Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, often called the "Polish Skyrim," has crossed 1 million sales across PC, PS5, and Xbox since launching in May 2025. Born from a popular board game by Awaken Realms and Questline, it drops players into a bleak Arthurian world where King Arthur's soul binds to you early on, tasking you with piecing him back together amid Red Death plagues and zealot factions. What sets it apart is that heavy, unsettling vibe: vast zones like misty southern horns, sunken villages, and frozen peaks mix dense exploration with branching quests where choices lock you into factions or enemies. Combat feels zippy compared to Skyrim, letting you dual-wield weapons or spells, dash around, and build archetypes like stealth archers, though early hits can miss the mark and animations look off until you gel with it. Crafting, fishing, and alchemy are there but basic, and hunting materials without map markers gets tedious since pickups only highlight up close.
Patches have made a real difference. Post-launch 1.03 fixed bugs and boosted performance, with weekly-ish updates planned. Version 1.1 brought New Game Plus, transmog outfits, combat tweaks like better skill descriptions and balanced enemy stats, plus navmesh fixes to stop clipping. Later ones refined ranged play, enemy AI, and story pacing, weaving Arthur deeper into side content without railroading you. It's not perfect: technical glitches like quest markers looping or loot vanishing pop up, and caves blend together visually, but distinct biomes and stellar art direction keep vistas popping. Narrative shines through fractured perspectives on Arthur's legacy, with voice acting hit-or-miss but dialogue choices packing weight.
Devs are thankful to the community and marked the milestone with a trailer hyping bosses and environments, plus a limited Steam sale: base game at 20% off (around $31 USD equivalent) and Sanctuary of Sarras DLC cheaper too. Roadmap hints at more Act 3 expansions like Forlorn Swords content, mod support (already rolling), Steam Deck optimization, and ongoing balance for fairer progression. It's ambitious but rough around edges, evolving from unpolished launch to something rewarding if the grim tone clicks, blending open freedom with linear story unlocks
