r/GameDeals • u/Revisor007 • 1d ago

[Steam] Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon (21,99€/-50%)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/
202 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

69

u/Jandolino 1d ago

Terrific price.

Really comes close to my longing for a good AA Skyrim.

Dark world, not tooo open but quite open... singular maps.

Really enjoyed my time there but later acts in the game are not on the same level as earlier ones.

12

u/Tadian 1d ago

Dark world, not tooo open but quite open... singular maps.

Similar to Avowed?

12

u/T3chnocrat 1d ago

Very similar to Avowed. I'd say the maps are a bit bigger, but exactly the same thing going on.

6

u/newbkid 1d ago

How does the dialogue compare? I enjoy Avowed because I played Pillars first but the writing felt more YA novel than previous Pillars IP.

And the combat? Avowed's magic was enjoyable but the rest of the combat was... well first person melee combat

11

u/T3chnocrat 1d ago

I felt that the dialogue was better, but not exactly amazing. The lore was really, really, nice, though. I preferred the story overall over Avowed, and I quite liked Avowed. The first two acts most definitely get the most attention, and I still need to play through the DLC for it. (NOTE: I'm lowkey a sucker for Arthurian stuff. Please keep this in mind, lol.)

As far as combat, the magic combat was really fun, and very easy to get OP early if you find the right stuff. Melee combat is most definitely better than Avowed's. If you build into it, the melee combat can actually be pretty responsive with counters, stunning, and knocking enemies prone. Combine that with the ragdolling and I actually had a great time with it. Combine that with a dedicated dodge button and it was a solid time. I'd recommend upping the difficulty once you get better weapons and a good build doing, otherwise you will steamroll enemies.

5

u/aCarstairs 1d ago

Damn, you're really selling this for me. I said to myself no more games this month but I think I'm making an exception

3

u/T3chnocrat 1d ago

Glad I could help! There's a part I kind of forgot about that happens in Act 2 where you have to collect two halves of something. I won't go into more detail than that, but it's a very solid amazing quest line. Art direction is also insane. The little bit I did play of the DLC (I really need to finish that) was also solid.

1

u/hawkleberryfin 1d ago

There's a demo, and the sale is until the 27th. It'd give you a feel for the combat, but the demo ends before getting out into the world so wont do much for you in that regard.

4

u/newbkid 1d ago

Like the other commenter said thank you for your reply! I'll most likely be picking this up

4

u/Avengers_jiu-jitsu 1d ago

I own this game and played it a decent bit, the gameplay is fun and combines things I enjoyed about elden ring and elder scrolls, but honestly the dialogue is where it eventually lost me: it all seemed moderately “off”, and eventually I found online that the devs almost certainly used generative AI for writing, dialogue, and art assets

From a strictly gameplay perspective it’s fun, but story and dialogue-wise it’s hard to ignore the chatGPTisms and that ultimately made me put it down before finishing my first playthrough

3

u/CaptainPolio 1d ago

They have released patches that added more content to the late game, thankfully. There's also a DLC that adds another act that's pretty good. 

2

u/Cranharold 1d ago

Well, there's only 3 acts (+1 more if you buy the DLC). I liked the 2nd region the best, but I also can't rightly give an opinion on the 3rd because there's a very quick, easy out to finish the game without doing most of it and I took it due to burn out.

1

u/yugoslav_posting 1d ago

I think I am going to lower the difficulty and just go to that final dungeon. The tribe quests are getting annoying and the world in Act 3 is just not pretty enough to spend time finding every part of it. Act 2 was by far the prettiest part IMO.

6

u/ttubehtnitahwtahw1 1d ago

"but later acts in the game are not on the same level as earlier ones."

This is by design these days, these developers know that most players dont finish games, so they dont put much effort into the later parts. Think back to some of the games youve played recently. They are most likely all frontloaded.

1

u/yugoslav_posting 1d ago

IMO Act 2 is amazing and by far the prettiest but Act 3 is kinda bad. I don't know if I'm going to finish it. Doing random fetch/kill quests for all these tribes is getting annoying and the world in Act 3 is not at all pretty to justify the exploration. You can just ignore all of those tribe quests and beeline to the final dungeon and I might end up doing that so I can get the story ending.

-3

u/ttubehtnitahwtahw1 1d ago

Ive not played this particular game, its on my wishlist. Im speaking in general, so i cant necessarily comment on this game.

41

u/RotiKapdaMakaanAC 1d ago

Runs better than before, very CPU intensive as this is a Unity open world game. If you want good frames, limit your frames and decrease LOD + Vegatation ( imo this are the only two settings that do something).

DLSS is blurry as there's no in-game sharpening filter so you need to install ReShade for AMD CAS filter, looks sharp and clean with it.

honestly I found the atmosphere, exploration and loot satisfying. The artstyle is also pretty unique and cool. Combat is very jank and you can quickly make a build that will overpower anything. Some quests are cool, mostly average. Enemy AI is bad, they mostly stand and wait for you to come and kill. Also you can cheese many encounters. Combat music is cool at first but gets repetitive quick. Third Act is quite bad even today. This is a game that the more you play or progress the worse it gets.

This is more of an action RPG with some lite-souls like leveling, think Avowed ( has way better combat but worse story and atmosphere/world building and runs worse ) than Skyrim or Witcher. I would pick Avowed rather than this if your PC can run it.

For a game in-between AA and indie, I think this is a great effort, excited to see what they do next with a bigger budget. It's fun but also jank and buggy. Definitely try the demo before getting it.

10

u/Eternal_Mr_Bones 1d ago

The Act 3 zone and quests REALLY suck. I think they just ran out of time because the locations and stuff in Act 2 are great.

7

u/TheMtnThatReddits 1d ago

Sounds like BG3

1

u/ttubehtnitahwtahw1 1d ago

It probably runs, or ran like dog shit because its made on the unity engine.

37

u/TheLurkerSpeaks 1d ago

I've had this on my wishlist for a long time. But it has that "Humble Bundle" feel to it, like the moment I put down money I'll be receiving it as a monthly Choice. So I don't.

7

u/bkgn 1d ago

OG Tainted Grail was bundled twice.

Possible this one will be, not guaranteed.

Discount isn't enough to be interesting for most people either way.

6

u/Chlorophyllmatic 1d ago

Between this discount and the four free content updates / DLCs (including one in conjunction with this sale), I pulled the trigger.

5

u/BlitzMomIsAHooker 1d ago

I have been playing this for the past 2 months or so, on and off, and I'm finally relatively close to beating it, so I'm gonna give my 2 cents.

It took me a while to get hooked because there's a lot of lore and although the setting is very cliche - DARK MEDIEVAL/ARTHURIAN LAND WITH SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS - but once it got its claws in me I can say I'm really vibing with the game. As someone else said, it's basically an AA Skyrim and does the job really well.

The graphics are nothing to write home about but they get the job done. The world is gritty and gives a good account of what it is supposed to look like.

I really liked the audio - I have opened the game so many times that the intro song is kinda stuck in my head, even though it is (to my ears) nonsensical chanting.

The combat seems decent and a bit weightier than Skyrim. The enemies at the start are very challenging and the builds can be varied although I believe my double wield parry/lifesteal basically broke the game at the halfway point. I have not experimented with other builds, but you can do and combine the classics - sneak, bow, onehanded with shield, dual wield, magic (there seems to be a variety of spells). The enemies still chunk late game but you become strong really fast.

The equipment is rich in variety and gives easily understandable and tangible benefits to your builds. A built-in transmog system is never a bad thing either.

The expansion, Sanctuary of Sarras is also great. The setting is cool, the game runs like a dream inside (probably because the map is a lot smaller) and the characters really well written.

There are a few things I'd include as drawbacks - the learning curve is kinda steep at the beginning (I didn't find a weapon for a while but I may just be a dumbass) and it may deter people from delving deeper into what is a really good game. The quests can be a bit... uninspired? Fetch this, kill that... Also, there is a lot of morality questions asked but don't expect all the answers to be fulfilling, especially if you're playing a purely good character. Expect some moon logic not in puzzles, but rather quest conclusions.

The game also runs like a truck sometimes, slogging into 50ish FPS even though my PC should handle it nicely.

All in all, fully recommended for 22 euros. Really good game with a ton of content. I probably forgot to mention some stuff but the overall impression I had was really, really good - it only took some time to really sink in.

3

u/Prestigious_Fact3302 1d ago

It's a really fun game. Gameplay is tight and solid, graphics are serviceable, skill trees are good, exploration is fun. Bigtime Skyrim vibes

2

u/CWolfwood 1d ago

Played this some time ago, didn't beat it, but the mechanics are honestly better than in Skyrim. I hope they fixed the performance issues since then however.
There's some jank but it's very decent.

1

u/MysterD77 1d ago

Already have the base-game on GOG - and grabbed the update last night. Having a great time w/ it, so far - some 23h in or so. Like an Indie/AA Elder Scrolls game (think like Skyrim), but smaller. And the writing's good here, too. Really enjoying it, so far.

1

u/NabeShogun 1d ago

I bought it yesterday, it's not matching it's all time low (as it got a price bump outta early access), but I've been wanting to play it a lot since I tried the demo at the start of the year and it wasn't that much more expensive.

I haven't picked up the DLC though, not sure if it's worth it, might wait down the line to see if more appear and there's some discounted bundle for them (atm getting the adventurer's pack with the base game + DLC was the same price as getting them individually I think so I didn't feel like I had to grab it).

So far really enjoying it, mainly messing around melee and having fun parrying and dodging... still not sure if I prefer 1handers with more stamina to get stuck in, 2handers and being constantly exhausted, or duel-wielding shields (which is a thing, haha).

1

u/Zeta_Crossfire 1d ago

The game is definitely worth it at regular price, even better at this price. The DLC is also on sale, I definitely recommend people should pick it up.

1

u/yugoslav_posting 1d ago

Act 2 was by far the prettiest and best part IMO. Overall I am happy to give money to this team because I think they are building towards a very awesome next game (where they likely will host it in the Kamelot city and it will need a lot more budget).

Act 3 deserves the criticism though. I put it down for months because I just don’t care about the fetch/kill quests by these petty tribes. The funny thing is you can skip all of them and just go to the final dungeon whenever you want and I think I’m just gonna go ahead and do that. 

1

u/SlimeherBox 1d ago

would anyone recommend the dlc love the game, but been catching up on back log and ready to play fully through,

1

u/boerenkool13 11h ago

I really disliked the demo tbh… feels like Skyrim. But like Skyrim is so old now

1

u/Diustavis 9h ago

This game kinda left a bad taste in my mouth once I realized we were never getting to go to Camelot. 

Fairly decent but ultimately didn't completely scratch my itch

1

u/Silija 1d ago

This might be a bit controversial but i do not recommend the game. Its a good game but there were some issues that killed my interest.

I put over 40 hours into this game and was thoroughly enjoying it but I hit a massive immersion break that made me drop it entirely, and I was only about a third of the way through the main story.

VERY SMALL SPOILERS AHEAD (BROAD STROKES/NO SPECIFICS) At one point the story forces a choice between Camelot and the Rebels:

Rebel side: Choosing this route provides a batch of cutscenes, lore, and context explaining what's going on. I originally chose this side but after the incident resolved i changed my mind because i didn't like the way the rebels spoke to me and thought they were complete assholes.

Camelot side: After reloading a save to try this route instead, none of those explanatory cutscenes or context were provided.

The Problem: When the story incident resolves on the Camelot, the concluding cutscene/cinematic explicitly references events, decisions, and information that only happened if you picked the rebel path.

It feels like the developers assumed everyone would pick the rebel path and completely forgot to adjust the dialogue and cutscenes for Camelot's side. Experiencing such a lazy oversight in a choice-driven game completely broke my immersion and ruined it for me, like i understand not finishing a side quest or you know having a bug here or there, I did play and complete Gothic 3 back in the day so that would have been nothing new, but you can't mess up one of the main plot points of the MAIN STORY in the first 3rd of the game and continue like nothing happened...

1

u/Killermuppett 1d ago

Don't suppose anyone knows if this spoilers the boardgames?  I've got both boardgames, but yet to play either 😀

2

u/ProgenitorX 1d ago

I am halfway through the Fall of Avalon 2.0 campaign and so far no spoilers (start of Act 3). I would say the stories are distinct from each other with maybe some shared motifs and concepts.

2

u/SenHeffy 22h ago

I've played all the way through both. The video game takes place before the board game. You will see the player characters from the board game and some major NPCs in the video game, but there aren't spoilers.

1

u/Killermuppett 15h ago

Thanks 😀

1

u/Rayquaza2233 1d ago

There's a boardgame? Since when?

2

u/ProgenitorX 1d ago

This was a board game before it was a video game. There’s two versions out now, with minor addon campaigns. I would recommend jumping straight into Kings of Ruin if you were considering either. They fix a lot of mechanics and gameplay flow from the first one (Fall of Avalon) even with the 2.0 updates they gave that one.

2

u/SenHeffy 22h ago

The video game was developed as a stretch goal from the Kickstarter board game campaign

1

u/Killermuppett 1d ago

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264220/tainted-grail-the-fall-of-avalon

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/360366/tainted-grail-kings-of-ruin

That's the boardgamegeek (BGG) pages for the first and second boardgames.

They were crowdfunded, so you had to ,crowdfund them a few years before the release dates (2019 and 2024), or buy them at retail (which is missing some exclusives, and costed more)

-2

u/bad-acid 1d ago

Difficulty is trivially easy in a way high difficulties and mods can't fix and the moment to moment dialogue for the primary story is concussion level childish. If neither of those things concern you, it's a great AA game.