2025 continues proving to be the year of the RPG, as Questline and Awaken Realms' Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is now arriving on the scene with its full release after spending over two years in early access. In Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, the tales of King Arthur are rewritten into a dark narrative where the legendary king is long gone, and the land of Avalon is dying. The game drops players into a world drowning in a corrupting force known as the "Wyrdness" that distorts reality, as well as the Red Death, a devastating plague. It's a rather bleak setup, to say the least, but it's one that challenges players' morality and survival instincts as they navigate the remnants of a once-glorious civilization.
At its core, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a first-person, open-world RPG reminiscent of genre classics like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It leans heavily into storytelling, exploration, and atmosphere, but it's more classic in its approach in that it trades power fantasies for something a bit more desperate. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's world has been designed to ensure players feel vulnerable and exposed, regardless of the progress they've made. It's fairly slow, quite depressing at times, and frequently cruel, and will test even the most battle-hardened RPG veterans. However, despite its harshness, it's refreshing in its approach to player choice, storytelling, and its balance of investment and reward.
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Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Shines in Its Storytelling and World-Building
Just as it is with the classic RPGs it was clearly inspired by, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon prioritizes storytelling and world-building above all else. This isn't to say its gameplay is necessarily lacking, but it is arguably best played for its compelling narrative, especially for fans of stories that lead to multiple outcomes depending on the choices made along the way. In fact, The Fall of Avalon's story is such a crucial part of its identity that it isn't worth divulging beyond its alternate-Arthurian premise.
What can safely be said about The Fall of Avalon's story, however, is that it should keep players on their toes. There are plenty of major revelations and plot twists interwoven into the narrative that not only serve as ways to keep players invested but also encourage them to think twice about their next foot forward. The story often presents players with big choices that can change the outcome of the entire narrative as well as some major plot threads along the way, adding a considerable amount of replay value to the game that some self-proclaimed choice-driven RPGs struggle to achieve.
The Fall of Avalon Is Like a More Oppressive Oblivion
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon isn't at all ashamed of its influences, almost as if it knows what RPG fans want more of, and it chooses to give them that over something innovative and original. This is especially evident in how the game begins, which sees players stuck in a prison cell with seemingly no way out until something happens that sets them free. If that sounds familiar, it's because it has been done before — namely by The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, which The Fall of Avalon is heavily inspired by.
Those same tropes and settings are continuously used and referenced throughout the game's story and the fleshing out of its world, though it could be said that Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is actually more like Oblivion if it were all grown up and moved out of the house. By and large, the game's world thrives on its oppressive and often unsettling atmosphere, giving it a maturity that Oblivion never quite attains to. Oblivion's Cyrodiil certainly has its moments of oppression, but The Fall of Avalon is on a completely different level.
In many ways, The Fall of Avalon feels like Oblivion if it were developed by Grinding Gear Games, the developer of Path of Exile and its sequel. The Path of Exile series is known for its deeply grim and bleak world-building and atmosphere, and The Fall of Avalon adopts that same approach, despite still feeling more like its Elder Scrolls cousin. There's also a Witcher vibe to The Fall of Avalon's world, especially when it comes to its enemy design and soundtrack.
There are even enemies called "Drowners" that players can find near bodies of water, and the music often sounds so much like The Witcher that if it weren't for the first-person perspective, one might think they were playing an entry from CDPR's beloved RPG series.
It's not as though Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a clone of these games, though, even Oblivion. Instead, it's more that these titles simply provide the soil through which The Fall of Avalon draws its nutrients. More than anything, it seems that Questline took what games like Oblivion, Path of Exile, and The Witcher have done and ran its own race with it. In other words, it's not competing with those titles because it still manages to chart its own path, and that's primarily manifested in its mature story and extensive world-building.
The Fall of Avalon's Characters Are the Lifeblood of Its World
The primary ways Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon builds its world are through its deep lore and characters. Like most RPGs, there are plenty of lore entries to be found throughout the open world, but what's so refreshing about The Fall of Avalon is that it doesn't rely too heavily on players tracking them down. Many RPGs that rely primarily on optional lore entries for world-building end up featuring shallow characters as a result, but The Fall of Avalon manages to achieve a balance there.
During my time with the game, I personally never came across an uninteresting NPC, as they not only all had plenty of dialogue and stories to tell, but they were all excellently voiced as well. Awkward animations and uncanny facial expressions aside, just about every NPC in The Fall of Avalon — whether they're a main character, a side character, or a run-of-the-mill NPC — is worth talking to if players have the extra time, and they are all so unique that it rarely feels like meeting the same person twice.
Even The Fall of Avalon's merchants feel like real people. RPGs are infamous for featuring merchants that are little more than mindless vending machines, and The Fall of Avalon does an excellent job of giving them personalities and stories that make them feel alive. The game's characters also regularly receive additional lines of dialogue as players progress through the story, which makes them worth revisiting time and again to catch up on the latest events and their perspective on things.
Ultimately, this allows The Fall of Avalon to establish a more intimate connection with its players through world-building. Instead of requiring players to merely read about the world's lore, they can engage in thoughtful conversation with the characters who live in it and learn about it that way. The result is a living, breathing world that feels alive and in motion alongside the player, rather than a simple backdrop for the story being told.
The Fall of Avalon's World Is Expansive, Diverse, and Stunning
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's world might be chock-full of substance, but it's not without some style to go with it. From a visual standpoint, the game's open world is stunning, albeit dark and covered in an oppressive haze most of the time. It's one of those open worlds that is very easy to get distracted by, not just because of how sizable it is, but primarily because of how diverse it is. Unlike many modern RPGs that reuse assets for dungeons, villages, and the like, almost every area in The Fall of Avalon looks, feels, and even behaves like somewhere you've never been to before, making it worth the occasional sideline.
This diversity is also showcased in its various biomes, which players can witness firsthand as they progress through The Fall of Avalon's narrative. What makes this aspect of the world even more appealing is that each major zone isn't overwhelmingly large, so players can be sure they won't grow too weary of an area before being ushered into the next. The Fall of Avalon's open world is also just nice to look at, with enough detail and visual fidelity to put it in league with some of today's best RPGs.
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Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's Gameplay Is Like Strong, Unpolished Steel
The Fall of Avalon's Exploration Is Rewarding and Addictive
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon doesn't just shine in its storytelling in world-building either, as its open-world exploration is by far one of its best gameplay features. As previously mentioned, this is due in large part to the game's environmental diversity, which means it's likely to take players quite some time before their eyes grow weary from repeatedly visiting what appears to be the same location. Take Oblivion's caves and dungeons, for example, the majority of which look and feel the same, despite having distinct layouts. The Fall of Avalon is a different story in that regard, and it's better for it.
As players explore The Fall of Avalon's open world, they will be rewarded for it depending on how thorough they are. There are plenty of collectibles to be found, most of which are crafting materials, but since the game focuses so heavily on crafting, that's actually a good thing. Alchemy, in particular, attracts a pretty bright spotlight in The Fall of Avalon, and thanks to the game's balanced encumbrance mechanics, players can collect items for days and then use them to craft helpful potions and tonics.
It's also possible to purchase and decorate homes in The Fall of Avalon, though the game could use a better tutorial system for doing so.
The Fall of Avalon's open world isn't just rewarding from a materialistic standpoint either, as there are plenty of random encounters players will have with unique characters and enemies that they wouldn't have if they simply stuck to the main quest. If players choose to explore a cave off the beaten path, they might meet a peculiar NPC who claims they aren't human, or if they wander into a swarm of bees, they might be greeted by a mysterious character who directs the player to their leader.
The Fall of Avalon's Quest System Is Top Notch
And this is where The Fall of Avalon's quest system comes into play as well. There are no map markers that tell players where to get quests. Instead, they need to exhaust the dialogue of every NPC and explore every optional area in the game if they hope to complete every side quest — of which there are a multitude. Much like with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and now Borderlands 4, some side quests are automatically added to the player's log when they explore certain optional areas. This not only encourages exploration, but it also makes The Fall of Avalon's open world more immersive.
To top it all off, The Fall of Avalon's main story quests are all very interesting and rewarding, but its side quests are just as much. Players won't find simple fetch and kill quests here apart from the bounties they can pick up at each zone's main town. Rather, The Fall of Avalon's side quests each tell a story that is worth witnessing firsthand, as they both flesh out the characters in the world and give players an opportunity to shape the world around them through decisions that truly matter.
While the game's quest system is executed well in terms of offering a more seamless and immersive experience, however, it does have one major issue. Specifically, story progression in The Fall of Avalon is somewhat gated behind some pretty significant spikes in difficulty. Since there is no level scaling in The Fall of Avalon, it's possible for players to encounter enemies that have too much health and hit too hard for their current level, gear, and stats. Essentially, this makes completing the game's side quests more necessary so players can get the experience they need to level up and become strong enough to move further in the story. That ultimately robs them of the agency to choose their playstyle and pace.
The Fall of Avalon's Combat Is Overly Simplistic
Unfortunately, despite its excellent storytelling, world-building, exploration, and quest system, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's combat is a bit too simplistic, and its gear system is heavily unbalanced. Combat-wise, it's fairly common for first-person open-world RPGs to have simplistic combat, as games like Oblivion have proven. Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed is one of the most recent games in the genre to attempt to innovate in first-person combat, but it arguably still fell short in some ways.
The Fall of Avalon, on the other hand, hearkens back to the days of classic RPGs like Oblivion in its combat, with mechanics that essentially boil down to one-button swings and spell casts. To be fair, it does the job, but it does become rather repetitive after a while. I personally ran a stealth-based ranged character, after choosing my specialization through dialogue choices in the opening prison sequence, and I had some fun with it for a while. However, frustration began to set in around the 20-hour mark, where I started to notice some major limitations with respect to combat.
Unfortunately, despite its excellent storytelling, world-building, exploration, and quest system, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's combat is a bit too simplistic, and its gear system is heavily unbalanced.
For one thing, enemy hitboxes are almost non-existent, and not in a good way. When firing a ranged weapon at an enemy in The Fall of Avalon, it's very easy to miss, which makes attempting stealth kills as an archer a bit tricky at times. Missing one shot will alert an enemy, but missing two can trigger an entire group to come sprinting toward you. For a shot to land, it needs to be frustratingly precise, and it can often do more harm than good. As a fan of Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its sequel, which are notorious for having realistic and unforgiving combat, I still find it easier to land ranged shots in those games than in The Fall of Avalon.
That's just for ranged combat, but melee combat isn't much better. Thankfully, The Fall of Avalon does allow players to dash (dodge) at the cost of stamina, and it's even possible to parry attacks to leave enemies open. "Possible" is the key word here, however, as the window for executing a parry is extremely narrow, to the point that I just stopped trying after several hours of failed attempts.
Enemy AI can be quite clunky the majority of the time too. Foes will often get stuck in the environment or pace rapidly back and forth, stuck in some kind of loop. It's very easy to exploit enemies in The Fall of Avalon when fleeing from them as well. At some point, they will stop chasing you, but then they will just freeze in place, allowing you a chance to turn around and fire at them with a bow or spell until they're defeated. All of this not only breaks immersion but also trivializes the game's combat mechanics. Add to that minimal feedback and visual cues, and The Fall of Avalon's combat feels like a mixed bag, depending on what route players choose to take.
The Fall of Avalon's Gear System Falls Short of Its Ambition
At first, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon's gear system looks promising. There are a wide range of armor sets and weapons for players to use, making it more reminiscent of modern RPGs like Avowed in that way than the classic RPGs it was inspired by. Unfortunately, it is sorely unbalanced, causing it to fall short of its ambition. It could be perceived as fine the way that it is, but it just seems like it wants to be more than that.
One of the most notable imbalances in The Fall of Avalon's gear system are the attribute requirements on the game's weapons and armor sets. It's very easy to find some useful gear early on in the game, but the attributes required to use them are far too high. As a result, the gear either sits in the player's inventory or stash and pressures them to invest in certain attributes just to use that gear, or they eventually forget that they even have the gear because of the gap between finding it and acquiring the stats necessary to use it.
There are also plenty of inconsistencies in the stat requirements for gear in The Fall of Avalon. Why a heavy two-handed axe demands high Dexterity and Perception, all while a dagger requires more Strength doesn't really make much sense, for one thing. However, it also makes build-crafting quite difficult unless players want to stick with the game's predefined gear sets. All of this said, it's still exciting to find a new piece of gear in The Fall of Avalon, especially if it's from a unique enemy.
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Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Review — Final Thoughts
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon isn't a perfect game, but in the areas that count the most for an open-world RPG inspired by classics like Oblivion, it offers something more than worthwhile. It's a bleak, sometimes frustrating world, but it knows exactly what kind of experience it wants to offer, and it wholly commits to that vision. Even when the combat falls short or the gear system gets in its own way, there's still a strong sense of identity beneath it all that will stick with players long after they've stepped away.
What makes The Fall of Avalon worth playing isn't just its reverence for classic RPGs, but how it reinterprets their ideas through a much darker lens. Questline's take on Arthurian myth is an intense and mature narrative, pulling players through a crumbling world where every choice feels like it might be the wrong one. There are lessons here, but more than anything, there's a story that feels like it was made for players who still crave consequence, immersion, and discovery in their RPGs. And while it might stumble in execution at times, it rarely loses sight of what it's trying to be.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 71%
- Released
- May 23, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Questline
- Publisher(s)
- Awaken Realms
WHERE TO PLAY
Step into the world of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, a mature, first-person perspective open-world RPG that immerses you in a dark fantasy realm inspired by Arthurian legends.
Uncover a complex and branching main storyline that lets you shape the legacy of King Arthur’s reign, 600 years after his fall amidst unending strife.
This game is a love letter to open-world FPP RPGs.
• Massive gameplay experience: Dive into 50-70 hours of rich content spanning three expansive zones.
• Branching narrative: Engage with a complex main story and hundreds of side quests featuring remarkable, voiced characters.
• Limitless playstyles: Customize your gameplay with countless builds—mix attributes, skills, and gear to create your favorite setup.
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Action, RPG, Open-World, Survival Horror
- Deep, Mature Storytelling
- Rewarding Exploration
- Meaningful Choices
- Rich World-Building
- Simplistic, Clunky Combat
- Unbalanced Gear System
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon leaves early access on May 23, 2025 and is playable on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. The Best War Games was provided a PC code for the purposes of this review.