer build. I swear I felt like a kid again, playing Oblivion, eating Cheetos, with System of a Down blasting in the background. I'm absolutely in love with this game already. It's well worth your money.

Like skyrim but with good combat and writing, and an even cooler world. Imagine if when you were wandering around the map and found an odd location, it was an actual unique event instead of just another dwarf ruin. That's what this game is like, I can't believe how many cool unique things they have managed to create and scatter everywhere. There are bits and pieces in elder scrolls that gets good writing, this is much more consistent. The combat isn't a trash pile (although it's not perfectly balanced). Just a great game all around, loving getting lost in it. This is what a modern elder scrolls game should look like, these devs got it done when bethesda couldn't.

The Good: Skyrim/Oblivion Combat that does a good job of making melee feel meaty and spellcasting feel shooty. The world is wonderfully screwed a la Diablo II style mood of doom and gloom and giving up hope. I'd pay $9.99 or so and feel ok about this game. Gothic Arthur makes a great world for the story, but ... The Bad: Extremely questionable "FIght at Night for Bonuses so or you are penalized for fighting in the day when you can see any of the environment." You fight at night for a chance at bonus loot. You can't see much or get lost in the world because - why fight in the day for useless loot when night offers the only useful loot? Especially when the enemies randomly switch from fodder to damage sponges at certain spots in the story. I never found any happy medium - I either found it really easy or frustrating. I never felt progress. When enemies suddenly became massive damage sponge murderbots the illusion of progress is smashed to bits. If there was a ramp up to this it would make sense and feel good, but no, there's shortcuts and artificial difficulty. In addition, after a certain part of the game the game griefs you by putting a damage sponge, teleporting, always coming after you like Nemesis in RE3 but ALWAYS THERE at night enemy. This coupled with jagged difficulty spikes that don't make sense and remove you from the immersion make the rest of the game an unappealing chore compared to other open world games.

Good game ? Yes. Would I reccommend it ? Yes. But it has it's flaws ? Also yes. Things why you should play: * Very good story, myterious and it's slowly revealing, not cliche. * There are some good hit mechanics, you feel that you hit enemy and dodging feels fun (at first) * There is both parry and block mechanic * There are so many different classes instead of just 3-4 old main rpg classes like mage-warrior-assasin. * Animations are okay. * Some of the side quests are really cool, it's not like just go and kill this, they're nice and interesting. Things which has bothered me (does not have to bother you but probably will): * Dodging mechanic is a bit broken and op, reducing fights into dodge dodge dodge because why would you try to risk parrying or why would you block when you can easily dodge ? * You can almost dodge forever, maybe also i played mage, dodge dodge, firebolt, dodge dodge firebolt feels a bit clunky after a while. * Shield spell is not good enough to make you stop using dodge plus why would you use shield when you can dodge free * Conjuration is cool at first but later it gets keep conjuring 321312 times to defeat a boss. * Map is cool but not great. It doesn't have good details, mostly simple. * Interior design is ok but not great, gets a bit repetitive. * At last map with snowy part, it's a bit hard to travel, I know this was probably an intended design choice, where they could simply made easier to travel but I just don't like spending 30 min to find a single giant's location. * Enemies are bulletsponges most of the time but if they were not, this game would have ended much more quickly, and it's also challenging so it may be nice or bad depending how you look. as for me it's kinda ok. It was good overall, but i couldn't finish the game due to me getting bored after a while but don't take this as a game is bad, i am a bit weak on the patience side. if you like these type of games, it's 6/10 or so. Worth of buying and playing.

Honestly i do not even know what to say, it´s a masterpiece. Bethesda, Fromsoft and H.R. Giger had some sort of a threesome baby and it bloody works. Arthur and the myths are damn overused and yet it works so friggin well in this game. The Dark Souls/Giger like atmosphere is amazing. The nordic style music while kind of out of place strangely enough works well. Friggin "aliens" in Arthur legends is actually damn fun. Gameplay is basically Skyrim (or TES in general) but maybe even better, tho combat is kinda janky sometimes. The world/story/quests are actually really interesting and the more time you spend with the game, the more you want to sink in. I don ´t really have any real complaints. Sure the combat is pretty bare bones, but ehh it has it´s charm but within the entirety of the game it´s such a minor thing you will forgive it. Maybe only thing that comes to mind is Act 2. Act 1 is "amazing standalone game worth". Act 2... Something went wrong, it feels like tech demo rather than continuation of the godlike A1. It feels empty/dead/boring compared to not even Act1 but A3 and even Sarras. (Sarras was rad btw) Overall this is one of those "once in a lifetime" games that just earn a permanent place in your overworked adult heart. If the devs decide to make another game like this, i honestly don´t even care if it´s overused ♥♥♥♥ like ancient rome / egypt because ♥♥♥♥ did they put some serious twist on otherwise boring Arthur and made it bloody work! Tho i´d appreciate Slavic legends if i can be cheeky, they are pretty interesting and sadly nobody really uses them. Also why are you still here mate? Go bloody buy it and sink your marriage into this legend.

Good, but not great Graphics and Visuals (9/10) The graphics look a bit outdated, but the visuals really pull everything together-the graphics, the animations, basically everything related to the game’s appearance. It’s stylish, unique, and conveys a sense of gloom and hopelessness. Music (9/10) I personally liked the music in the menu, though I admit it’s an acquired taste. The English voice acting is good, and the in-game music is good too-you can even add some of the tracks to your playlist. Story (7/10) The premise seems interesting, and you find yourself following the plot-it’s dark fantasy. But still, there’s no real depth to it. The narrative drags, and toward the end of the game, it even gets a little tedious to keep up with everything-I started skipping dialogues and such. I’m not sure if it’s the story or the gameplay that’s the problem. Overall, the game drags toward the end and starts to get boring. Gameplay (8/10) At first, it’s just a blast. A full-fledged, stylish first-person RPG-it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a quality product like this. Probably not since Skyrim. But right from the start, you notice some minor rough edges. For example, monsters fly away when hit by an arrow, like mannequins. There’s no sense of impact, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re wielding a sword or a bow. There’s no sense of high-quality combat. It’s just primitive, that’s all. But the leveling up is a joy-there are tons of skills and builds, plus plenty of gear for different builds. There’s a huge variety of armor and weapons in the game. And everything looks absolutely stunning. Plus, you can customize the appearance of any piece of armor. For example, if you find a helmet with critical hits but it looks super dull and doesn’t match your outfit, you just head to the blacksmith and change its look. You can put together some really beautiful sets. I also like that skill points come pouring in, and you can spend them however you want. I just kept my skill points as-is until I saw a check in a dialogue (which rarely happens) or requirements for weapons or armor (which happen often). Then you reallocate the points to the stats you need. There’s a lot of freedom in skill allocation here. And it’s hard to end up with stats in the wrong places. Then again, if you’re not really sure what you’re doing, there’s alchemy and potions-you can reset all your stats. There are also hidden skill trees that unlock after completing certain quests. I didn’t come across any spoilers, so I was sometimes pleasantly surprised when, after a quest, I was given a new skill tree to unlock. You can even build a character around that. Overall, it’s all pretty fun. Cons: The combat isn’t very engaging; it’s not interesting to hack at or shoot monsters, and there’s no sense of impact when arrows hit or weapons strike. Add to that the overleveling toward the end of the game, and it becomes downright boring. In theory, the story should carry the game. But it didn’t hook me. Final score: 8.25-I’ll throw in an extra 0.25 of my own. I’ve beaten the game and will definitely play through it again someday. The game does have its downsides, but on the other hand, there’s room for improvement. If they make a sequel, they could make it even better. The main thing is that it shouldn’t drag on as much, and the narrative shouldn’t lose steam toward the end of the game. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Utterly horrendous optimization that you won't discover until you buy the actual game and get out in the real open world. I do not understand why people are just ignoring the fact that this game is so clearly unfinished. People have gotten comfortable with accepting games stuttering and lagging while loading in assets throughout your playthrough. I for one am tired of it. Borderlands 4 runs better on my hardware than this game. And that is saying something.

I really enjoyed my first 5-6 hours of this game. I thought the environment was cool, the combat felt weighty, there was a good sense of mystery. But then the AI elements of the game began to disinterest me. There seems to be some debate about what exact parts of the game used generative AI, but, at least from my point of view, a significant amount of all text in the game is either entirely generated or aided by AI. THe result of that is that I don't feel drawn back in after 30 hours. This will be the least amount of time I've ever spent in an RPG like this. There's just nothing immersive. AI can write dialogue and characters and interactions, but it isn't human and can't make characters or notes or journal entries feel human.

Прошел Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, что хочется сказать по итогу, игра понравилась, ну а дальше подробнее по моментам Как только начинается игра, сразу появляется ощущение, что попал в одну из игр серии The Elder Scrolls, потому что очень много схожих механик, начиная со взлома замков, продолжая прокачкой навыков, и заканчивая отношением к снаряжению, все что одето на враге, все твоё, и это меня сразу подкупило Пока выбирался из пролога, обшарил там каждый угол, все что плохо лежит подчистил, убил всех противников, хотя это было не обязательно, мой спаситель точно устал меня ждать :) И этот "the elder scrolls вайб" сохранился и дальше, когда попал на первую карту, маркер оправлял меня в замок, но по итогу я оббегал половину локации прежде чем туда пошел История и сюжет оказались интересными, очень своеобразное изложение легенды о Короле Артуре замешанное с темным фэнтези Квестов тоже хватает, но игра не подаёт тебе их на блюдечке, ходишь по городу общаешься со всеми персонажами, с которыми только можно поговорить и набираешь целый список Снаряжение, его вроде много, оно удовлетворят различные стили боя, с двуручным оружием, с одноручным оружием и шитом, с оружием в каждой руке, через луки или магию, но при этом мне его не хватало. Я решил бегать с двуручным оружием, в итоге на первой карте нашел хороший молот, и так и не нашел чем его заменить, хотя игра поощряет и такой подход позволяя улучшать снаряжение, увеличивая урон и броню У игры есть дополнение, оно добавляет отдельную карту для исследования, но я бы не сказал что оно мне прям понравилось, если хочется расширить свои приключения, можно взять, а можно и не брать, ничего особо не потеряете Графика, звезд с неба не хватает, но и не напрягает, есть красивые моменты В целом игра оставила очень положительные впечатления, с удовольствием провел в ней почти 90 часов, моя оценка 8\10

An RPG in a similar vein to Elder Scrolls - fun, janky, with some excellent storytelling. Tainted Grail has you playing as a stranger. Just like Oblivion, you start by escaping a jail, though this one is an island prison run by the Red Priests. They're trying to find the cure for the Red Plague by... torturing people? 600 years prior, King Arthur fled to Avalon (Ireland) because the Red Plague ravished the mainland (England). Now, you find a fragment of Arthur's soul when escaping, thrusting you in a quest to put him back together across Avalon as it crumbles. Gameplay-wise, Tainted Grail wears its RPG inspirations on its sleeve. First person, two hands for two weapons, knights, magic, constellation tech trees, etc. If you've enjoyed RPGs like Oblivion and Skyrim, you'll feel right at home. Heck, I'm not a huge fan of those games, and I enjoyed it! Graphics are lovely without turning your computer into an oven. Music was alright. Some tracks stood out for me, and others were fairly mundane. Nowhere near Skyrim levels, but enough to set the scene. The story was great, as were the little bits of worldbuilding dotted about. Avalon is in a grimdark decay - lots of death and tragedy - and many quests feel weighty with their burdens. There was little black and white in each decision to make, and even the ones where it was obvious who the bad guy was, they provided some interesting arguments! It's worth going back to NPCs a little after completing their quests. Some have repercussions you'd otherwise not notice. The writing has a sense of humour too. It is a dark world, yet you can find such fun things as [spoiler]a spell to transform people into cheese[/spoiler], [spoiler]a husband who turned into a pig and quite likes it[/spoiler], and [spoiler]a sword that complains as you use it.[/spoiler] I love it when a world has whimsical extras hidden within! It wasn't all perfectly perfect though. The balance seemed all over the place. Some bosses seemed incredibly hard, others easy peasy. Early on was especially uncertain. Had a few moments where quests didn't fully load properly, and characters wouldn't talk to me. Loading one of the autosaves usually fixed it. There are a bunch of missable achievements if you're an achievement hunter. I found it somewhat disappointing to beat the game, check the achievements, and find I was locked out of the fun-looking ones. I'll also mention I did the areas in this order: 1, 2, DLC, 3. I think I would have enjoyed the 3rd area more if I hadn't done the DLC, as by then I felt the game had outstayed its welcome. But the DLC was great, so I'm torn about whether I recommend doing the DLC first, or leaving it till post-game. But besides them, this was a brilliant game.