Did you play the hell out of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim?
After playing those for countless hours, did you spend even more hours scouring the internet for other open-world games that you could call your home? Other fantastical worlds you could use to ignore the real world?
Did you sigh, disappointed, that there really was nothing else in this space? Nothing that called to you, anyway?
Now... allow me to introduce you to Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.
I found this a year or so ago, but it was in early access. However, when they announced there would be a price increase come release, I decided to grab it early. And I've been sitting on it. Waiting for it to hit full release. And today that day finally came.
Before I get into it, allow me to thrust the Steam Store page at you:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/
And allow me to share with you some of the reviews on the above page, if you're disinclined to click the link above and see them for yourself. I know what you internetty people are like. With your short attention spans.
This is one of the best open world first person RPG games that I've ever played. The games feels like a combination of Skyrim and Morrowind with Elden Ring thrown into it. If you like advanced skill trees and creating unique builds, this game is better than Skyrim as it's not dumbed down for "modern audiences".
This game gives me that old elder scrolls itch of "hey whats over there"... 7 hours later "hey whats over there"...
And every time you ask the question, I wonder if something is over there, under there, in there, on top of that.... the answer is always YES and its cool.
This game has done what other companies who shall not be named started to do with games like Morrowind and Oblivion, and later betrayed with games like Skyrim and Fallout 4. I won't go into all the fine detail to explain why this is, but trust me when I say that the actual gameplay mechanics for this game, are far more refined and polished than anything to ever come out of the aforementioned, unnamed studio. If you are looking for the highest expression of quality of games like the Elder Scrolls series, this is it.
So, let's get on with my first impressions.
We have a character creator!! Unfortunately the choice here is rather minimal. Male or female, pre-set faces, details consist of freckles, scars, or makeup and you can't mix and match them.
I think my favourite part of the character creator is the hair. There's actually a couple of decent-ish hairstyles there. And, of course, we're never really going to be a model anyway. We are peasants.
Once your character is created, you get to choose your difficulty.
I decided to go for the middle-of-the-road difficulty. Adventurer.
Awakening in a prison cell, we are being berated and mocked by a guard. The answers you give to his questions enable you to get a headstart on a few skills.
I like to play a bit of a mix of sneaky dagger thief and magic wielder. Usually a dagger in one hand and magic in the other. So I went with sneaky one-handed things, but of course, there are other options to choose from, or you can stay silent and get nothing at all.
Lockpicking is a very familiar sight and activity.
If you're family with the lockpicking system of Skyrim, which most everyone is, you'll feel right at home with the lockpicking in this game.
My only complaint with it is that the pick seems a bit too sensitive when rotating it, but once you get accustomed to its speed you can navigate it well enough.
The stealth system, once more, is very familiar when compared to Skyrim's sneaking and stealth.
Combat, however, is a smidge different. At first it is very similar, but then you need to dodge, dash, parry, block, or you will die a bloody death.
I may or may not have died within the first 2 minutes of the game. XD
Once you get used to dodging and dashing away from attacks though, you'll find it's much like Skyrim's just more... involved. Better, one might say.
In your inventory you can have several weapon sets you can switch and choose between, put food and potions into your quickslots, and see your gear and what you're carrying.
You can see how much the weight of your combined armour is, and also note your encumbrance weight in the top corner.
There is a photomode in the game, however I don't really like it.
The camera is fixed to your character, forcing it to be front and centre of your screenshots, and since it's fixed to your character it's quite difficult to manoeuvre.
I find myself preferring to just take normal screenshots instead.
When you level up, you have a wealth of abilities you can put your points in. By the looks of the levelling up window, we might get a total of 59 skill points... I hope it's more than that, or there's a way to upgrade that number.
There are so many things to choose from in quite a few different categories, and you only get one point at a time. I itch to throw my points into everything! XD
Either way, I've noticed that there is a skill point reset potion you can use, so it's not incredibly dire.
So far the story seems quite interesting.
There is a dastardly plague affecting Avalon. The Red Plague. My character is infected. The cells I woke up in are a prison for the infected. Writings you pick up and read help set the story - the priests were meant to help find a cure for the affliction, but at some point they were corrupted and chose to torture the infected... to what end, I can't say yet.
Freed from the cell, I navigate the prison, and find myself in an ethereal world where a soul speaks to me. Turns out that this soul is a fragment of that which belonged to King Arthur, and he wants to be made whole again.
Yet, there's another. The person who freed my character from her cell. His goal is to destroy all essence of King Arthur and prevent him from resurrecting and causing more harm in Avalon.
And here's my person, carrying the fragment of the King's soul.
It appears my first eventual choice is made clear. Do I help the man who would destroy King Arthur, or do I help King Arthur become whole once more?
It's not something I need to decide now. It's something I can work on as I explore more of the story and the new world I've arrived in.
From what I've gleaned, this game will be filled with choices and consequences, which is entirely my jam. There's also cooking, crafting, alchemy, mining... I have a pickaxe, I have a shovel, I can dig! According to the store page, I'll be able to have a house and work on it too.
So far my first impressions are mostly favourable and I'm looking forward to discovering more! I'm eager to see if this will be my next 500hr+ obsession.
Until next time!! ⚔️
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 