Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – Familiar Roots, Fresh Fix

It’s been a while since a game surprised me—not just by channeling beloved mechanics from older titles, but by refining and building upon them in ways that feel meaningful. After wrapping up a run through the Oblivion remaster, my Elder Scrolls nostalgia was still in full swing. I needed my next skooma fix. That’s when I stumbled into Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, and to my surprise, it delivered.
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Now, I’ve seen the discourse. There are reports of crashes, bugs, and jank—particularly in early access and PC versions—but my experience on PS5 was surprisingly smooth. A couple minor quirks, sure, but nothing game-breaking. What I found was a thoughtful, gritty open-world RPG with a unique spin on Arthurian lore, and an engine built on the bones of games I already loved.

Why Reinvent the Wheel?

Sometimes the best thing a game can do is not change a great system. I was thrilled to see Tainted Grail borrow Skyrim’s lockpicking mechanic, especially after the clunky rhythm test that is Oblivion’s version. It’s one of those design choices that immediately clicks for seasoned RPG players—it requires some finesse but never becomes tedious.

That design philosophy carries over into level design. Early dungeons gave me Dark Souls vibes, with clever loops that reconnect distant pathways and shortcut you back to the main route. It’s the kind of spatial storytelling that rewards exploration without punishing the player with long, aimless backtracking.

There’s also something deeply effective about worldbuilding through scale. I was floored when I came across massive, non-interactive giants idly working in the background—clearly ancient beings tied to deeper ingame lore. The effect was very God of War, using atmosphere and environmental storytelling to hint at a deeper mythos without exposition dumps. Later, these elements become more meaningful, but the initial impact is pure wonder.

As an aside, I’m also surprised to see Giants take on a similar aesthetic design between Tainted Grail and Dark Souls 2. Both seem to feature a large hole in the center of the face, Dark Souls 2 features no face at all, whereas Tainted Grail takes on a more cyclopean design while still maintaining a nose and mouth… While I can’t seem to find a single point of reference that both games are pulling from, the motif of having a void where the face (our anchor for emotion and recognition) should be is deeply unsettling. 

Smart Iterations on Classic Systems

One of the game’s most immediate upgrades is how looting works. Instead of a traditional pop-up inventory window, looting is done with a quick rollover—a subtle shift, but one that speeds up the moment-to-moment gameplay. That said, the shared button for “loot all” and “consume item” did occasionally have me downing a few too many meads mid-dungeon. Still, this is a quality-of-life choice that modernizes the genre without overcomplicating it.

Armor weight is another system that’s been refreshed. Rather than traditional class-based gear (light/medium/heavy), the game uses a threshold system tied to your Endurance stat. Visuals are deceiving—bulky plate armor might still be “light” if you’ve invested in the right stats. And if not? No worries. Visit the blacksmith and you can upgrade and reduce your armor’s weight using materials. It’s flexible, forgiving, and leaves room for customization—an excellent alternative to arbitrary armor restrictions.

Building on the Bonfire Blueprint

The influence of Dark Souls is hard to miss, and one of the clearest callbacks is the bonfire system. You level up at fire pits, manage alchemy, cooking, and more from this central node. But Tainted Grail goes a step further by allowing you to place your own bonfires. It’s a small tweak that adds huge flexibility to how and where you engage with the world—especially helpful in sprawling zones without obvious fast-travel points.

This approach keeps the familiar “checkpoint” energy of Souls games while respecting your time and playstyle. Want to push deeper into an area without hiking all the way back to camp? Just set up your own.

Mechanical Surprises: Summons, Crime, and Build Potential

One of the more delightful systems is the summon mechanic. In most RPGs (looking at you, Oblivion), you’re limited to one sad summon. Tainted Grail flips that on its head. Early on, you can summon up to three creatures, with the potential to unlock five later. Each summon reserves a chunk of your maximum mana—an elegant twist that plays nicely with passive skills that reward low-mana conditions.

This makes summoning not just a tactical decision, but a build-defining one. Take the “Eldritch Desperation” passive: +50% spell power when your mana is below 30%. Guide your build there, pair it with the “Waning Moon Set” (+20% movement speed and +10% spell power under 25% mana), and you’ve got a unique combo: multiple summons, high spell synergy, and lightweight mobility. It’s a creative, viable build path I stumbled into—and it worked.

And speaking of design decisions done right: no more accidental thievery. Tainted Grail assigns a long-press to stealing items—a simple tweak, but one that saved me from dozens of reloads. It's a great touch for anyone who's suffered a bounty over a misclick in Skyrim.

A Nod to the Past: The Horse Armor DLC

Remember the Oblivion Horse Armor DLC debacle? $2.50 for fancy barding? It was 2006’s greatest punchline. Tainted Grail hilariously nods to that infamous moment with its own Horse Armor DLC—purely cosmetic, self-aware, and absolutely meme-worthy. It’s a wink to RPG veterans, and proof that this game knows its history.

Lore, Morality, and Replay Value

I’ve always been a sucker for Arthurian legends, and Tainted Grail dives deep into that dark, mythological space. This isn’t your noble King Arthur tale—this is a bleak, fragmented world filled with morally ambiguous choices and cursed landscapes. And yet, that’s what makes it so rich.

The game thrives in the grey areas. Most quests aren’t about “good” vs. “evil,” but about choosing between bad and worse. I won’t spoil anything, but early on, you’re asked to side with a mercenary who claims his cause is righteous—yet you're aware he’s killed innocents. On the other side, there's a faction hunting him that’s certainly manipulative and potentially evil. The result? You're constantly balancing worse vs. worst. The game thrives in that grey area, and those difficult decisions have lasting emotional weight—making it feel alive, imperfect, and memorable.

And with a major content update planned for August, this might be the perfect time to hop in, then revisit the game later for an even deeper dive.

​Final Thoughts

The Fall of Avalon isn’t reinventing RPGs—but it doesn’t need to. What it does is smart: it borrows the best parts of Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, and other genre staples, then layers on its own identity. And in many ways, it reminds us what made those games great in the first place.
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If you're a Skyrim fan looking for something fresh yet familiar, Tainted Grail might just be your next fix. Especially now, with that August content update on the horizon—it feels like the perfect time to dive in, then return for more.