For those who are interested or just mildly curious, I decided to go ahead and make a thread for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. It’s an indie game made by a Polish team called Questline, and set in a dark fantasy world based on a series of board games (also called Tainted Grail), which is itself based on Arthurian Legend. The game world takes inspiration from a few different sources, most notably ancient Celtic, medieval European, and even (strangely) the works of artist H.R.Giger. As for video games, The Elder Scrolls series is a major influence on Tainted Grail:The Fall of Avalon. In fact, this game plays very similarly to Skyrim, at its basic level. You have two hand slots, and you can choose to fill those slots with a variety of weapons, shields, or even spells. Unlike Skyrim it does have an attribute system more akin to Oblivion. You raise skills by using them just as in TES. The lockpick game is nearly identical to Skyrim’s and the BGS Fallouts. In level up you get a point to raise one of your attributes and a point to spend on a perk. The perk trees work very similarly to Skyrim.

The story is a bit weird but I think it’s interesting. You start off in an asylum/prison suffering from a plague known as “The Red Death” (like from my favorite Poe story!). You are there because you were captured by a group of people known as the Red Priests, who are trying desperately to find a cure for the plague, but unfortunately they are taking very extreme measures in most cases. A jailor interrogates you in the beginning, which serves to determine what skills you start out more skilled in. Then you are let out of your cell to explore the nasty asylum. After a few surprises you eventually take a boat to a nice little inhabited area where you can trade and get quests. Very familiar stuff for TES fans.

So, with that very basic introduction, I have some pics! Naturally I chose to play as my favorite witchy lady Brenna. I’m having to play this game on low settings so if the pics don’t look the best, that’s why.

Brenna in Avalon. Her eyes look like solid white because what looked like pale grey eyes in the Character Creator looks white in game.

Brenna wielding spear and spell. Just an example of potential loadouts.

Creepy Temple A weird temple under the Asylum.

Kamelot! It’s only a model. Most environments are more mundane. This pic was taken in an “otherworld”, similar to a plane of Oblivion.

I hope some of you check it out. As fans of TES, I think y’all might really like this.

I hate how so many games are set up so that what your character looks like in the character generation is often completely different from how they look in the game. WTF? Are they just being dicks?

Still, Brenna is a hot goth witch, with her dead white eyes and all.

The game looks really cool. But I find I am playing fewer and fewer new games lately, and instead going back more to the older games I have. I would still like to give Tainted Grail a try though, so maybe some day.

Nice screenies. The game caught my attention on the GOG a few days ago as well. My current laptop can run it on minimum settings so I might try it in the future with better settings when I buy the new laptop. Also, ATM I'm still busy playing point'n'click games both old and new ones.

Thanks for sharing, Khajiit! Can definitely see the TES influence there.

I am interested in it, as a matter of fact, but I've got a backlog of games to get to still and I'm still playing Oblivion Remastered. But I'm glad to see you took the plunge and seem to be enjoying it.

I understand that is a dark fantasy setting. How is that part of it? I enjoy darker tones in games (though not always), but there are limits. Some games do it well (e.g., Skyrim, Fallout 1 and 3, System Shock 2). But then there are games that are annoyingly oppressive for its own sake to the point everything is meaningless (e.g. Enderal).




I had this issue when I first started playing Starfield. It wasn't a huge difference, but it was noticeable. Facial proportions and a couple other things were annoyingly off. But the Enhance! clinics in the game make it easy to tweak your character's looks later on (or you can completely revamp your character, if you want, as it is just the exact same as the character creator).

Ok, here are the facts that I know so far without getting too spoilery. The story begins in a time period of Avalon’s history in which the glory days of Kamelot are long gone. Arthur himself has been dead for many, many years, and the kingdom is falling apart due to numerous issues that have cropped up. Enemy tribes are reclaiming some of their old territory (which I’m very sympathetic to honestly), a plague that Arthurian forces came to Avalon to escape from in the first place has reared its ugly head again, and some mysterious force called “The Wyrdness” is turning people into raging homicidal maniacs, or even monsters.

Now for my opinions. The basic story is unquestionably grim and there is some really weird stuff going down in Avalon (the end of the intro-dungeon is bonkers!). Despite this, many of the characters I’ve met are quirky or even downright funny. There are, of course, some serious types, but not everyone is all doom and gloom. For instance, there is a guy who runs a tavern in the first village you arrive at who is very upbeat (the village itself suffered a bit of a calamity and wouldn’t look out of place in an H.P.Lovecraft story). Another guy who you meet outside of said village is actually a guard of sorts from the local garrison and he mentions that his hobby is interior decorating, lol. He’ll even sell furniture to you (presumably to decorate your player homes, which there is one you can purchase in this village)! It seems to me that the devs tried pretty hard to kinda match the tone of The Elder Scrolls games. That said, I haven’t played it much since arriving at the aforementioned village, so it’s possible that my early impressions may only be relevant for the very early game.

Well, obviously. When there's a weird plague turning everyone into homicidal maniacs, then the first thing you think of is: "This wallpaper's got to go! And also, I want to die in a comfortable bed." Makes perfect sense.

Same goes for a continent spanning invasion from hell, I suppose.

Sounds like another good one, Khajiit! I'll have to add to my GoG wishlist.