The Elder Scrolls, more specifically Skyrim and Oblivion, is one of the most iconic and popular videogame series ever.Questline, the developers of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, clearly drew inspiration from that franchise, and that’s apparent from the moment you boot up the game.
If you aren’t familiar with the game, it has been in early access for almost two years. This early access period came with a ton of updates by the developers, taking player feedback and improving their product, and working diligently to turn it into something worthy of a final release.
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Early access only included one act, whilerelease 1.0, the game’s final version, includes a total of three acts and an epilogue.This makes the adventure more than triple the early access version, hosting a wealth of new content to discover.
However, a lengthy adventure is only a good thing if the game itself is a joy to play. Well, to put it bluntly, this Elder Scrolls clone is a blast. In this review, we discuss what makes Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon such a great game, even if there are some apparent issues.
Combat Feels Weighty and Strategic
Being comparable to Oblivion and Skyrim is a tough task, but that’s exactly what Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon aims for. For the most part, it nails it, especially in the combat department where it’s hard to tell the difference betweenBethesda’s hit franchiseand Questline’s new adventure.
The combat is almost identical to Oblivion in its overall feel, although Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon’s combat is a bit more complex. It has more depth to it from a magic standpoint, where each spell has two effects, rather than one.
Each spell has a Light Cast and Heavy Cast effect. The former can be done with a touch of the button, while the latter can be executed by holding it down. For example, the Blood Transfusion spell shoots a projectile that applies Bleed, but if you hold the button down, it continuously drains health from the target and heals you instead.
This essentially makes each spell count as two, allowing players to have more diversity in their arsenal. Not only is this great from a build standpoint, but it can also make combat feel more strategic. Knowing when to use the Light and Heavy Cast in a fight against a horde of enemies makes each encounter feel tense.
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Speaking of enemies, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon has a ton of them, each with unique movesets.As players reach the later regions in the game, they’ll encounter harder foes that require actually reading their attack patterns to defeat them.
I couldn’t help but think of the Souls games in this regard, where it’s crucial to know when to dodge and when to go in for a hard-hitting blow. This is especially true in the game’s elite enemies and boss fights, as those can be extremely challenging and will demand the player’s patience instead of all-out attacking.
Endless Build Variety Allows Experimentation
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon also succeeds in its build variety. It features anincredible amount of weaponsand armor, with many of them having unique buffs, consisting of over 50 spells, as well as Amulet and Ring slots for added effects. The game gives players a ton of leeway to truly create a build of their own.
If you want to go pure magic, then you can do that through the right armor, rings, and amulets that focus on improving Mana regeneration or Spell Power. You can even dual-wield spells if you’d like, allowing you to be a Fire and Ice mage, for example.
The game even allows players to have multiple weapon loadouts, allowing them to switch on the fly in the midst of combat.
Or if you favor a melee-focused build, possibly an assassin role, then it’s possible by dual-wielding daggers and focusing on buffs that reduce stamina consumption and increase speed. It’s possible to take this a step further by adding a Bow to your loadout, allowing you to take enemies out from afar.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to build customization in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. The game even allows players to have multiple weapon loadouts, allowing them to switch on the fly in the midst of combat. This is extremely helpful when you encounter foes who may be resistant to the magic you’re currently using.
This all sounds great, but I haven’t even gotten into the massive skill tree for your character. Not only do players invest points into attributes, buteach attribute has its own skill tree that further enhances the effects of that particular attribute.
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Every time you level up, you get one Attribute Point and one Skill Tree Point. Investing in your Attributes will increase your base stats, but then adding points to the skill tree will add additional effects.
For example, the Strength stat increases Melee Damage, Max Stamina, and Armor Weight Multiplier. Players can then add a point to the Strength skill tree to increase attacks with one-handed weapons by 20%. This is just one example out of hundreds, as each of the six stats have a deep skill tree with tons of nodes.
A Lack of Exploration Options
Since Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is clearly inspired by the Elder Scrolls games, it’s important totalk about exploration. While the game has a large map for each region,exploration is pretty lackluster and is arguably its biggest fault.
In no way is exploration bad, but I can’t help but feel Questline could have done so much more in this department. While the game has abeautiful dark fantasy vibe to it, the world can sometimes feel empty and lacking secret areas to discover.
There are secret caves and mines to discover, but they are far too infrequent. Even worse, a good chunk of them aren’t even worth exploring due to their small size, not including any useful loot, and sometimes not even including information to expand on the story’s lore.
In the overworld itself, players can expect to stumble across bandit outposts that are nothing more than tents and boxes, broken-down structures with nothing interesting inside, and wide open fields.
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However, due to the game including a ridiculous number of side quests, there’s a good chance that players will be okay with the lack of exploration, considering there is always something to do. And, fortunately, side quests often bring you to a location that is worth checking out.
That Early Access Feeling
While the negatives of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon’s full release don’t outweigh its positives, they need to be addressed.There are a few apparent issues that prevent the game from reaching its full potential.Some problems lie with its enemy AI, character models, and crashing on the PlayStation 5.
For starters, enemy AI can be a hit or a huge miss. There were times in my playthrough when enemies didn’t immediately aggro when I attacked them and instead sat there staring off into space. Or, if they did aggro, they would end up getting stuck in a weird position. It’s a rare occurrence, but happens too often to completely ignore it.
The issues mentioned make it feel like the game is still in early access, even though it’s not anymore.
Another major negative is the character models of some of the NPCs you’ll meet on your journey.While not the worst you’ll ever see, some look straight out of a PS3 game, which is a shame considering how great the overworld looks.However, not all characters look bad, but it’s clear that some got more love than others in the development process.
Lastly, and probably the most important, is the crashing issues.Throughout my playthrough of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, the game crashed around 10 times, usually when executing multiple actions in quick succession. For example, opening a door and then instantly setting a bonfire, or dying and then reloading a save file.
However, the developers at Questline have made it clear that they plan on continuously updating the 1.0 version of the game, so these issues will likely be fixed sooner rather than later. Still, the issues mentioned make it feel like thegame is still in early access, even though it’s not anymore.
Closing Comments:
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an adventure to behold, especially for those who are fans of Oblivion and Skyrim. With endless build variety, a beautiful dark fantasy world, an interesting story, and satisfying combat that feels weighty, this game is a great choice for RPG enthusiasts. While the game can feel like it’s still in early access in some ways, specifically with its enemy AI, outdated character models, and a world that can feel too empty in parts, none of these issues take away from what makes Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon so special. It’s a project where passion is on full display and I can’t wait to see what Questline does next.
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Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
