Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Review — Forever King

It’s unfortunate that I have other reviews to complete because all I really want to do right now is play Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an open-world RPG heavily inspired by classic Elder Scrolls games. It features a unique spin on Arthurian legends and a twist on old-school mechanics that manages to update systems I thought were too outdated to ever shine again. While I do have some issues with the game, particularly with certain choices around the combat, I never found myself in a position where these problems kept me from enjoying it. Successfully capturing a sense of wonder and adventure I haven’t felt in years, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a phenomenal entry in the RPG scene and is bordering on becoming my pick for game of the year.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon follows characters from Arthurian legend as they conquer a distant land after their home is ravaged by a deadly plague. The story takes place long after the conquest, as the plague returns and strange forces begin trying to resurrect the forever king Arthur from his grave, while others aim to destroy his spirit forever. Meanwhile, a deadly magic known as the Wyrdness engulfs the land. It is up to you to decide which side of the battle for Arthur’s soul you will fight on.

While I’m not usually much of a fan of fantasy settings that openly reuse concepts and characters from real-life myths and legends, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon does a fantastic job of building its own unique world using Arthurian myth as a foundation. It feels utterly different from anything I’ve ever read in a storybook while still including memorable characters and locations in a way that made me kind of hyped when they showed up. When I first found Excalibur stuck in the stone, I got very excited and immediately tried to pull it out myself, only to die several times in the process.

The story of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is delightfully dark and full of interesting twists and morally grey characters. It doesn’t beat you down with grimdark self-loathing but instead paints a picture in broad strokes of a land shaped by complicated political history and dark sorcery. You decide which side you agree with as you complete branching paths in many of the game’s quests.

One thing I didn’t love, however, is that the game sometimes creates an illusion of choice where it doesn’t actually exist. It’s less like Fallout: New Vegas, where the entire game can shift on a dime based on your decisions, and more like Skyrim, where some choices definitely matter while others are just flavor text hiding NPC dialogue behind skill check percentages.

Continuing the Skyrim comparison, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon was very clearly inspired by Bethesda’s legendary RPG series. The gameplay, mechanics, and overall design are all drawn directly from Skyrim, delivering the developers’ take on familiar systems with some updates here and there. This applies to the game’s level design, questing system, and gameplay loop—but most of all, it’s noticeable in the combat system.

What surprised me is that the developers managed to take Skyrim’s familiar combat—a system I’ve been vocal about calling dated and boring—and make it interesting again with minor tweaks. It’s not just the addition of a perfect parry mechanic, expanded blocking and attacking, and a dedicated dodge button. It’s the way each weapon, spell, and piece of gear is uniquely designed to interact with the game that makes combat in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon feel so familiar and yet so different. Paired with the story, interesting character designs, cool-looking gear, and excellent dialogue, I quickly became a huge fan of this RPG.

In my opinion, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon completely overshadows Oblivion Remastered, and fans of classic Bethesda games should be paying close attention to it.

That being said, there were a few choices the game made that left me less than thrilled. A stamina-based attack system is fine, but more often than not, I found myself overwhelmed in battle because my stamina bar was too low to keep up with the huge groups of enemies attacking me. The decision to lock a lot of early-game gear behind attribute requirements that can’t realistically be met at that point was also strange. Why, at level 5, am I finding a shield that requires 5 strength and 3 endurance, or a hammer that requires 12 strength? When I find a piece of gear, I like to use it immediately, not wait until later in the game to finally start enjoying it.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. The problems I had didn’t distract much from the experience, and the game captured a sense of adventure and exploration I haven’t felt in an RPG for a long time. I highly recommend this title, especially if you’re a fan of Bethesda games and weren’t quite sold on Oblivion Remastered the way the hype wanted you to be.

Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is available on Steam, GoG, Xbox, and PlayStation.