Put down your holy hand grenades and decide up your keyboards—Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, which pulls closely from the story of King Arthur, has formally crossed 450,000 copies offered throughout Steam and consoles! Not unhealthy for a scrappy indie RPG that’s been lovingly known as “indie Skyrim” by gamers with a delicate spot for brooding knights, mysterious curses, and morally questionable quests (so, Skyrim followers).
The builders at Awaken Realms Digital are clearly feeling the love and, in a current neighborhood replace, gave gamers a heartfelt “huge, fats THANK YOU.” In a tone extra humble than a medieval peasant supplied a shrubbery, they credited the sport’s passionate fanbase for serving to it develop—and promised they’re not achieved but.
If you happen to haven’t dived in but, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a first-person open-world RPG steeped in a darkish reimagining of Arthurian legend. You’ll discover crumbling ruins, morally advanced factions, and loads of eerie fog—principally, it’s what you’d get if Skyrim and Monty Python and the Holy Grail had a lovechild… raised in a haunted forest. I say Monty Python as a result of regardless of the grim-dark graphics and the incredible Polish folksy soundtrack (assume Witcher 3), the sport additionally has a bizarre sense of humour. To date I’ve run into an undead chef who tried to persuade me bitter fish and cheese are a delicacy, after which a couple of minutes later, I’m weighing up the ethics of two warring factions.
In different phrases, sure, I’m taking part in the sport and plan on reviewing it.
And should you’ve already purchased it? Congrats on serving to 450,000 different would-be Grail seekers convey stability to a cursed land. Simply keep in mind: unusual girls mendacity in ponds distributing swords isn’t any foundation for a system of presidency.
What’s Subsequent on the Street(map) to Avalon?
Promoting almost half one million copies isn’t any small feat, however Awaken Realms isn’t simply counting cash in Camelot. Right here’s what’s on the horizon:
- Patch 1.03 is rolling out now, with loads of bug squashing and efficiency enhancements.
- Weekly patches are deliberate going ahead (although the devs cheekily admit it may be extra “ish” than “weekly”).
- Mod help is coming in about 3–4 weeks—cue the inevitable “killer rabbit” overhaul mod.
- Steam Deck efficiency construct is within the works (precise date TBD).
- Patch 1.1, due in August, will add new content material—particularly in Act 3’s Forlorn Swords area. The devs are holding it hush-hush, however it’s protected to anticipate one thing thrilling (hopefully not one other grail-shaped beacon).
The devs additionally put out a chunky 1.3 patch for the sport, whereas addressing the subject of efficiency and bugs. If you wish to learn the total and really prolonged checklist of fixes and tweaks, test it out right here.
“After we got down to make Tainted Grail, we wished to create a deep, advanced journey, each when it comes to storytelling and exploration. However we additionally wished to present you, the participant, as a lot freedom as attainable,” says the builders on Steam. “That’s why you may kill many NPCs, expertise wildly completely different quest outcomes, and strategy issues in any order. We wished to reduce hand-holding, identical to we’d anticipate as gamers.”
They go on to say that the price of that is that the sport has so many combos of issues that may occur that glitches can simply sneak in. They even present a pre-release instance, explaining that they found a problem the place promoting a weapon that had been upgraded with a relic might trigger an issue hours later when the seller’s stock reset.
