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

[Sibelius]

Galahad was a murderous asshole so I killed him. Dal Riata leaders don't support the rebellion coz they're cowardly bitches threatened by potential upheaval that could end their comfy positions.

Down with fucking Camelot!

Camelot is the best shot Avalon has at surviving, and trying to overthrow it during a double crisis of mehnirs dying + red plague is colossally stupid.

Yeah this was the rationale for my choice. Not the best time to be splitting apart a nation, to do so could be suicide.

 

[Readher]

Galahad was a murderous asshole so I killed him. Dal Riata leaders don't support the rebellion coz they're cowardly bitches threatened by potential upheaval that could end their comfy positions.

Down with fucking Camelot!

Camelot is the best shot Avalon has at surviving, and trying to overthrow it during a double crisis of mehnirs dying + red plague is colossally stupid.

Yeah this was the rationale for my choice. Not the best time to be splitting apart a nation, to do so could be suicide.

Empire vs Stormcloaks 2.0, Todd wins again.

 

[thesecret1]

And that's not even mentioning how it seems the devs put all the girlbosses, aggressive idiots peaceful protestors, and actual fags in the Dal Riata faction.

I concur. Galahad's speech on the importance of burning sinners alive seemed most convincing after visiting the rebel camp, which seemed to consist solely of stronk womyn and literal retards.

 

[cvv]

Throughout act 1 whenever someone mentions Galachad they talk about how he's a bloodthirsty butcher and just burns everyone on sight.

But if you stop to talk to him, turns out - this was all rebel scum propaganda.

Sure. The burning part is just propaganda.

I mean he literally torches two people WHILE YOU'RE TALKING TO HIM but I know they deserved it! And I know it because he told me so, bigot!

Camelot is the best shot Avalon has at surviving

Oh really? Then they aren't sending their best coz your boy Galahad keeled over after a newbie dude fresh from the beach in starting gear hit him with a stick a few times.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Throughout act 1 whenever someone mentions Galachad they talk about how he's a bloodthirsty butcher and just burns everyone on sight.

But if you stop to talk to him, turns out - this was all rebel scum propaganda.

Sure. The burning part is just propaganda.

I mean he literally torches two people WHILE YOU'RE TALK TO HIM but I'm sure they deserved it! Because he told me so bigot!

Galahad don't lie bro.

 

[GloomFrost]

The biggest problem is that Galachad or anyone else is barely in the rest of the game. There will not be any unique quest lines or abilities or factions based on your choices. In fact anything you do in Act 1 is hardly ever mentioned or has any significant impact at all on anything until the ending slides.

 

[whocares]

Throughout act 1 whenever someone mentions Galachad they talk about how he's a bloodthirsty butcher and just burns everyone on sight.

But if you stop to talk to him, turns out - this was all rebel scum propaganda.

Sure. The burning part is just propaganda.

I mean he literally torches two people WHILE YOU'RE TALK TO HIM but I'm sure they deserved it! Because he told me so bigot!

Galahad don't lie bro.

Exactly. He plays you straight and doesn't go back on his word or backstab you at any point. There's no reason to mistrust him.

Meanwhile the Dal Riata when you're working with them promise that the axe they send is an honest peace gesture. Only it then turns out the inscription on it calls the Horns people pussies or something to that extent.

 

[Sibelius]

And that's not even mentioning how it seems the devs put all the girlbosses, aggressive idiots peaceful protestors, and actual fags in the Dal Riata faction.

I concur. Galahad's speech on the importance of burning sinners alive seemed most convincing after visiting the rebel camp, which seemed to consist solely of stronk womyn and literal retards.

At least the Dal Riata guys were like "We don't know why she was put in charge, twas some supernatural selection process, she (D)idn't (E)arn (I)t.

 

[GloomFrost]

S

Throughout act 1 whenever someone mentions Galachad they talk about how he's a bloodthirsty butcher and just burns everyone on sight.

But if you stop to talk to him, turns out - this was all rebel scum propaganda.

Sure. The burning part is just propaganda.

I mean he literally torches two people WHILE YOU'RE TALK TO HIM but I'm sure they deserved it! Because he told me so bigot!

Galahad don't lie bro.

Exactly. He plays you straight and doesn't go back on his word or backstab you at any point. There's no reason to mistrust him.

Meanwhile the Dal Riata when you're working with them promise that the axe they send is an honest peace gesture. Only it then turns out the inscription on it calls the Horns people pussies or something to that extent.

Siding with one-eye is the only way to uncover the truth about Seawal and Merlin's immortality experiment. It also explains why Caradoc is so pissed off with Arthur.

 

[thesecret1]

And that's not even mentioning how it seems the devs put all the girlbosses, aggressive idiots peaceful protestors, and actual fags in the Dal Riata faction.

I concur. Galahad's speech on the importance of burning sinners alive seemed most convincing after visiting the rebel camp, which seemed to consist solely of stronk womyn and literal retards.

At least the Dal Riata guys were like "We don't know why she was put in charge, twas some supernatural selection process, she (D)idn't (E)arn (I)t.

What made more impression on me was that the requirement to enter their camp was to curbstomp one of their women in full view of everyone. And then everyone clapped, unironically, as they all went "Wooow, I can't believe you kicked the shit out of her, you Gigachad!" What a sick society.

 

[whocares]

S

Throughout act 1 whenever someone mentions Galachad they talk about how he's a bloodthirsty butcher and just burns everyone on sight.

But if you stop to talk to him, turns out - this was all rebel scum propaganda.

Sure. The burning part is just propaganda.

I mean he literally torches two people WHILE YOU'RE TALK TO HIM but I'm sure they deserved it! Because he told me so bigot!

Galahad don't lie bro.

Exactly. He plays you straight and doesn't go back on his word or backstab you at any point. There's no reason to mistrust him.

Meanwhile the Dal Riata when you're working with them promise that the axe they send is an honest peace gesture. Only it then turns out the inscription on it calls the Horns people pussies or something to that extent.

Siding with one-eye is the only way to uncover the truth about Seawal and Merlin's immortality experiment. It also explains why Caradoc is so pissed off with Arthur.

I know. My game bugged out and had dialogues assuming I sided with One Eye, which led to some confusion and I looked that section up.

It turned out that the whole thing was super overblown much like everything where the game wants you to question Arthur's actions. Pretty much everything Arthur did was not only justified, but absolutely necessary for the survival of the human race. When you push Caradoc as to what else Arthur could've done, he goes, "well it was unethical, so maybe we weren't meant to win and it would be better if foredwellers just wiped humans out." And we're somehow supposed to be sympathetic toward him. Dude became immortal with no side effects and that's the thanks he gives.

Same goes for the big "betrayal" of Dal Riata that got them all butthurt at Camelot in the first place. They helped win the war, so Arthur gave them their land and allowed them to govern themselves. But because he didn't allow the savages (whose default mode of interaction is fighting/killing one another on sight) to live in the cities, now Camelot must burn. Okay.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

They finally patched the GoG version to 1.03.
But I think I will wait a week or two for a few more patches, currently playing Cyber Knights and that has tickled my autism hard.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/tainted-grail-fall-of-avalon-small-team-rpg-momentum-clair-obscur

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is better than I expected it to be, and piggybacks on the small-team RPG momentum of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33​

The grail is Arthur full.

There's a strong and immediate sense of Elder Scrolls to Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon. In so many ways it feels like the exact same experience. First-person: check. Fantasy: check. Begins in a prison cell: check. Skills increase as you use them: check. Stealth works the same (even the icon is identical), combat and dialogue feel familiar. This is a copy of Elder Scrolls barely concealed.

Tainted Grail suffers because of these ill-concealed similarities, initially. Whilst Bethesda Game Studios commands huge budgets to make its games, this small Polish team, Questline (which made Tainted Grail with around 50 people) clearly does not. It's most apparent on the faces of characters in the game-world, which look simple and dated by today's standards, more like something seen in Skyrim 10 years ago.

To continue my mean streak, I also cringed hard at the story and theme: another dark take on Arthurian legend and the idea that a 'one true king' needs to return in order to save us all. That, and the game spells Camelot with a K. How very dark and edgy. Mixed first impressions, then. Tainted Grail seemed derivative, juvenile, and presentationally dated. But then it began to charm me.

After all, why should The Elder Scrolls have a monopoly on these game ideas? I now admire the decision to build Tainted Grail on a template that I, and millions of others, are not only familiar with but feel fondly towards. I like that I don't have to learn a new suite of gameplay ideas. I know immediately, when I'm poking around the prison, after I'm suddenly let out of my cell by a mysterious stranger, how this goes. I know there'll be a backstab, I know I can parry, I know broadly how magic will work. Even cheeky skill-boosting tricks from Elder Scrolls games work in the same way. It's both helpful and incredibly nostalgic.


That's not to say Tainted Grail doesn't have any ideas of its own. Notably, there's a dash ability as standard that leaps you away from danger, and there are pages of skill trees ranging from those that improve your unarmed attacks to those that increase your crafting aptitude, spell abilities, armour effectiveness, bartering prowess, defensive capabilities, and more. There's cooking, there's alchemy, and I assume there's weapon-making and armour-making (although I haven't gotten there in the game yet). There's a full complement of RPG systems here.

Tainted Grail is dark game and it wants you to know that early on. I am low-key obsessed with my character design in it. It's a strong look, isn't it? | Image credit: Eurogamer / Questline

Also, for all that the character faces and fidelity of the world sometimes be lacking, the game's strong sense of style more than makes up for it. Tainted Grail is dark and twisted, by turns reminiscent of a FromSoftware world or a Witcher world. There's an HR Geiger quality to some of it, particularly the vast underground chambers with pools of blood and intricately sculpted black podiums. Dreary prison halls lead to rooms piled high with tortured bodies, while gruesome diagrams pinned to walls speak of the unthinkable things being done. The mist-choked world outside, meanwhile, is one of crumbled splendour where the dead walk again.

Even the overused dark Arthurian theme provides an unexpectedly compelling hook. It's hard to say too much without spoiling an early reveal, but the story gets going blessedly quickly and provides surprise turns alongside more predictable developments. The characters met in the world, too, are always more interesting than I expect them to be, with their bizarre perspectives and peculiar sensibilities, and in the stories they have to share. I believe things like this show the game's desire to be different and stand out.

The game can certainly present you with some eye-catching scenes. Combat, so far, is a little dull, but my arsenal is limited. | Image credit: Eurogamer / Questline

That said, temper your expectations a little. Tainted Grail is better than I expected it to be but it can still feel awkward and, sometimes, harsh and punishing. It takes a little while to adjust to the game's first-person combat rhythms, and enemies which leap at you and throw things. Spells in particular feel weak early on, as does stealth, which a lot of enemies seem to simply ignore. I desperately wanted to push enemies off high ledges - there's a push attack! - but I couldn't seem to close the gap to melee range without them noticing me, even if they were turned around. Even then, the push seemed ineffective, which I hope is not a missed trick on the game's part.

But I'm starting to make meaningful progress in the game now. I've done my early-game floundering and have a foothold in the world to strike out from, and to gradually build my power from, and what I see - crucially - is a world I want to explore, and systems I want to play with.

I don't know how Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon will develop here, but I'm encouraged by a positive start and by knowing the game has already spent time in early access, and by knowing it has the depth of prior Tainted Grail boardgame adventures to draw upon. I don't know how it'll sustain itself over the 50-70 hours of gameplay the developer says it has, but so far it's been an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Tainted Grail may be, alongside Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, another small-team-made RPG to be excited about.

 

[cvv]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

 

[Tyranicon]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

Most game journos are just corporate shills. They glaze who they're told to glaze.

Never trust a game journo.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/i...and-boy-does-it-take-bethesda-back-to-school/

I grabbed the free demo of dark new fantasy RPG The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail and, boy, does it take Bethesda back to school​

A great opening to a grippingly weird new fantasy RPG

I didn't like Starfield for many reasons, but the two biggest were how safe and bland the futuristic world of Bethesda's latest RPG is and, also, just how dull its opening is. The Bethesda magic of old just isn't evident in my eyes in Starfield and jumping back into one of its former greats in Oblivion Remastered has confirmed that to me. Oh yeah, this is what Bethesda RPGs used to feel like!

Which is why I've been so drawn in and impressed playing the free demo of The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail, a dark new fantasy RPG that feels in many ways like a love letter to great Bethesda RPGs of old, such as Morrowind and Oblivion. And, what's more, Tainted Grail does so while also addressing my two biggest problems with Starfield, being both wonderfully weird and immersing me muchly out of the gate.

As our The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail review highlights, this game is a dark reimagination of Arthurian legends, with the game picking up in the aftermath of the legendary King Arthur's rule and death. His island kingdom of Avalon has been encroached on and corrupted by the 'Wyrdness', a chaotic primordial force that alters reality and leaves terrible monsters in its wake, and it is into this weird world that you step. Only first, just like in the opening to Oblivion, you need to escape the fortress prison that you have been held in.

Even in this freaky, experimentation-filled fortress prison, though, aesthetically the world of Tainted Grail is rather unique, a punchy hybrid between traditional dark fantasy medieval and HR Giger, he of Alien fame. There's a conjoining of stone and metal with bone and organic weirdness that, along with the permeating mystical Grimdark vibes, really grabs your attention and holds it.

It's like a darker, more corrupted version of Oblivion's Shivering Isles, which again hangs a lantern on the fact that the game's maker, Questline, is both massively indebted to Bethesda but, also, showing us a bit of what has been lost with its more recent RPGs. This world is far from dull, visually or in terms of lore, and the opening to it is an old-school masterclass in immersion.

Your character can be specced in a variety of ways and, while you can't level up many times in the demo to put more complex builds into practice, there appears to be plenty of freedom to mix and match specialisms as you want in the full game. On Tainted Grail's Steam page characters such as an 'alchemist-berserker' and 'mystical blacksmith-mage' are detailed, for example.

In the demo, I leaned into my go-to in these first-person RPGs, a sneaky stealth type, and immediately benefited from enhanced lockpicking (the lockpicking mechanic is, gloriously, the same as Fallout) as well as archery. But with multiple customisable weapon loadouts available at any one time, I found myself switching between dagger and shield and bow and arrow as the situation, which is done with a single button press.

Part of Tainted Grail's immaculate old-fashioned first-person perspective RPG vibes also come from its engine, which—speaking plainly—is dated compared to the Unreal Engine 5 beauty of recent FPP RPGs such as Avowed. Indeed, this is a DirectX 11-only game and the system requirements to run it are, by modern standards, low (the recommended system spec is only an RTX 2070 Super, 16GB of RAM, and a 13th gen Intel Core i7 CPU). As such, my RTX 3090 Ti system absolutely crushed it, with a locked 60fps and 4K resolution. But, if anything, the fact that the game can't rely on the latest graphical rendering effects just highlights what a great job the art team has done on Tainted Grail, as environments in particular are chocked full of flavor.

In fact, after playing this Tainted Grail demo I've been thinking that when I get around to playing the full game I might do so through an old CRT monitor that I use on some retro rigs. This game's mid-2000s graphics engine partnered with old-school Bethesda RPG vibes feels tailor-made to be presented through the old-school display tech. In fact, I may even see just how well Tainted Grail will run on an older, retro rig of mine, as its DirectX 11-only demands might be runnable on it, and especially so if the old GPU is only being asked to pump out a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution such as 800x600 or 1024x768. That would be really neat if possible.

So, yeah, if you've been jonesing for a more old-fashioned Bethesda-vibe fantasy RPG then I recommend heading on over to Steam forthwith and grabbing the free demo of The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail, which has a good hour or more of gameplay on offer including full character creation. I honestly kept expecting the demo to end sooner than it did; developer Questline really lets you get a flavor for Tainted Grail's world, its gameplay mechanics, and its potential for character customization, so I think you'll know if it is for you by the demo's close for sure. For anyone interested, I've dropped the game's launch trailer below for an immediate look at the game's style and tone.

 

[whocares]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/i...and-boy-does-it-take-bethesda-back-to-school/

I grabbed the free demo of dark new fantasy RPG The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail and, boy, does it take Bethesda back to school​

A great opening to a grippingly weird new fantasy RPG

I didn't like Starfield for many reasons, but the two biggest were how safe and bland the futuristic world of Bethesda's latest RPG is and, also, just how dull its opening is. The Bethesda magic of old just isn't evident in my eyes in Starfield and jumping back into one of its former greats in Oblivion Remastered has confirmed that to me. Oh yeah, this is what Bethesda RPGs used to feel like!

Which is why I've been so drawn in and impressed playing the free demo of The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail, a dark new fantasy RPG that feels in many ways like a love letter to great Bethesda RPGs of old, such as Morrowind and Oblivion. And, what's more, Tainted Grail does so while also addressing my two biggest problems with Starfield, being both wonderfully weird and immersing me muchly out of the gate.

As our The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail review highlights, this game is a dark reimagination of Arthurian legends, with the game picking up in the aftermath of the legendary King Arthur's rule and death. His island kingdom of Avalon has been encroached on and corrupted by the 'Wyrdness', a chaotic primordial force that alters reality and leaves terrible monsters in its wake, and it is into this weird world that you step. Only first, just like in the opening to Oblivion, you need to escape the fortress prison that you have been held in.

Even in this freaky, experimentation-filled fortress prison, though, aesthetically the world of Tainted Grail is rather unique, a punchy hybrid between traditional dark fantasy medieval and HR Giger, he of Alien fame. There's a conjoining of stone and metal with bone and organic weirdness that, along with the permeating mystical Grimdark vibes, really grabs your attention and holds it.

It's like a darker, more corrupted version of Oblivion's Shivering Isles, which again hangs a lantern on the fact that the game's maker, Questline, is both massively indebted to Bethesda but, also, showing us a bit of what has been lost with its more recent RPGs. This world is far from dull, visually or in terms of lore, and the opening to it is an old-school masterclass in immersion.

Your character can be specced in a variety of ways and, while you can't level up many times in the demo to put more complex builds into practice, there appears to be plenty of freedom to mix and match specialisms as you want in the full game. On Tainted Grail's Steam page characters such as an 'alchemist-berserker' and 'mystical blacksmith-mage' are detailed, for example.

In the demo, I leaned into my go-to in these first-person RPGs, a sneaky stealth type, and immediately benefited from enhanced lockpicking (the lockpicking mechanic is, gloriously, the same as Fallout) as well as archery. But with multiple customisable weapon loadouts available at any one time, I found myself switching between dagger and shield and bow and arrow as the situation, which is done with a single button press.

Part of Tainted Grail's immaculate old-fashioned first-person perspective RPG vibes also come from its engine, which—speaking plainly—is dated compared to the Unreal Engine 5 beauty of recent FPP RPGs such as Avowed. Indeed, this is a DirectX 11-only game and the system requirements to run it are, by modern standards, low (the recommended system spec is only an RTX 2070 Super, 16GB of RAM, and a 13th gen Intel Core i7 CPU). As such, my RTX 3090 Ti system absolutely crushed it, with a locked 60fps and 4K resolution. But, if anything, the fact that the game can't rely on the latest graphical rendering effects just highlights what a great job the art team has done on Tainted Grail, as environments in particular are chocked full of flavor.

In fact, after playing this Tainted Grail demo I've been thinking that when I get around to playing the full game I might do so through an old CRT monitor that I use on some retro rigs. This game's mid-2000s graphics engine partnered with old-school Bethesda RPG vibes feels tailor-made to be presented through the old-school display tech. In fact, I may even see just how well Tainted Grail will run on an older, retro rig of mine, as its DirectX 11-only demands might be runnable on it, and especially so if the old GPU is only being asked to pump out a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution such as 800x600 or 1024x768. That would be really neat if possible.

So, yeah, if you've been jonesing for a more old-fashioned Bethesda-vibe fantasy RPG then I recommend heading on over to Steam forthwith and grabbing the free demo of The Fall of Avalon: Tainted Grail, which has a good hour or more of gameplay on offer including full character creation. I honestly kept expecting the demo to end sooner than it did; developer Questline really lets you get a flavor for Tainted Grail's world, its gameplay mechanics, and its potential for character customization, so I think you'll know if it is for you by the demo's close for sure. For anyone interested, I've dropped the game's launch trailer below for an immediate look at the game's style and tone.

Is this actual parody? Joking about TG running on a retro rig or talking about its quaint retro visuals is worth quite a few already. But then it also brings up UE5, a plague upon gaming that somehow managed to be an even bigger piece of shit than the Unity this thing runs, and uses Avoid as some benchmark of cutting edge modern visuals. This is just bizarre.

Also, what's with all the big journos writing about TG all of a sudden? Were they reading our thread, found out about gay barbarians and decided it was after all shill-worthy? Opinion piece articles from sites like pc/eurogaymer about obscure indie RPGs a month after launch are unheard of. Either you get something on release week or you get purged from the records. Weird.

 

[Infinitron]

They'll pay attention if they recognize something has become a phenomenon. For example, SKALD was reviewed at PC Gamer eight months after its release.

 

[GloomFrost]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

Most game journos are just corporate shills. They glaze who they're told to glaze.

Never trust a game journo.

A lot of them are also buthurt that small indie games outsell progressive "return to form" AAA slop.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

Most game journos are just corporate shills. They glaze who they're told to glaze.

Never trust a game journo.

A lot of them are also buthurt that small indie games outsell progressive "return to form" AAA slop.

Indie games don't pay for PR and advertisements.

 

[GloomFrost]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

Most game journos are just corporate shills. They glaze who they're told to glaze.

Never trust a game journo.

A lot of them are also buthurt that small indie games outsell progressive "return to form" AAA slop.

Indie games don't pay for PR and advertisements.

They do pay something for advertisement just not nearly, nearly, nearly as much as AAA. I remember seeing Tainted Grail ad on Youtube for a few days when it released.

 

[scytheavatar]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

It was mostly made by 30 people, there was minimal outsourcing in the game. Some Koreans helped with the animations but there wasn't a lot of them. The other names in mobygames were localization/VA/QA/porting. The creative core of the game is without a doubt done by 30 people. If anything E33 is evidence that outsourcing should be minimized.

And it seems Tainted Grail has no outsourcing too.

 

[cvv]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

It was mostly made by 30 people, there was minimal outsourcing in the game.

That's what Grok thinks:

• An eight-person Korean gameplay animation team, crucial for the game’s dynamic combat animations.
• Over 30 musicians, including a nine-person choir, for the soundtrack.
• Dozens of professionals handling localization, quality assurance (QA), voice production, and additional animation work.
• Approximately 50 additional developers brought in through outsourcing to support tasks like art, sound design, and programming.

Even if we put aside the music, localization, QA or VO, that's still almost 60 additional programmers and artists.

 

[scytheavatar]

I wonder how long are the journos gonna keep glazing E33 at every opportunity and repeat the fake news it was made by 30 people.

It was mostly made by 30 people, there was minimal outsourcing in the game.

That's what Grok thinks:

• An eight-person Korean gameplay animation team, crucial for the game’s dynamic combat animations.
• Over 30 musicians, including a nine-person choir, for the soundtrack.
• Dozens of professionals handling localization, quality assurance (QA), voice production, and additional animation work.
• Approximately 50 additional developers brought in through outsourcing to support tasks like art, sound design, and programming.

Even if we put aside the music, localization, QA or VO, that's still almost 60 additional programmers and artists.

https://www.mobygames.com/game/241065/clair-obscur-expedition-33/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true

Source of "50 additional developers brought in"? Other than the Korean animators I am not seeing other devs which are not part of "music, localization, QA or VO".

 

[cvv]

This is what Grok says, even tho he can be bullshitting a little bit here.

These additional ~50 developers were brought in to handle specialized areas such as art, sound design, programming, animation, quality assurance (QA), localization, and more. Here’s a breakdown of their contributions based on available information:

1. Art and Animation Support​

• Korean Gameplay Animation Team: A notable external group was an eight-person team of Korean animators who focused on gameplay animations. These animations were critical for the game’s dynamic, real-time combat mechanics, which blend turn-based RPG elements with dodge, parry, and combo systems inspired by games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The Korean team’s work is often highlighted as a key contribution, though specific names or studios are not publicly detailed.
  
• Additional Art Outsourcing: Beyond the core art team led by Art Director Nicholas Maxson-Francombe, external contractors likely contributed to environmental design, character models, and visual effects. The game’s Belle Époque-inspired aesthetic, with lush forests, underwater biomes, and Haussmannian architecture, required significant artistic resources. Outsourcing allowed Sandfall to maintain high visual fidelity while keeping the core team lean. Some background elements used readily available assets to focus resources on “hero assets” (key characters and environments).
• Unreal Engine 5 Utilization: The switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 during development facilitated higher-fidelity art assets, with tools like Nanite and Lumen reducing the workload on the art team. External developers with expertise in UE5 likely assisted in optimizing assets for performance, especially for expansive levels with long view distances.

2. Sound Design and Music​

• Musicians and Choir: The game’s soundtrack, composed by Lorien Testard (discovered via SoundCloud), involved over 30 musicians, including a nine-person choir. These contributors were likely freelancers or part of external music production studios, such as Side UK or Studio Anatole, which handled audio production. The soundtrack’s emotional depth and integration with the game’s Belle Époque-inspired world were enhanced by these external efforts.
• Sound Design: High-impact sound effects for combat and environmental immersion were outsourced to specialized audio teams. While specific studios or individuals are not named, companies like Side UK, known for audio production in games, were involved. The sound design complemented the game’s reactive combat system, with cues for dodging and parrying.

3. Programming Support​

• Small Programming Team: The core programming team at Sandfall was notably small, initially just one programmer (Guillaume Broche) before expanding to four. External programmers were likely brought in to support specific technical tasks, such as optimizing the game for multiple platforms (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S) and implementing real-time mechanics within the turn-based framework.
• Blueprint Scripting: Sandfall heavily utilized Unreal Engine’s Blueprint visual scripting system, which allowed non-programmers to contribute to gameplay logic. External developers with UE expertise may have assisted in refining Blueprints or integrating complex systems like the free-aim targeting and character customization (Pictos and Lumina mechanics).
• Porting and Optimization: Studios like Ebb Software provided porting support, ensuring the game ran smoothly across platforms. External programmers also likely contributed to performance and compatibility analysis, addressing issues like shader cache recompilation and ultrawide display fixes.

4. Other External Contributions​

• QA and Localization: Dozens of contributors from firms like QLOC (Poland) and Riotloc handled QA testing and localization. These teams ensured the game was polished and accessible in multiple languages, a critical task for a narrative-driven RPG with global appeal.
• Voice Production: Studios like Side UK and Studio Anatole managed voice production, working with high-profile actors such as Charlie Cox, Andy Serkis, and Ben Starr. While voice actors themselves are not typically counted as developers, the production teams coordinating these performances were part of the outsourced workforce.
• Additional Support Roles: The credits include performance capture artists, playtesters, mock reviewers, and interns, some of whom may fall within the ~50 additional developers. These roles supported the game’s polish and refinement but are less detailed in public records.