KickStarter Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon - first-person open world RPG adaptation of Kickstarted board game - now on Early Access

[Konjad]

I like the atmosphere a lot, combat is alright but could be better, however, they need to improve writing. That said, it's quite enjoyable for what it is.

 

[Losus4]

Can't even name the saves what I want. Is poland okay?

Instant no buy. When will game devs learn that being politically correct faggots is bad business practise.

 

[Spike]

Can't even name the saves what I want. Is poland okay?

Instant no buy. When will game devs learn that being politically correct faggots is bad business practise.

It's a Christian server.

 

[Readher]

Ah I see combat is spamchugging potions again.

Also, I don't know how to word this better, but is there a way to make this game look good?

Max settings is like POV Runescape.

View attachment 57632

Judging by the amount of vaseline in your screenshot, you're using an upscaler or TAA. Get rid of them and the game will look better, though the graphics aren't the game's strong point, that's for sure.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Art direction and environmental design is king in this game. That's all any 'd codexer should need in the ways of aesthetics.

 

[Fargus]

Just started this.

Edgy low-budget Skyrim is alright. Liking it so far.

Interesting, how edgy the game really is?

Or better question how edgy the game that doesn't allow using profanity for save names can really be?

 

[Robber Baron]

Or better question how edgy the game that doesn't allow using profanity for save names can really be?

If anything it tells you a lot about the developer and what kind of narrative to expect

 

[Tyranicon]

Just started this.

Edgy low-budget Skyrim is alright. Liking it so far.

Interesting, how edgy the game really is?

Or better question how edgy the game that doesn't allow using profanity for save names can really be?

Pretty standard edgy stuff like corpses on stakes, generic english town covered in mud and peasants.

The art design can stand out somewhat. There's a strange dead giant chained to a rock and a screaming half-corpse in a magic tower.

The writing is very mid, so it doesn't really lead to anything. Basically you take the dark Kamelot (they spell it with a K for kool points) from King Arthur: Knight's Tale, dilute it by maybe 20%, and this is what you get.

The strong point of the game is that there is a near total lack of first-person RPGs and none of the big boys will put out anything competent anytime soon. If that sounds like the most tepid compliment, it is. But the game is enjoyable for what it is and it's fun to bash deer/peasants with a mace 'cause that's like 100% of the early game.

Surprised this thread only has 8 pages tbh. Maybe there's not enough content to justify buying the game yet, but I'm very early on.

And yeah, name-locking a singleplayer game is stupid but I'm assuming some suit wanted that.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Surprised this thread only has 8 pages tbh. Maybe there's not enough content to justify buying the game yet, but I'm very early on.

I just don't buy EA titles on principle, but I'm definitely keeping an eye on it until full release.

 

[Fargus]

Just started this.

Edgy low-budget Skyrim is alright. Liking it so far.

Interesting, how edgy the game really is?

Or better question how edgy the game that doesn't allow using profanity for save names can really be?

Pretty standard edgy stuff like corpses on stakes, generic english town covered in mud and peasants.

The art design can stand out somewhat. There's a strange dead giant chained to a rock and a screaming half-corpse in a magic tower.

The writing is very mid, so it doesn't really lead to anything. Basically you take the dark Kamelot (they spell it with a K for kool points) from King Arthur: Knight's Tale, dilute it by maybe 20%, and this is what you get.

The strong point of the game is that there is a near total lack of first-person RPGs and none of the big boys will put out anything competent anytime soon. If that sounds like the most tepid compliment, it is. But the game is enjoyable for what it is and it's fun to bash deer/peasants with a mace 'cause that's like 100% of the early game.

Surprised this thread only has 8 pages tbh. Maybe there's not enough content to justify buying the game yet, but I'm very early on.

And yeah, name-locking a singleplayer game is stupid but I'm assuming some suit wanted that.

Interesting, thanks.

Hard to judge without playing, but i wouldn't call that edgy, just run of the mill "dark" fantasy i guess. Because even Skyrim was pretty edgy if we go by that :D It had shit stained ugly peasants in bad mood, tons of corpse gore, character rape backstory (Sapphire) where she was violated by bandits as a child after they murdered her parents, game of thrones style civil war shit and surface level racial tensions aka "Each night i get drunk and go to Grey Quarter to yell profanities at dark elves because Radian AI commands it".

But i don't think modern writers can handle even this level of unsafe space in vidya. So i don't expect much. And as i understand this game has nothing going on for it other than art direction and general lack of choice of similar games these days.

If it doesnt have any more faggotry and word censorship i might grab it on sale some time when it's out of early access.

 

[Tyranicon]

Interesting, thanks.

Hard to judge without playing, but i wouldn't call that edgy, just run of the mill "dark" fantasy i guess. Because even Skyrim was pretty edgy if we go by that :D It had shit stained ugly peasants in bad mood, tons of corpse gore, character rape backstory (Sapphire) where she was violated by bandits as a child after they murdered her parents, game of thrones style civil war shit and surface level racial tensions aka "Each night i get drunk and go to Grey Quarter to yell profanities at dark elves because Radian AI commands it".

But i don't think modern writers can handle even this level of unsafe space in vidya. So i don't expect much. And as i understand this game has nothing going on for it other than art direction and general lack of choice of similar games these days.

If it doesnt have any more faggotry and word censorship i might grab it on sale some time when it's out of early access.

I probably missed all the pertinent parts like how there's a plague and a deadly magic fog, or how the island is dying and they burnt all the druids in a giant wickerman cause they thought it would fix it.

 

[Readher]

Or better question how edgy the game that doesn't allow using profanity for save names can really be?

If anything it tells you a lot about the developer and what kind of narrative to expect

There's literally a quest where a guy wants you to deliver flowers to a woman, and it turns out they're something you give to people you want to insult. When you confront him about it, he goes on a rant about refugees and how they should all get the fuck out (the woman was one).

The profanity filter is weird, because the game is pure dark fantasy and has zero modern nonsense or cringe. Miles above BG3 or WotR when it comes to writing imo. A lot of C&C in quests too, with decisions that are actually hard to make instead of the standard REDDIT TO THE LEFT, 4CHAN TO THE RIGHT you usually get.

 

[Drowed]

The profanity filter might be something the publisher made them include in the game. Some publishers have ridiculous demands that don't make any sense, but it's not worth the fight for the developers. I don't know if that's the case here, but it wouldn't be the first time.

The overall art direction seems fine. It made me think about how Obsidian can make a polished turd with all that Microsoft money, but an indie game like this looks way better even with its jankiness. It looks a bit too raw for me right now, but I'll keep my eye on it.

 

[Readher]

Huge new dev update. Lots of new content, but only for the beta testers.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1466060/view/6831492164258627809?l=english

November Development Update
Take heed, a revolution is nigh!

Hello, Travellers! Hope you’re all doing well.
We’re ready to present another development update for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon! It’s been a while, though we believe our content showcase will compensate for the wait. But before that, let’s begin with some huge news!

Starting from this dev update, we’ve partnered with one of the most well-known YouTube gaming creators,
WolfheartFPS
, to help us prepare a video overview for each update until the game leaves early access in the next year! If all goes to plan, those will be released monthly, along with the Steam update posts. His videos will contain exclusive behind-the-scenes, never-before-shown content. That also includes heavily work-in-progress stuff that is subject to change. Wolfheart’s a pro, and he’s done a great job showcasing new additions and tweaks, so just grab yourself a drink and enjoy watching!

And for the written text enjoyers, below’s the update done in the old-school way.

Internally, we’re now in the 0.8 beta phase of the game, and it goes without saying that the game has changed DRASTICALLY, which nearly 500 playtesters have already witnessed during closed tests. The first bits of feedback we collected were very positive, and while there’s still tons of work to be done, it seems we’re headed in the right direction!

Based on your feedback and our analytics, we wanted to address the most important matters. As a result, tons—and we’re not exaggerating—tons of stuff have changed, so not to write a novel-long, let us just point out everything we’ve been working on.

By way of clarification,
we’d like to point out that version 0.7 (Quanacht Rebellion) was the last Early Access patch, and the next update will be the full-fledged release: version 1.0. The monthly updates serve as progress reports on the game's development. Additionally, version 0.8 (the one described in this development update) is available only for closed beta testers, who are diligently helping us improve the game with every iteration. However, it will not be publicly available.

1. Game rebalancing and progression improvements
TLDR: We’ve overhauled nearly every aspect of gameplay, focusing on making the progression, and the overall experience, more rewarding and fairer.

1. Melee combat:
   Rebalanced to function seamlessly across all enemy tiers. Weapon damage, stamina cost, and other stats have been fine-tuned.
2. Ranged combat:
   Ranged archetype now requires more investment in skills and better equipment to become a viable playstyle. Achieving the “stealth archer” fantasy will still be possible, but it will require more work.
3. Enemy adjustments:
   Behaviors and animations have been improved, along with a comprehensive rebalance of enemy stats. No more one-taps (excluding special scenarios).
4. Skill trees:
   Dozens of new STR/DEX/END skills have been added, with plans to expand to other trees soon™.
5. Attributes and proficiencies:
   Both were rebalanced, with attributes receiving notable nerfs. Some might even be controversial, so we’re playtesting to get more feedback on that.
6. Status effects:
   These now scale properly, preventing overpowered effects on higher-level enemies.
7. Economy overhaul:
   Gold rewards, item pricing, and loot distribution have been adjusted to provide a more balanced progression.

2. Magic revamp
TLDR: Magic has been completely reimagined for smoother, more dynamic gameplay. Casting spells should also feel more “snappy” and just more fun.

• Casting system:
  Spells now offer light and heavy casting options, doubling their tactical use.
• Mana efficiency:
  Simply put, you can cast more spells per mana bar.
• New spells:
  14 rebuilt or entirely new spells are now available, with more on the way.
• Summoning temporarily removed:
  Summon-related issues have been among the most frequently reported. We’re working to resolve AI issues before reintroducing this feature.

3. Quest and story enhancements
TLDR: We’ve made major narrative adjustments and introduced new quests, as well as other open-world content.

• Main storyline:
  King Arthur has always been the highlight of the game, woven into the lore. Right in the prologue, you’ll now learn from the Once and Future King himself that he is your *SPOILER*. This allows the main storyline to have better pacing and be more flexible/less linear.
• New side quests:
  Around 15 new side quests in the Horns of the South, alongside extensive updates to already-existing quests, including new interactions or dependencies, and bugfixes. Just a few of the new missions will be your typical fetch quests, but let’s be honest: we all need a breather sometimes.
• Guilds:
  Yes, they’ve arrived: the Children of Morrigan (thieves, murderers, bad guys in general), Alchemists, and Stonewardens (tribal blacksmiths). Completing each guild’s storyline will reward you with unique abilities, grant some lore insights, and unlock alternate endings to the main story. Also, more guilds coming soon™.
• Expanded world:
  10 new dungeons, redesigned zones (the Keep, Prologue, and Jail), and interiors for all houses.
• Romance:
  To the “Romance when?” guy who asks the question under every update post, here’s our response: romance now! A new storyline for Alisa is being made, and she can become your partner as a result.

4. Wyrdnight overhaul
Nighttime gameplay received significant changes.

• New enemy:
  The Wyrdstalker is a new terrifying presence during Wyrdnight. Still a work in progress, but in his final version, he’ll be slowly walking towards you, constantly, during the night. Think of him as a literal stalker.
• Ethereal Cobweb:
  We’re changing its properties, and it’s slowly becoming a more integral gameplay element, with future crafting applications planned.

5. Crafting improvements
Crafting is now more intuitive and flexible.

• Crafting logic & UI:
  As non-precise as it sounds, crafting’s been changed so that it… well... makes more sense now. Also, this system’s UI has been rebuilt for clarity and intuitiveness.
• Streamlined crafting:
  Players can now craft anywhere using a Grindstone, without having to talk to the Blacksmith.
• Enemy-themed armors:
  Unlock new gear by completing special quests given by the blacksmith in the Horns of the South. This will become a general theme for all blacksmiths in the game.

6. Combat, gear & enemies
Here’s what’s new on the battlefield:

• New enemies:
  Over 10 new enemy types and revamped bosses, including a completely rebuilt Mistbearer fight.
• Gear:
  Over 50 new armor pieces, more than 10 weapon models, and at least 10 new variants of the currently existing ones to collect.
• Duels:
  This allows to engage in NPC duel-type combat without triggering crimes and other bad consequences. Future updates will expand this further, allowing for proper fight clubs.

7. Additional features
We’ve introduced several other, miscellaneous gameplay elements:

• Farming:
  Long-awaited and ever-wanted, it’s finally in the game. Clean up your gardening tools!
• Sketching:
  Our unique photo mode; lets you create beautiful sketches of the game world.
• Fog of war:
  Maps now hide the yet-unexplored areas for a more immersive experience and fewer spoilers.
• Accessibility improvements:
  Better color coding, UI adjustments, and toggles for enhanced visibility and customization.
• General:
  All houses in Horns of the South now have interiors, NPCs follow a proper day-night cycle, Wyrdnight arrives later, and numerous other small QoL features.
• Heavy work-in-progress stuff:
  Crimes and sneaking mechanics still need great attention. So does the VFX optimization, especially when players are casting lots of spells.

That’s it for the content update!
This wraps up our recent work on revamping and polishing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. As always, we appreciate and thank you for every piece of feedback provided! Thanks to that, we managed to make some grand changes that are slowly turning the game into a completely new, better experience. And to the nearly 500 beta testers of the 0.8 version: you rock, and it’s hard to express our gratitude for all the help provided!

To end with, just a reminder that apart from the Prologue and Horns of the South revamp, we’re constantly working on the newest, before-announced snowy area: the Forlorn Swords. Stay tuned for more info about that.

Let us know what you think about the changes! And make sure to watch Wolfheart’s video to get a better view of all the newest stuff.

Stay safe, Travelers!

 

[Lord_Potato]

It's shaping up quote nicely, I must say!

 

[Cryomancer]

 

[Ryzer]

> see soyface tumbnail

Nope

 

[cyborgboy95]

November Development Update

Hello, Travellers! Hope you’re all doing well.

We’re ready to present another development update for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon! It’s been a while, though we believe our content showcase will compensate for the wait. But before that, let’s begin with some huge news!

Starting from this dev update, we’ve partnered with one of the most well-known YouTube gaming creators, WolfheartFPS, to help us prepare a video overview for each update until the game leaves early access in the next year! If all goes to plan, those will be released monthly, along with the Steam update posts. His videos will contain exclusive behind-the-scenes, never-before-shown content. That also includes heavily work-in-progress stuff that is subject to change. Wolfheart’s a pro, and he’s done a great job showcasing new additions and tweaks, so just grab yourself a drink and enjoy watching!

And for the written text enjoyers, below’s the update done in the old-school way.

Internally, we’re now in the 0.8 beta phase of the game, and it goes without saying that the game has changed DRASTICALLY, which nearly 500 playtesters have already witnessed during closed tests. The first bits of feedback we collected were very positive, and while there’s still tons of work to be done, it seems we’re headed in the right direction!

Based on your feedback and our analytics, we wanted to address the most important matters. As a result, tons—and we’re not exaggerating—tons of stuff have changed, so not to write a novel-long, let us just point out everything we’ve been working on.

By way of clarification, we’d like to point out that version 0.7 (Quanacht Rebellion) was the last Early Access patch, and the next update will be the full-fledged release: version 1.0. The monthly updates serve as progress reports on the game's development. Additionally, version 0.8 (the one described in this development update) is available only for closed beta testers, who are diligently helping us improve the game with every iteration. However, it will not be publicly available.

1. Game rebalancing and progression improvements

TLDR: We’ve overhauled nearly every aspect of gameplay, focusing on making the progression, and the overall experience, more rewarding and fairer.

1. Melee combat: Rebalanced to function seamlessly across all enemy tiers. Weapon damage, stamina cost, and other stats have been fine-tuned.
2. Ranged combat: Ranged archetype now requires more investment in skills and better equipment to become a viable playstyle. Achieving the “stealth archer” fantasy will still be possible, but it will require more work.
3. Enemy adjustments: Behaviors and animations have been improved, along with a comprehensive rebalance of enemy stats. No more one-taps (excluding special scenarios).
4. Skill trees: Dozens of new STR/DEX/END skills have been added, with plans to expand to other trees soon™.
5. Attributes and proficiencies: Both were rebalanced, with attributes receiving notable nerfs. Some might even be controversial, so we’re playtesting to get more feedback on that.
6. Status effects: These now scale properly, preventing overpowered effects on higher-level enemies.
7. Economy overhaul: Gold rewards, item pricing, and loot distribution have been adjusted to provide a more balanced progression.

2. Magic revamp

TLDR: Magic has been completely reimagined for smoother, more dynamic gameplay. Casting spells should also feel more “snappy” and just more fun.

• Casting system: Spells now offer light and heavy casting options, doubling their tactical use.
• Mana efficiency: Simply put, you can cast more spells per mana bar.
• New spells: 14 rebuilt or entirely new spells are now available, with more on the way.
• Summoning temporarily removed: Summon-related issues have been among the most frequently reported. We’re working to resolve AI issues before reintroducing this feature.

3. Quest and story enhancements

TLDR: We’ve made major narrative adjustments and introduced new quests, as well as other open-world content.

• Main storyline: King Arthur has always been the highlight of the game, woven into the lore. Right in the prologue, you’ll now learn from the Once and Future King himself that he is your *SPOILER*. This allows the main storyline to have better pacing and be more flexible/less linear.
• New side quests: Around 15 new side quests in the Horns of the South, alongside extensive updates to already-existing quests, including new interactions or dependencies, and bugfixes. Just a few of the new missions will be your typical fetch quests, but let’s be honest: we all need a breather sometimes.
• Guilds: Yes, they’ve arrived: the Children of Morrigan (thieves, murderers, bad guys in general), Alchemists, and Stonewardens (tribal blacksmiths). Completing each guild’s storyline will reward you with unique abilities, grant some lore insights, and unlock alternate endings to the main story. Also, more guilds coming soon™.
• Expanded world: 10 new dungeons, redesigned zones (the Keep, Prologue, and Jail), and interiors for all houses.
• Romance: To the “Romance when?” guy who asks the question under every update post, here’s our response: romance now! A new storyline for Alisa is being made, and she can become your partner as a result.

4. Wyrdnight overhaul

Nighttime gameplay received significant changes.

• New enemy: The Wyrdstalker is a new terrifying presence during Wyrdnight. Still a work in progress, but in his final version, he’ll be slowly walking towards you, constantly, during the night. Think of him as a literal stalker.
• Ethereal Cobweb: We’re changing its properties, and it’s slowly becoming a more integral gameplay element, with future crafting applications planned.

5. Crafting improvements

Crafting is now more intuitive and flexible.

• Crafting logic & UI: As non-precise as it sounds, crafting’s been changed so that it… well... makes more sense now. Also, this system’s UI has been rebuilt for clarity and intuitiveness.
• Streamlined crafting: Players can now craft anywhere using a Grindstone, without having to talk to the Blacksmith.
• Enemy-themed armors: Unlock new gear by completing special quests given by the blacksmith in the Horns of the South. This will become a general theme for all blacksmiths in the game.

6. Combat, gear & enemies

Here’s what’s new on the battlefield:

• New enemies: Over 10 new enemy types and revamped bosses, including a completely rebuilt Mistbearer fight.
• Gear: Over 50 new armor pieces, more than 10 weapon models, and at least 10 new variants of the currently existing ones to collect.
• Duels: This allows to engage in NPC duel-type combat without triggering crimes and other bad consequences. Future updates will expand this further, allowing for proper fight clubs.

7. Additional features

We’ve introduced several other, miscellaneous gameplay elements:

• Farming: Long-awaited and ever-wanted, it’s finally in the game. Clean up your gardening tools!
• Sketching: Our unique photo mode; lets you create beautiful sketches of the game world.
• Fog of war: Maps now hide the yet-unexplored areas for a more immersive experience and fewer spoilers.
• Accessibility improvements: Better color coding, UI adjustments, and toggles for enhanced visibility and customization.
• General: All houses in Horns of the South now have interiors, NPCs follow a proper day-night cycle, Wyrdnight arrives later, and numerous other small QoL features.
• Heavy work-in-progress stuff: Crimes and sneaking mechanics still need great attention. So does the VFX optimization, especially when players are casting lots of spells.

That’s it for the content update!

This wraps up our recent work on revamping and polishing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. As always, we appreciate and thank you for every piece of feedback provided! Thanks to that, we managed to make some grand changes that are slowly turning the game into a completely new, better experience. And to the nearly 500 beta testers of the 0.8 version: you rock, and it’s hard to express our gratitude for all the help provided!

To end with, just a reminder that apart from the Prologue and Horns of the South revamp, we’re constantly working on the newest, before-announced snowy area: the Forlorn Swords. Stay tuned for more info about that.

Let us know what you think about the changes! And make sure to watch Wolfheart’s video to get a better view of all the newest stuff.

Stay safe, Travelers!

 

[Tyranicon]

I finished the main quest up to the end of where I think it ends for the Early Access version. Here's a review of what we have so far.

I'll save you the suspense and say I like it up front, which is why I bothered writing all this.

The Skyrim We Have at Home

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is a loveletter to Bethesda's long-running TES series and it shows in every fundamental part of the game. What we have here is an indie budget version of Skyrim, although it is different enough to make the comparison perhaps only skin deep.

If you are looking for an open-world, first-person spell-and-slash, then this is basically the only game in the arena right now (-looks at Avowed meaningfully-). Let's take a look at what Tainted Grail has and how it executes on it.

Combat

The game offers you what appears to be a variety of builds ranging from two-handed , sword and shield, dual-weilding, bowman, thief with sneak attacks, mage, and gish options with no formal classes. I chose a hybrid one-hander and spell gish type deal, so I can't really attest to the other options.

Combat is very similiar to TES offerings with the exception that encounters do tend to be dangerous and you can't potionspam quite as much as to trivialize the entire game. I found myself mostly doing the King's Field/Dark Souls cheese of luring enemies away and then ganking them individually. Enemies will drink a seemingly infinite supply of health potions once they are de-aggro'ed, so you have to make sure to finish fights when you start them. The 2 boss fights I've experienced are the most anti-climatic and mind-boggling easy that I have seen in quite some time.

I'm on normal difficulty, and I'm not sure what exactly the higher difficulties modes offer but I don't want to deal with HP bloated enemies. As it is, the game is very easy with a spellcaster. Enemies have no real way of dealing with the old "run backwards and shoot" strategy, so everything dies unless you're in a small enclosed fight. I did find the raven blinding spell which does trivialize the entire game as it costs so little mana you can constantly cast it (it confuses enemies) and just hack at them until they're dead. I do go down in 1-2 hits though, being a squishy wizard, so I have to worry about positioning.

Fighting is enjoyable enough, and enemies respawn sporadically so you can treat them as fleshbags of exp. Weapon/spell loadouts are pretty easy to switch on the fly so you can do cool things like shoot poison at a dude, throw a bird at him to peck out his eyes, flamethrower him down and then stab him in the dick. Brutal.

edit: forgot to add that there doesn't appear to be level-scaling, so it's already better than Skyrim.

Story, writing and characters

The gist of the story is that you are some random prisoner (did I mention TES inspirations?) destined for greatness, and you escape to find the island of Avalon in great peril. Everything's shit, there's a plague, and the Once and Future King Arthur is supposed to return to make things right... at some point.

The story and lore is actually semi-interesting, even if it's pretty standard dark camelot fare at this point. The writing is servicable but without any style or flare. The high point is that there are few offensive things, especially to a codex audience. NPCs do speak in a fairly modern vernacular but I haven't come across anything too eye-rolling, and there are few "modernisms for a modern audience."

You're in the dung ages of medieval fantasy England and that's all there is to it. Pre-medieval actually, as one cool detail is all the roman gear that Kamelotians are carrying around.

Characters and NPCs are just kind of there, like most TES games. There's no standout characters and I don't remember anybody's names.

Exploration and RPG systems

There are two large areas, one of which was only recently released and not finished, so I won't cover that one much. The first map is essentially a theme park region in a TES game with a moderate amount of little secrets, locations, NPCs and quests scattered throughout. The game says it'll take 10-20 hours to complete. Fast travel's also in.

You can start quests by talking with questgivers or you just come across them in the wild. At night, "Wyrdnight" occurs, which means that the sky gets all spooky and different monsters come out, in addition to making daytime enemies behave differently. They start acting more like zombies and walk slower, which generally makes them easier for my build.

Skills and stats are either increased by doing them, which means you'll be toggling run all the time and dashing/jumping around like an idiot, or need to be leveled up at a campfire. I found the skill trees intuitive and meaningful enough, although it sounds like they'll be redoing them soon.

Itemization

99% of all crates and barrels in the world, no matter where they are, have fresh food in them. Otherwise itemization is... okay. Like TES, enemies will drop everything they have on them, which means you'll soon stop picking up bandit armor because there's nothing really worth buying (...because the game is super easy). At some point you'll stop picking up raw chicken legs too because you'll have like 100 of them.

You will get significant upgrades to your gear, unless you're a spellcaster, then you're stuck with the one single set of wizard armor I found in my entire 15-hour run.

Quests and C&C

There's nothing much to write about. The quests here are bog standard and so is the c&c, with the only caveat of there not being too much c&c and all the quets I did were at least slightly boring.

Another negative is that dialogue options are sometimes very railroady, with you often being allowed only one option, sometimes in a way that opposes how the conversation started. There are dialogue skill checks but I think they may be bugged for me.

Graphics

Awful. Like it makes my eyes bleed bad. Sometimes the lighting engine really kicks in and gives you an astounding view, but that just showcases how low detail everything is. If I was a guessing man, I would assume they "optimized" the hell out of the graphics because of the huge level/world cells/whatever they were working with, but it made the game look like it came straight out of 2015.

Sometimes the art design saves it, but this is rare. There's only been a few moments in the game I was wow'ed by how something looked. Also my video settings keep reverting and I don't know why it does that.

Music and VO

Once again, nothing stands out to me. The music choice is respectable enough but relatively generic. The VO is adequate but won't win awards.

Technical and polish

The game chugs. I'm running this on a very good rig and it still doesn't work as smoothly as you think it would. Plus, there is a large amount of bugs and otherwise jank. I keep having to double tap my unholster button, dialogue with NPCs is sometimes just nothing, floating characters and objects, etc.

Unfortunately, I would say this is pretty expected. If Bethesda can't get it right, I can hardly expect some indie studio to.

Conclusion

If you go into this game with rock bottom expectations, you'll have a lot of fun. It's pretty good for what it is, just don't expect it to be something it's not. I do expect that with a lot more polish and content, Tainted Grail will have a very good chance at hitting above their league.

A small indie studio challenging Bethesda on their home turf, when even other AAA studios think better of it, shows balls. And for that, if nothing else, I wish them a lot of success.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Do they have eta of full release yet?

 

[Nostaljaded]

...The VO is adequate but won't win awards.

Have you tried their previous game, Tainted Grail: Conquest?
If yes, how's Avalon's VO compared to Conquest's?

As IMO, Conquest has great ENG VOs (especially so coming from a western developer), and would have look them up if need VAs.