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Summer season may be in full swing (well, it’s been getting both scorchy and stormy here in Europe recently), but the mists over Avalon never rest, and neither do we. Today's update is a big one: a brand-new free DLC with new items and playstyles for archers and sorcerers, a new Ultra+ graphics preset for those of you with monster PCs, our biggest discount to date as a part of the Steam Midweek Deal, and, as per usual, a fresh patch - this time, version 1.25.
Additionally, we're also continuously working on optimization across all platforms, so you can expect a few more improvements before the year is out.
Now, if you want us to bring you up to speed in no time, just watch this trailer with a brief overview of the new stuff!
Another free DLC comes to the mist-shrouded lands of Avalon, bringing deadly new tools for those who favor bows and sorcery. Expect brand-new playstyles and unique items to choose from!
The Scalesong Set is forged for heavily armored archers who fear no enemy and want to hold their ground, while the Dolorous Pilgrim Set is made for mages who draw power from bloodletting, pain, and self-sacrifice.
The DLC also includes new bows and wands, giving players more ways to approach ranged combat, spellcasting, and the dangers waiting in the Wyrdness. Step back into the fog and test your mettle once more.
All new weapons can be purchased from blacksmiths and can be found during Wyrdnight, as unidentified loot, waiting to be discovered and revealed by those brave enough to face the darkness.
Want more details? Let’s start with Archers:
The Scalesong Set
Scalesong Helm - Increases Ranged Damage by 50% of Armor value.
Scalesong Cuirass - Decreases Incoming Damage by 40% while aiming with a bow. Increases Max Stamina by 5.
Scalesong Bracers - Each enemy within a radius of 6m increases your Ranged Damage by 30%. Increases Max Stamina by 10.
Scalesong Legguards - Increases Bow Draw Speed by 40% while at Heavy Equipment Load. Increases Ranged Critical Damage by 10%.
Scalesong Boots - Increases Ranged Damage by 25% for 5s after taking Damage.
Bows:
The Green Chapel - Hitting an enemy has a 5% chance to apply Petrify. Increases Ranged Damage by 10%.
Morrigan's Wings - Weakspot hits restore 20% of your Max Mana. Increases Weakspot Damage by 10%.
Orchard Warden - Increases Damage by 50% if the enemy is less than 3m from you.
The Dolorous Shot - Wooden arrows deal 10 more Damage.
Whiteout - Increases Damage dealt by arrows that apply Chill by 25%.
Perilous Dawn - Shooting burning enemies causes a small explosion, dealing 10% of this weapon's Damage.
Gilded Adder - Restores Optimal Dashes for 5s after applying Poison to an enemy. Increases Ranged Damage by 5%.
Now, all the good stuff for Sorcerers:
Dolorous Pilgrim Set
Dolorous Pilgrim Hood - After Health is restored to full, increases Spell Power by 25% for 3s. Increases Max Health by 5.
Dolorous Pilgrim Vestments - While bleeding, all attacks apply Bleed and Spell Power is increased by 15%. Increases Max Mana by 5.
Dolorous Pilgrim Gloves - Every 100 Mana spent in combat applies Bleed to the caster and nearby enemies. Increases Spell Power by 10%.
Pilgrim's Yoke - Applying Bleed has a 50% chance to apply an additional stack. Increases Magic Critical Damage by 5%.
Dolorous Pilgrim Trousers - Increases Spell Power by 10%. Increases Bleed Damage by 25%.
Dolorous Pilgrim Boots - Increases Bleeding Damage by 100%. Increases Max Mana by 10.
Wands:
Applewood Wand - Increases Spell Power by 2% for each Bleed stack on nearby enemies. Attacks apply Bleed.
The Kindling Palm - Critical Hits with Spells increase your next Melee Damage by 50%. Increases Spell Critical Damage by 5%.
The Wicker Bride - Spending Mana heals you for 2% of the spent value. Increases Spell Power by 15%.
The Pale Reflection - When your Mana is below 5%, become invisible. This effect can occur only once every 60s. Increases Magical Critical Damage by 5%.
The Light of Corbenic - Every 6s while in combat, 6 magic projectiles are released at nearby enemies. Each projectile deals 100% of this weapon's Damage.
Starting from today, if you bought the house in Cuanacht, you can now meet your new neighbor, who has taken... a particular interest in the town's newest resident. Talk to her at your own risk.
For those of you rocking high-end rigs: patch 1.25 introduces the new Ultra+ graphics preset, a special visual mode that will push your PC's specs to the limit in exchange for extra fidelity. It includes:
Better shadow quality
Better lighting
Better post-processing effects
Better fog quality
Better night lighting for several key locations (Cuanacht, villages in the Forlorns)
Make sure to check out the trailer above for more examples of a before/after comparison!
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is now featured as a Steam Midweek Deal. That said, it’s on its biggest sale ever! You can grab both the base game and the Sanctuary of Sarras expansion with a 50% discount. If you've been waiting for the right moment to enter Avalon (or drag a friend in with you), this is it.
Alongside this patch, we're also updating the demo version of the game here on Steam, so it better represents the quality of the full experience. If you want to check the waters before diving into the full game, this might be your best bet!
For those of you who love putting cool-looking stuff on your shelves, there are still some Collector's and Deluxe Editions of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon available! We’re shipping to select countries only; check out the links below for details.
Store links for people from the UK and the US:
Collector's Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108527
Store links for people from the European Union, the Åland Islands, Cyprus, Malta, Monaco, Portugal (Azores), Portugal (Madeira), Spain (Canary Islands), and Spain (Melilla):
Collector's Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/104186
We've recently teamed up with Artovision to bring you 3 beautiful Tainted Grail-themed layered shadowboxes. A perfect companion piece for that shelf we just mentioned. Take a look:
King Arthur shadowbox: https://tinyurl.com/artovision1
Josephus shadowbox: https://tinyurl.com/artovision2
Mistbearer shadowbox: https://tinyurl.com/artovision3
In just over a week, on July 28, Shards of Order launches on Steam. It's developed by Fardust, an internal indie team at Awaken Realms made up of around 7 people.
Expect a truly dark fantasy RPG with card-based combat, but without your regular turns or mana. Instead, there's a unique time mechanic and a single deck shared between your 3 characters. It comes from people who grew up playing RPGs and wanted to create one of their own. We guarantee the game is full of passion and well worth a look!
Check it out here:
As with every major update, we're also releasing a new patch. On top of the Ultra+ preset, version 1.25 brings the following changes:
Features & Improvements
It is now possible to rebind quick save and quick load on PC
Added more information about rebinding conflicts
Dal Riata bandits in the Forlorn Region now have additional tattoo variants
Talent tree tooltips are now clearer
Added new accessibility settings: low health vignette, crosshair style
Some recipes and quest items can now be sold again, they cannot be dropped to prevent unintentional losses
Gameplay & Balance
\ Fractured Guard debuff is now discarded after any attack, not only after a successful attack
\ Added a new Debuff available in NG+ (Goblin Queen Special)
Increased intensity of DualSense vibrations on PC
Decreased intensity of DualSense vibrations on PS5
Toxic Dart now correctly applies Poison on hit.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an error when changing skin after returning from the game to the main menu
Fixed an issue with Hollow Sun items counting one fewer Bleed stack than actually present on a character
Fixed a large optimization issue with Josephus cutscene under certain configurations
Optimized Qrko Mount
Fixed an issue where "Restore Defaults" in Settings would reset Challenge Mode
Fixed discovery markers not working correctly on the Forlorn Swords
Fixed shops breaking when referencing item templates that no longer exist
Fixed long tab labels overflowing in menu
\ Fixed an issue with the Faltering Strikes debuff having an unpredictable interaction with the Best Offense talent, resulting in the player dealing infinite damage
\ Fixed (again) the returning of Trial of Weakness on every save load
\ Fixed Hardened Flesh incorrectly interfering with Lumbering and Mining actions.
System
\ the world should no longer slowly load in after a fast travel
Fixed an issue with one of the Lod systems incorrectly keeping track of state
Misc
Removed incorrect Challenge Mode difficulty tooltip
Added missing sound effects for the Mistbearer's lantern and smoke abilities.
Various localization fixes
Improved depth-of-field visual quality in the Sarras (Josephus) cutscene.
Cleaned up outdated leftover Bestiary entries in the hero's journal.
Optimized visual effects performance for the Merlin’s Thorn spell.
Two dungeons (Smuggler's Hideout and Barrow of the Horned Shadow) now have discovery markers
As always, thank you so much for still playing Tainted Grail and enjoying your time in Avalon! We hope this batch of new content and improvements brings even more fun to your playthroughs! :D
Stay safe!
Awaken Realms / Questline
A small hotfix v1.23b just went live:
Fixed the Electric Golem fight in the endgame dungeon never losing the invulnerability shield.
A small hotfix v1.23a just went live:
Picking up fish will no longer show a journal popup every time, even if you have already unlocked the entry.
Quest readables can now be stashed again.
"Sell all garbage" no longer throws an error if you have stolen items on you.
\ Fixed large FPS drops in cutscenes in the ending areas.
Today* is a very special, festive day for us. It’s been one year since Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon launched in its 1.0 version. Looking back at everything that happened over these past twelve months, the stories you’ve lived through, the choices you’ve made, the bugs slain (with some that fought back), it’s honestly a bit surreal. Most of all, though, this year has been about you and the incredible community that formed around the game (yes, that’s you, person reading this!).
We wanted to celebrate this anniversary in a way that reflects that journey, so we’ve prepared a few cool things we’re really excited to share with you!
We have a bunch of cool insights, but since this is our birthday, we also have a really cool gift for you all! So stay tuned! ;)
*Well, technically tomorrow, but you know... It's Saturday.
Let’s start with a bit of nostalgia! Before Avalon became what you know today, it lived a very different life…
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon first saw the light of day on March 30, 2023, in Early Access on Steam. It was available for purchase, obviously, but we’ve also given a copy of the game away to everyone who backed the Tainted Grail board game many years ago. With that hefty crew of Avalonian early adopters, we began the whole Early Access ride!
For many of you who joined us later, that part of the journey might not be obvious, but for over two years before the 1.0 release, the game was something constantly shifting, growing, and being reshaped alongside the community.
We started with version 0.5, a rough foundation and A LOT of ambition to make a true open-world RPG experience. Back then, Avalon looked, well… different. Some systems were just ideas on paper. Others barely held together. We had early “napkin” sketches of locations, creatures, and mechanics, concepts that felt exciting, but not yet fully understood. Over time, those ideas evolved, sometimes beyond recognition. Gameplay systems were reworked, expanded, or completely replaced. Entire storylines were rewritten, adjusted, or deepened to better fit the world we were building. UI layouts were redesigned again and again… We could be going for ages. And through all of that, our amazing community (yes, you folks) has been there with tons of support and kept driving us forward!
This trailer right here is a brief summary of the most important Tainted Grail milestones. Sit back, relax, and get emotional, as we did!
Your feedback shaped countless decisions, from small quality-of-life improvements to major design overhauls. You pointed out what worked, what didn’t, and sometimes what made no sense at all. You broke things (a lot), and helped us fix them. You challenged our assumptions and sometimes even pointed the game in directions we hadn’t originally planned (any OGs here who remember the old prologue, or the huge Mistbearer?). But that was the point! We wanted to push features and ideas as soon as possible, hear your feedback, and then introduce changes. Rinse and repeat, but it worked!
Below, you’ll find some of the original concept art, rough ideas, and early iterations of systems and visuals. Some of them made it into the final game in one form or another. Others… took a very different path.
Looking at them now, it’s a bit like opening an old sketchbook, full of the DNA of what Avalon would eventually become! From version 0.5… to where we are today. Enjoy a few behind-the-scenes shots!
The first sketch of the prologue map, from the vertical slice stage. Ahh, the pretty beginnings! (yes, before the Jail Island prologue, we had this)
Hand-made (pun intended) visual references that helped us craft spells!
One of the first iterations of the talent tree, featuring the archetype system that eventually didn't make it into the game.
Our beloved testing arena. We likely spent more time here than in Avalon itself.
The first prototype of bow combat. Yes, the Stealth Archer archetype was planned all along.
And two-handed attacks as well! Shovel and rake for the win.
Not sure what's creepier: the kids' eyes or the in-engine errors.
How chapter 1 used to conclude at the early-Early Access phase.
And finally, because no birthday celebration would feel complete without a proper gift, we’ve prepared something special for all of you. Enjoy the just-released, free Anniversary DLC! It includes epic armor sets and weapons, along with a special birthday skin for Qrko. And yes, we absolutely made sure he looks as adorable as possible, especially with his new festive hat! But that's not everything.
We’d like to avoid visual spoilers for the most curious ones, so we’re not putting any screenshots here. Still, if you’d like to see the new stuff, check out the Anniversary DLC trailer, as well as some extra details below:
Party Time for Qrko! It wouldn’t be a proper birthday bash without the right attire. Qrko is fully embracing the festive spirit with a brand-new, extremely stylish birthday party hat. Let’s be honest - they’ve absolutely earned it. And what about something for you? We’ll let you discover that on your own!
New Birthday Quest: A mysterious invitation (received after finishing the Cuanacht story) leads to a secluded celebration for King Arthur. Follow the trail, uncover the truth, and claim what was meant as tribute. Spoiler: it’s worth it!
New Items: Complete the Birthday Quest to earn 5 new armor sets, a wand, and a bow. Each one brings fresh gameplay features and opens the door to new playstyles. We really can’t wait for you to use them to craft some nice, unique, and definitely not-at-all-broken builds!
The "Gone Fishing" Workaround: We heard you loud and clear. We know that trying to catch every single fish for that specific, incredibly tedious achievement has tested the sanity of even our most hardened players. So, we added a new feature: you can now just buy the fish.
Is it technically cheating? Yes. Is it morally questionable for a legendary hero of Avalon to buy their fishing trophies at the local market just to flex on their friends? Absolutely. Do we judge you? Not even a little bit.
But that aside, we’ve also made a few tweaks to the fishing minigame itself, so if you’re a “gonna catch them all fair and square” type of person, it should now be more enjoyable than before.
Oh, by the way, there are two new fishing-related items as well. A Royal Fishing Rod and an Angler’s Cap. The rod is a reward for your resilient fishing efforts. The cap, well… you might have to get your hands a little bit dirty to acquire it.
We put together a special trailer that dives into some of the most interesting statistics from the past year. Some of them are impressive, some are unexpected, and a few genuinely made us stop and go “wait… you did WHAT?” We think you’ll enjoy taking a look at how your journeys looked in numbers!
At the same time, we couldn’t ignore the amount of amazing content you’ve been creating. Your screenshots, in particular, have consistently blown us away. The way you capture the atmosphere, lighting, and little storytelling moments inside the world is something we genuinely love going through. After a lot of internal discussion (and some fierce arguments), followed by a team-wide poll, we selected our top 3 favorites:
Beyond that, there were so many great shots that we simply couldn’t limit ourselves to just three, so we’ve also gathered a collection of additional screenshots that deserve some spotlight!
SidetrackKing (via Discord)
Zameus (via Discord)
🪶𝐑𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐧’𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 ☾ 𝓥𝓟 / @aenyegynvael (via X)
dragonslayer9274 (via Discord)
cranreuch (via Discord)
Brandon Jenkins (via Facebook)
Boozer VP / @boozerman_VP (via X)
Boozer VP / @boozerman_VP (via X)
_zabon_ (via Discord)
_dangles_ (via Discord)
And of course, we see you, artists. We know how much time, effort, and skill go into creating fan art, and the level of quality we’ve seen from this community has been nothing short of incredible. We wanted to highlight a few pieces that really stood out to us (same as for screenshots, there was an internal poll to choose the top 3):
There are a ton more arts out there, and while it’s impossible to include them all, we still wanted to share some that impressed us the most. Do enjoy them! And to every artist out there: thank you for the hard work!
Spookter / synthgor (via Discord)
Smorodina Art / @smorodinator (via X)
Nika Phantom / @PhNika (via X)
@floccinaucinihilipilificationa (via Tumblr)
REIST / @Reist_kult (via X)
Moony / @ArtMamoon (via X)
Harrow / @DaylightSavior (via X)
Phonysaxo (via Reddit)
Racc / strayraccoon (via Discord)
To everyone who placed in the top 3 (both in screenshots and art), congratulations! We’d like to send you a small token of our appreciation. Each of you will receive a Collector’s Edition of the game from us! Within a week from today, we'll reach out to you via various channels, so please expect DMs or friend requests! We’ll make sure everything is packed and sent your way as quickly as possible.
Another thing that has been steadily growing over this past year is the modding scene. Seeing how you expand, tweak, and reinterpret Avalon has been incredibly rewarding for us as developers. Apart from just playing the game, you’re actively shaping it in your own ways. We’ve picked a few mods that we found especially interesting and worth highlighting:
We also want to recognize three standout creators from the modding community. Just like with the other categories, you’ll be receiving Collector’s Sets from us as well! Congrats to:
Now, onto something many of you have been asking about for quite a while. We’re finally launching a very limited sale of physical editions. There will be 500 Collector’s Sets and 1000 Deluxe Sets available. These do not include the game itself (we’re assuming you already have it), but they’re perfect if you want to bring a piece of Avalon into the real world.
Make the most of it. First come, first served… and you might just end up with Arthur on your shelf :)
Please keep in mind that prices may vary depending on your region, due to tax regulations and tariffs. Only select regions are available for delivery.
Collector's Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108527
Deluxe Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108528
Collector's Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/104186
Deluxe Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108526
We’re also excited to announce that we’ve started a collaboration with Artovision to bring a new piece of Avalon into the real world.
Together, we’ve prepared three official, licensed Shadowboxes featuring artwork from the world of Tainted Grail. Each piece is crafted as a layered 3D display, giving some of our favorite art a striking new depth and presence. Crafted with dedication, they will make a fine addition to your gaming room!
Available now! See the store links below.
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision1)
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision2)
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision3)
Looking back on both the development of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and its first full year in players’ hands, we asked a few team members what stayed with them the most... And the result is a special Dev Q&A! Meet Ola, Aga, and Dominik, three Questline folks, each in charge of different parts of the game. We pulled them aside for a quick chat and asked a few questions about the development of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. Take a look at what they had to say!
(Ola, Aga, Dominik - kudos from the marketing team! <3 We know how stressful being on camera can be. Give them some love in the comments, folks!)
Last but not least! As per usual, with new free DLC comes a new version of the game. Take a look at the patch notes for v1.23:
Fisher King’s Successor can now be completed by buying fish from a vendor.
Increased Sanguine Sting health cost from 5 to 10.
Changed Sanguine Sting Bleed scaling so it now properly scales with Arrow Draw Strength (the previous behaviour became gamebreaking with the newly added items).
Completing the Lancelot dungeon now rewards Summon Sir Lancelot.
\ fixed the entrance into the DLC softlocking when the cutscene was skipped at a specific moment.
Fixed a crash caused by Frozen Seer’s Vestment due to a stack overflow with certain other skills.
In The Price of Healing ending where the hospital is sponsored by Yvain, Measured Mercy and Oh Merry Men now correctly fail instead of becoming incompletable.
Fixed duplicate rewards in Happily Ever After and Brotherly Love.
Fixed an issue where Denholm did not reward the player for siding with Kamelot during Menhir Rites.
Fixed dialogue flow and looping issues with H’jarn.
Fixed incorrect endgame slides appearing after completing the Children of Morrigan questline and choosing to kill Self.
Fixed duplicate dialogue with Deirdre during Unholy Matrimony.
Updated The Weight of Honor quest marker to point to Gert’s area instead of directly to him.
Fixed incorrect quest progression in the Brotherly Love quest.
Stealing Daisy will now block dialogue about her with Rob and Gil.
Fixed instances of Maggot disappearing during the Have a Nice Trip quest.
Fixed dialogue with Rob where the player could speak about Wyrd lanterns without them being present.
Added keyword descriptions to the Challenge Mode debuff selection screen.
Removed the unused Filter Items keybind from control settings.
Added a Sort Items keybind to keyboard controls.
Fixed tutorials overlapping quick-use items.
Fixed incorrect gamepad keybind icons in tutorials.
Fixed scrolling issues in the character statuses list when a large number of debuff status effects were active.
Fixed cut menu expansion panels on specific UI settings.
Added small optimizations, especially in fights with many NPCs.
\ Fixed target FPS options when not in fullscreen mode with VSync On not behaving correctly.
Recurring Threat: Reduced Arcane Discharge spawn count from 5 to 1.
Seek and Destroy: Reduced Arcane Discharge repeat strike chance from 33% to 15%.
Fixed Avarice not properly increasing item upgrade costs.
Fixed Arcane Discharge sometimes displaying an oversized visual radius.
Fixed Corpsewake projectiles orbiting the hero when dodged and striking from offscreen.
Increased Corpsewake base damage from 10 to 25.
Updated the Broken Guard debuff description.
Fixed an issue where Eogan could appear in two places at night; he now only appears in the rooftop garden.
Added audio for the Floatling enemy.
Summons of the Knights of the Round Table now have unique one-liners.
This past year has meant a lot to us. Thank you for being part of this journey, for your feedback, your passion, your creativity, and for spending your time in Avalon. We’re not slowing down, and there’s still more ahead.
Enjoy those little gifts we prepared for you, and make sure your Qrkos are properly equipped with their festive hats!
Now, we're off to throw the biggest party Avalon has ever seen. The Once and Future King himself is about to be resurrected yet again, just to join the festivities. Cheers!
See you out there, Awaken Realms / Questline
oh and…
We’re not ready to talk about what’s next just yet… but trust us, we’ve been busy.
Hotfix v1.22a:
Fixed missing horse armor
Fixed an issue that caused channeled spells and other recurring actions to not register properly
Sarras DLC: Challenge Mode debuffs are now removed in the preset gear areas
Some challenge mode debuffs will no longer reset upon loading a save. such as: Trial of Weakness
challenge mode stats will no longer reset upon entering the next NG+
Another few busy weeks have passed, and we’re back with more stuff to enhance the Tainted Grail experience even further for you!
But before getting to that, let us thank you for the amazing reception of our previous free DLC, Merlin’s Tomb! Currently, its Steam reviews are sitting at 98%, and it is heartwarming to see you enjoy it. Seems like even the corrupted Sage himself can’t stop you from having fun. And fun is all that matters! :D
Now, some gamers have… peculiar definitions of fun. And don’t get us wrong, this applies to many of us as well. For those types of people, the more difficult a game gets, the more fun it is. We’ve decided to address this masochistic desire! That said…
Watch our new trailer to see what’s coming:
Challenge Mode is a brand-new way to play for those who crave tough challenge and unpredictability. As you develop your character via various gameplay systems, you also have to choose meaningful debuffs that make the game WAY harder. You can think of it as our own take on the “roguelike” formula; the stronger you become, the harsher conditions you face. Definitely proceed with caution, and prepare for a good dose of suffering! :D
(But really, on a serious note… Challenge Mode is VERY punishing. You will struggle. You will sweat. You will die numerous times. You will feel screwed over by the game. And that’s by design.)
Now, let’s give you some more details on how all of this works!
Challenge Mode functions as a brand-new difficulty setting. It becomes available only when starting a completely new playthrough (new save file) from Act 1 (skipping the prologue). Once chosen, the Challenge Mode difficulty cannot be reverted.
After you start your Challenge Mode run:Fun fact: Challenge Mode came to life thanks to the two greatest Tainted Grail game-breakers known to humanity (or at least to our Discord server): Woe and Daena. Every time we tried new ideas to make the game more challenging, they inevitably found a way to break it again, preferably using shovels or brooms as weapons. We swore we'd eventually find a way to make them suffer, and just like that, the Challenge Mode was born.
They beta-tested this mode themselves, and... it seems like we won. 😈
Now you know who to blame.
Along with the challenge mode, we’re rolling out patch 1.22 for the game! As per usual, there are a lot of general fixes and improvements, as well as gameplay and QoL features. Take a look below.
Added Broc Meala Basket model. It is now available in Broc's shop when it refreshes.
The horse should now have smooth animations at high framerate.
Sarras skillpoints are now awarded every NG+ (this should be retroactive).
Fixed multiple "On Parry do X" talents and items cancelling each other out.
Updated Duelist Sword item description to better fit what it actually does.
Increased Duelist Sword Physical Damage gain 0% > 2%.
Reduced the duration of TPP parry animations to match FPP.
Reduced camera shakes during TPP shield parry animations.
Fixed bug causing frozen status to break some NPCs' death animations.
Vampiric Riposte now works with Duelist Sword.
The wyrdstalker is now a lower tier on his first combat appearance (statuses work on this one).
The issue of some over time effects, such as debuff application, debuff damage and so on, not applying and then happening all at once after a couple of seconds, should be fixed.
Fixed the disappearing of NPC's in the Dreaming before their quests were complete (Theud Act 3)
Fixed looping dialogue with Vrell, as well as missing rewards in the Silent Burden quest.
Now you can talk to Vati and Olwen about One-Eye.
Fixed dialogue duplication with Brother Ismat when discussing Liliana’s books.
Fixed flow issues with Vrell during the progression of her personal quests.
Fixed dialogue duplication with Barlaam when asking about Glyrna.
A long-standing bug where NPCs would stay in a downed state but could be talked to should be fixed
Fixed an issue with the Blade In The Shadows quest where you found Arden without Alar's help.
The flow of the “Wayward Son” quest has been fixed. The objective text no longer spoils the ending.
Fixed an issue in NG+ where the player could deliver Kvorr’s amulet for the Call of the Wintermoon quest using leftovers from a previous playthrough.
Fixed an issue with Rueko’s positioning in portal interaction colliders.
A few minor bugs in the dialogues with Ludger in the Hollow Blessings quest have been fixed. Ludger will now be found on the top floor of the Red Priests' Quarters.
Fixed when Ulloriaq could get stuck locking the player in conversation.
A variety of smaller improvements.
Fixed an issue that caused players who visited exactly 4 tombs to not get the Merlin's Tomb quest.
Fixed an issue where Alisa could sometimes become stuck on the bed in the Seacoast Manor.
Added ghosts' sound effects in Sagremor Castle.
Reworked audio for Crystal Crawler, Frostgrot Snail, Wight, Dryads.
Added missing audio in Merlin's Thorn, Ravencrest Executioner, and Frostbitten Sword.
Enhanced sound effects' bass clarity in the mix.
A large attenuation and volume pass for NPC dialogues is in progress, so the experience should be more consistent as we go through them all.
Improved arrow swish sound effect.
Improved arrow hit flesh sound effect.
Flying arrow sound is now dependent on the strength of the drawn bow.
Fixed an issue causing bonfire SFX to be muted.
Fixed an issue causing wrong SFX to be played when maxing out the skill in the skill tree.
Fixed an issue causing wrong SFX to be played when spending last skill point.
Fixed the disappearance of item set slots when you deposited the items to a container or dropped them.
Added a restart requirement after changing the Compact Widescreen setting.
Fixed an issue where the quest tracker did not update correctly after collecting the final required item for an objective.
Fixed an issue where the Spyglass could not be used again after interacting with the Quick Wheel.
Fixed an issue where accepting rebinding keybind with mouse could start editing other keybind.
Fixed the game not starting up correctly if you have not played the game since early access.
\ Fixed DLC detection resulting in DLC missing and locked saves.
Added new setting that allows inverting horizontal camera input.
Weapons: Star Catcher & Crescent Halberd - custom VFX on critical attack.
Fix: hero was not equipping weapons after pressing button responsible for Bow's Zoom action.
Fix: after rebinding Block action, Bow's Zoom action was still bound to the previous key.
Fix: icon in spyglass tutorial was not updated after rebinding Attack action.
Fix: it was possible to make all input icons disappear when using controller and mouse at the same time.
Fixed missing drop models of a couple of items.
Small tweaks of rendering bounds of gear and weapons that could cause them to not be visible at certain angles.
Fixed bonfire availability in NG+ prologue.
It was possible to encounter a softlock during the dialogue with Moe after choosing the option to kill The Song. The bug has been fixed.
Fixed the dialogue flow with Nautilume after telling the Swarm of Viridian Wailcaps that you plan to kill her.
Added audio to the female Drowned Knight.
We hope the new free Challenge Mode DLC will be as fun as it is painful! Now, go out there and show them who’s boss!
Also, we encourage you to share your leaderboards with the community! After all, suffering is usually better together, right?
Take care, and thank you for all the support up to this day!
How are you all? We hope you had some spare time to try our previous DLC content pack with 21 new weapons, and that it has been fun! Any new broken builds invented? :D
Now, yesterday we had some fun with announcing a “new DLC” Qrko's Journey - if you have missed it, check out the trailer below!
This was an April’s joke from our team :D
BUT! Another free DLC is not a joke at all, as we have promised and spoiled The Last Counsel a few weeks ago. Well, it is now out!
This is a whole new endgame dungeon that was designed to test your resolve! We really hope you will enjoy it ;)
Simultaneously, we’re releasing patch 1.21 with miscellaneous updates, focused mostly on further improvements for the Forlorn Swords (act 3 of the game).
Enjoy the read! And let’s start with unraveling the mystery behind The Last Counsel. (by the way, congrats to the few ones who guessed correctly!)
And it’s out right now, waiting to get added to your Steam library!
Let’s watch the trailer for more info about this DLC (content spoiler alert):
Intrigued? Cause we certainly are!
Now, before diving deeper into the content itself, let’s first give you a quick overview of the lore behind the Merlin’s Tomb DLC.
The final resting place of the Round Table Knights has been uncovered at last.
Hidden deep within the desolate peaks of the Forlorn Swords, the lost secrets of Merlin lie sealed, guarded by brutal trials forged for one purpose alone: to test the True King of Avalon. Only one of rightful blood and unbreakable will may endure what awaits within.
But beware…
The once-proud and peerless archmage of Avalon, greatest of sages, has been touched by a creeping Wyrdness. Twisted by forces beyond mortal reckoning, Merlin is no longer the mentor of legend – but something corrupted.
It’s said that to enter the final Tomb and face Merlin himself, one must possess all fragments of the King’s Soul.
Moving forward to the content part…
Merlin’s Tomb is a brand-new endgame dungeon. As mentioned, you can only access it after you’ve acquired all the King’s Soul fragments. It’s supposed to be hard (balanced around level 75 characters), and it also features some gimmicks, so we’re expecting players to yield once or twice before finishing it. That said, if you fail a few times, don’t give up; you got this! :D
We’re spoiler-covering the rest of the DLC description for those who want to go in completely blind. But if you want some extra sneak peeks, go ahead!
If you meet the above-mentioned requirement, you can enter the dungeon in the Forlorn Swords (act 3), just right here:
The entrance to the tomb is guarded by the Keeper of the Barrow, a new mini-boss! Treat this as a quick power check before granting you further passage.
Once you’re inside, the real challenge starts. But we don’t want to spoil the fun for you; go and enjoy on your own! :D Be victorious, and you’ll be rewarded; Tainted Merlin will leave some truly EPIC, tainted items behind! Trust us, despite all the taint, these items are worth the trouble! Also, we know you guys well, so please refrain from posting all the tainted jokes, or Steam might take us down ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
As mentioned before, along with the free DLC, we’ve also just launched patch 1.21 for the game! It’s another bunch of all-around improvements and fixes, with Forlorn Swords being in the center of attention. Also, we’ve heard your feedback about the new version of Mana Shield being too harsh on the player, so we’re tweaking it more in your favor. Another thing many of you were asking for has been added: you can now use armor sets to save and quickly switch between outfit configurations. Check out the full list below.
Mana shield to mana regen penalty changed to a 2:1 ratio, making it less harsh. Example: at 100% mana shield, your mana regen will decrease by 50% (previously 100%).
Fixed weapons that have a Chance to Stun on hit not applying Stun properly
Surgestopper
Royal Edict
Iron Tooth
Stormcrow Oculus
Wand of Chain Lightning
Hefty Spear
Heartwrought
Great Hammer of Stun
Hammer of Stupefaction
Furniture is now added to the player’s inventory upon purchasing or receiving the Seacoast Manor. This is retroactive
Chieftain Frode now properly summons his ghost allies during a fight
Added a kitchen and an alchemy station in Firket’s House
New weapons added
Inlaid Shield - Increases Attack Speed by 10%. Increases Max Stamina by 5. Added in the lake in Capital City
Splitter Axe - Deals up to 100% more damage based on enemy's missing Health. In a new abandoned camp in Capital City
Iron Morningstar - Increases Crit Damage by 20%. Added near Frozen Lake
Royal Edict - Hitting a target has a 10% chance to Stun it. Added in Gunnvaldr Village
Winding Dagger - Critical Hits make your target Bleed. Added in Foredweller Area
A new quest has been added. We don’t really want to spoil much of it, so we’re leaving you with just a hint: it might be worth it to search through the southeastern part of Forlorn Swords ;)
Improved cliffs and terrain around Capital City, Ulfr Village and Mountains Stronghold
Enemy Changes
Changed Skeletons in Pictish Hideout to stronger versions
Changed Cairnguard placement in Capital City
Changed Bear placements in Capital City
Changed Ice Weaver and Brimshade placement in Capital City
Added Croakmaw, Ogre and Corpse Eaters in Capital City
Added Corpse Eaters near Ulfr Village
New generic weapons
Added Rust Red Spear in Capital City.
Added War Pick in Gunnvaldr Village.
Added Heavy War Pick near Frozen Lake.
Added Tourney Shield in Gunnvaldr Village.
Added Patrol Halbard on Theud Beach.
Added Black Iron Mace in the Foredweller Area.
Loot chest additions and changes
Added diggable loot chest near Ulfr Village.
Added diggable loot chests near Theud Village.
Added diggable loot chests in the Foredweller Area.
Added diggable loot chests near Frozen Lake and Gunnvaldr Village.
Added diggable loot chests in the lake in Capital City.
Added loot chest near Sveinn Village
Changed the location of a diggable loot chest near Volker Village
Ore placement changes and additions
Added Iron ore near the Forlorn Swords border.
Added Titanium ore in Capital City.
Replaced copper ore in Capital City with titanium ore.
Added Meteorite ore near Frozen Hands.
Added Meteorite ore and titanium ore near Frozen Lake.
Added Meteorite and titanium ore near Highlands Stronghold.
Changed the locations of meteorite and titanium ore near Highlands Stronghold
Added meteorite ore and titanium ore near Gunnvaldr Village.
Added meteorite ore near Volker Village.
Added meteorite ore and titanium ore near Theud Village.
Added titanium ore in the Foredweller Area.
Added meteorite ore and titanium ore on Theud Beach.
Added meteorite ore and titanium ore near Mountains Stronghold.
(PC) Added rebinding for Attack and Block actions
(PC) LMB and RMB can now be bound to any action
(Consoles) Added "Inverse Hands For Magic" setting
Added a Panini Projection setting for widescreen displays.
Added Armor Sets, allowing players to save and quickly switch between outfit configurations.
Added fish descriptions to the Journal.
Updated Mana Shield keyword to clearly state it does not decrease Mana Regeneration when outside of combat
Tooltips will now be shown for buffs and relics that are applied on items
Improved subtitles color settings
Improved clarity of item comparisons in containers
Improved dialogue options sorting order.
Improved flow of saving and restoring game settings.
Added a map legend with currently displayed map markers
Fixed enemy display name, if current target does not have set name. Previously it was showing last target name, now will be empty
Removed HP bar status animation when status is not active
Added stronger parry/blocking/pommel sound effects to all weapons
reworked sound effects for swimming, jumping and landing
File verification can now be ignored if it fails the second time per patch. You should check your RAM for issues though
Shader Preloading will only be attempted once. So if it was causing you to be stuck in infinite crash loop the second launch should skip this step
Added progress bar to steam cloud sync
Fixed a duplicated Favorite prompt appearing in the equipment selection view.
Fixed Stamina usage for the Drowned Sailor Elite in Sarras Chapel
Removed compass UI while lockpicking
Fixed gamepad icons in cloud save conflict popup
Fixed dialogue with Ughwe where the player could mention Conchur by name without having learned it.
Fixed an issue that allowed multiple completions of the Bring Home My Heart quest.
Fixed item selection in identify screen
Quiver is now hidden when equipped with conflicting armor.
Yet another free DLC and yet another patch for the game are now live. As basic as it might sound, seeing all of you still enjoy Tainted Grail makes all the work feel twice as satisfying and absolutely worth it! If you have any chance to try the new stuff and tell us what you think, please do so. We’re always open to more feedback and suggestions. Can’t wait to hear your impressions of the new stuff! And if Tainted Merlin kicked your assess, don’t worry
Enjoy, and thank you for being with us all this time!
Awaken Realms / Questline
Check out other games in development by Awaken Realms!
Hope you’re doing all well!
Do you remember that free content DLC we announced for the end of March? Well, so it is going to get pushed to very early April… BUT, to not leave you empty-handed, we have prepared something extra for March, also to celebrate our biggest discount so far in the Steam Spring Sale!
Anyway, without further ado…
Yep. Just go to the Steam page, add the DLC to your library for free, and you’re good to go!
But wait, what’s that whole DLC about, you ask? Take a look at our trailer, and read more info below!
This DLC brings a collection of 21 brand-new, powerful magical weapons, designed to expand your combat options and kickstart some new character builds. From one-shotting blades to burn-infused shields and flesh-ripping swords. Each item introduces new, various opportunities to lay waste in Avalon; all the Wyrd-touched peasants won’t stand a chance! :D
All new weapons can be purchased from blacksmiths and can also be obtained by identifying the unidentified loot you get during Wyrdnight. Try your luck!
To give you a teaser, enjoy a quick showcase of some of the new weapons!
Want to know more details about each of the new weapons? Just visit the DLC Steam page right here:
We promised regular content updates and additions for Tainted Grail, and this is what we want to deliver! That’s why we have another, third free content DLC coming! We don’t want to spoil all of that quite yet, but we’re also not going to leave you empty-handed.
This will be a story content DLC. Definitely not the size of a full-fledged expansion like Sanctuary of Sarras, but hopefully still a nice bite for you!
Get ready. The Last Counsel awaits, and you’ll get to meet him somewhere at the beginning of April (more or less). Rumor is, he is still preparing to greet you properly. Make sure to watch the trailer linked above carefully; there might be some clues...
(can’t wait to hear your theories about what’s coming; drop them in the comments!)
As per usual in a game of this size, we found some holes that needed patching. That said, a few fixes are now live:
Fixed an issue where active status effects were displayed on the HUD after changing the game scene.
Fixed an issue where gamepad users could not view additional item information due to a keybinding conflict with the Favorite action.
Fixed an issue where some quests gave incorrect outcomes/options due to characters being mistakenly treated as dead. Such as Children of Morrigan ending
Fixed Verdant adder.
This is a bit of a self-plug, but we hope you don’t mind the quick info! 2 of Awaken Realms' internal indie teams are working very hard on 2 totally different games, and we wanted to give them a quick shout-out!
One has just revealed a trailer for their upcoming game: HOARDER. Check it out!
We would add a standard plot summary here, but the game is quite wild, so it is hard to explain :D We will just say that this is a genre-blending game with a focus on horror, so if this is your jam, make sure to check it out!
Also, we’re proud to mention that byzel (the dev team mentioned before) is full of talent! The project is directed by Gustaw, the co-creator of Darkwood, a unique survival horror. Byzel also features the folks who worked on SUPERHOT and Poradnik Uśmiechu, a Polish internet sensation.
We invite you to watch the trailer and wishlist the game on Steam!
Another team, Fardust, is working on a dark and atmospheric RPG / deckbuilder called Shards of Order. If you love the gloomy Tainted Grail vibe, you’ll like this game setting for sure! Contrary to many card-based games, Shards of Order replaces turn-based combat with a unique dynamic Time system. Along with that, you’ll get to alter the rules of the game by slowly restoring the once-broken world Laws. One at a time.
Oh, and there’s a demo available right now!
Check out the trailer!
Wishlist and play the demo:
As always, enjoy the new stuff and let us know what you think! Which weapon looks the best? Which one is the strongest? Does any of them suck? We’re here to hear your feedback!
Cheers,
Awaken Realms / Questline
Mini hotfix:
Terrain should no longer block the path to Theud Village
target FPS options should now show correct FPS options again
It took us a bit longer than expected, but here we are – Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon version 1.20 is now live! And yes, this update is BIG (you’ll see that in a minute), so we believe the direct jump to v1.20 is justified :D
As per usual, we’ll get to the full patch notes in a second. But first, let’s quickly break down this update. The most important features going live with version 1.20 are:
several balance changes (some of them being optional),
new content & Act 3 improvements,
various fixes and quality-of-life improvements (including per-character save filtering & marking items as favorites),
a ton of audio improvements,
console improvements (40 FPS support & fixed PlayStation’s saving failed issue)*.
*Please note that consoles, as per usual, will need a few more days to approve the update and go live. But the wait will be worth it, as both consoles just got a huge upgrade: we introduced 40 FPS mode support! If your screen supports 40 FPS, we recommend enabling this mode along with VSync for a smoother gameplay experience.
We had quite a lot of work with this update, as we needed to ensure all the design/balance changes were proper and didn’t completely break “numbers” in the game. That said, thank you so much to our amazing Discord playtesters who participated in the open beta tests and helped make sure that nothing wyrd happens in Avalon! As always, the best community delivered! We hereby grant each one of you a PhD in balance testing ;)
Before we proceed, let’s watch our update trailer for a quick overview of version 1.20!
Based on your repeated feedback and our internal observations, we found that the game becomes significantly easier during the second half of Act 2 (Cuanacht) and in Act 3 (Forlorn Swords). Players tended to get insanely strong easily, even if they didn’t actually want to; that’s why we decided to address this!
At the same time, we know that a lot of you love creating overpowered characters and running around with a shovel, one-hitting every encountered NPC, so some of the balance changes are optional and can be mitigated!
Select items rebalance
We’ve rebalanced more than 20 items that were just a tiny bit too strong, mostly crit chance-wise. We know most people don’t like getting their characters nerfed, so fear not – you will keep your current items and receive rebalanced duplicates. That way, you can still use your broken builds if you wish to! :D
The full list of rebalanced items can be found in the patch notes below, and here are some examples:
Optional soft cap for stats
This feature makes leveling up attributes past certain thresholds (soft caps) have diminishing returns. Let’s take Strength (STR) as an example:
from 1 to 20, each point of STR gives 2% melee damage, 3 max stamina and reduces armor weight by 1%;
from 21 to 40, each point of STR gives 1% melee damage, 2 max stamina and reduces armor weight by 1%;
from 41 and above, each point of STR gives only 0,5% melee damage, 1 max stamina and reduces armor weight by 1%.
That said, if you want to be very efficient, 20 and 40 are the levels you should have in mind when distributing attributes. The thresholds are the same for each attribute, and the diminishing returns work similarly to the example above. See the full patch notes for details.
This option is now enabled by default, but you can always turn it off if you don’t like it. Just go to Settings from the main menu.
Mana Shield changes
For those unaware, the Mana Shield mechanics cause a percentage of the damage you receive to be first deducted from your mana. With a lot of mana points and mana regen, it was too easy to become practically invincible; the player’s mana bar effectively acted as a second, rapidly restoring health bar. We took some steps to prevent that:
after taking a hit with Mana Shield active, there’s now a short delay before your mana starts regenerating;
the Mana Shield keyword now also reduces mana regeneration in a 1:1 ratio.
Enemy EXP adjustments
Lastly, to prevent overleveling (often unintentional), enemies below the player’s level now grant reduced EXP. That said, as your power level grows, the opponents that at some point stand no chance against you will grant you fewer experience points.
Apart from the case described above, experience points are granted as per usual.
As promised in our previous update, we’re also introducing a bunch of new content and improvements, mostly connected to the Forlorn Swords (Act 3)! All the new stuff is already live in version 1.20 of the game. Enjoy!
The full list of new stuff is hefty; you can find it below. For now, let’s mention some of the more important ones.
Forlorn Swords (Act 3)
A new cave has been added near the Forlorn Swords Gate (Etherbloom Love).
New mini-boss - Sleepwalker, was added near: Giants Crossroad, Ulfr Village and Volker Village.
New mini-boss - Cairnguard, was added near: Sveinn Village, Capitol City and Mountain Stronghold.
Improved overall level art and level design. New terrain and paths have been added.
Added new items to find across the Forlorn Swords.
Added a small altar + loot near the Forlorn Swords border.
Changed the layout of the bandit camp in the mountains near the Forlorn Swords Gate.
Changed the enemies in Forlorn Swords Stronghold.
Changed enemy placement.
Quests-related stuff
Added a new quest, The Empty House. It tells a story of a horrifically disfigured Theud mystic begging to be put back together. Start it by visiting the abandoned houses just south of the Forlorn Main Gate.
Your beloved Alisa’s Seacoast Manor is now a customizable home.
A new NPC can now be found in Remors' Cave.
Lastly, before going to the full v1.20 patch notes…
New content is a great opportunity for some new screenshots, so take a look!
The list of new stuff, fixes, and improvements goes on and on… For those who enjoy a long read, you’re in for a treat :D Before we leave you to it, take a look at one of the quality of life improvements that a lot of you have been asking for!
System changes
Save files are now merged into one file. This will make it easier for you to manually download working save files from the cloud if needed and significantly simplify many systems. You can now also freely rename your save files and the game will no longer force rename them (do not change the extension as they will be ignored then)
\ The above change should fix the saving failed issue that occurred if you explored almost all scenes in the game.
\ Added 40FPS mode support. If your screen supports 40 FPS, we recommend enabling this mode along with VSync for a smoother gameplay experience
\ Added loading indicator when the game is synchronizing cloud files. Previously, the game became unresponsive until it finished
Quests-related stuff
Item rebalances (remember: if you have any nerfed item you will receive their new, balanced copies in addition to keeping the old version if you want to continue using them)
Drevan Bow – Ranged Critical Chance 25%>10%, ranged critical chance below 20% of stamina 25%>40%. Req: 6 STR, 10 DEX, 4 END
Corpsebinder Gauntlets – Ranged Critical Chance 20%>Critical Damage 20%
Corpsebinder Helmet – Ranged Critical Chance 15%>10%, Ranged Damage Multiplier 15%>20%
Stonewarden Talisman – Critical Chance 10%>5%, added Critical Damage 5%
Undertow Bloom Vest no longer increases Sneak Damage to Critical Damage conversion rate with item levels (conversion stays at 2:1)
Titanium Tonic now has a limit to which it can increase Physical Damage and decrease Physical Damage gain 0.1%>0%
Perilous Orb Ring now increases Critical Damage as well as Critical Chance, but no longer has Critical Chance gain with higher item levels
Worker Bee‘s Robe – Critical Chance 15%>10%
Fungal Envoy‘s Mycelium – Critical Chance 15%>10%
Crow's Boots – Critical Chance 20%>15%
Duel Knight Trousers – Increases Melee Critical Chance by 50% when your Stamina is below 50%>Increases Melee Critical Chance by 30% when your Stamina is below 50%
Duel Knight Cape – Critical Chance 10%>5%
Volker Berserker‘s Totem – Critical Chance 20%>15%
Winged Cavalier Backplate – Critical Chance 25%>15%
Farsight Hood – Ranged Critical Chance 20%>10%
Marksman‘s Treasure – Ranged Critical Chance 25%> 10%
Duelist's Blade – Melee Critical Chance 25%>15%
Parade Blade – Blocking and Parrying increases Critical Hit chance by 25% for 4s>20%
Farsight Hood – Critical Damage gain 5%>1%
Winter's Crone’s Wrath, Merlin's Thorn, Vinelash - Reduced Crit Chance
Added an optional soft cap system enabled by default. You can revert to the old behaviour in the game's settings
Mana shield changes
Mana regeneration now has a delay after taking a hit with Mana Shield active.
Mana Shield keyword now reduces mana regeneration in a 1:1 ratio while in combat.
World
Forlorn Swords
A new cave has been added near the Forlorn Swords Gate (Etherbloom Love)
New enemy - Sleepwalker, was added near: Giants Crossroad, Ulfr Village and Volker Village
New enemy - Cairnguard, was added near: Sveinn Village, Capitol City and Mountain Stronghold
Improved overall level art
New items to find in Forlorn Swords
Changed the layout of the bandit camp in the mountains near the Forlorn Swords Gate
Added a small altar + loot near the Forlorn Swords border
Changed the enemies in Forlorn Swords Stronghold
Added Wyrd Repelling Lanterns to several areas in the Horns of the South.
Marrowghasts now drop Marrowghast Shells. Curlghasts still drop the previously mentioned item (for lore reasons).
Wyrdspawns and Wyrdstalkers now have different colors depending on their strength variant (their strength increased with the player but there was no visual change previously)
Quests (new)
New quest: The Empty House.
Alisa’s Seacoast Manor is now a customizable home.
A new Etherbloom mini-dungeon is now available, containing an interesting weapon.
A new note about Kamelot's presence in Forlorn Swords has been added by Sarras' northern gates.
Added a reward for “The Shattered Pride” quest.
A new NPC can now be found in Remors' Cave.
Deirdre will now correctly reward the player with a ring in the Unholy Matrimony quest.
After completing The Man of the Night quest, Corvyn will now change his behavior after a few days have passed. (Does not work retroactively.)
Added additional dialogue for Stranger Cindrill at the Chapter House.
Quests (fixes)
Luth should now have voice over before the fight.
Sìne now requires 10 Wolf Pelts, in accordance with the notice on the board in Cuanacht.
Fixed interaction with the Talbott family in Cuanacht. A new chest has been placed, and Eadbert will now correctly give the player the key. (Does not work retroactively.)
Fixed an issue where the My Fair Lady quest would not fail after Alisa moved away.
Improved objective descriptions in the Broken Hourglass quest.
Fixed looping dialogue with Qurban.
Fixed a dialogue blocker with Taranis while completing the Over My Dead Bodies quest.
Fixed an issue in the Happily Ever After quest where Thistle and Rhian remained available after finishing their respective storylines.
Improved objective progression in the Over My Dead Bodies quest.
Fixed an issue where killing Charles the Crogmaw would alert Kamelotian guards to the player’s location.
Fixed incorrect logic in the Claw Me, Claw Thee quest.
Fixed incorrect logic paths involving Morana in the Crow Left of a Murder quest.
Removed incorrect loot from killing Ludger.
Improved quest marker logic in "The Baneful Choir" quest.
Improved quest marker logic in "The Long Defeat" quest.
Fixed an issue where Sigvord could aggro nearby enemies, resulting in a quest soft-lock.
Fixed inconsistencies between location names and their labels on the map.
Hra'fn's quests have received minor improvements aimed at enhancing the overall UI/UX.
A specific variant of the Lightning Golem will now properly display its name.
Fixed a dialogue option in The Price of Healing Quest where Bonxie would not accept a repeat offer to purchase her inventory.
Improved dialogue flow with Barlaam about Yorath.
Improved dialogue flow with Silvius.
Some dialogue and logic fixes around the Hollow Blessings quest.
Fixed an issue where in the dialogue with Eogan, you could select dialogue options regardless of where you found the pumpkin seeds.
Nautilume will now try again to convince the player to kill the Swarm of Viridian Wailcaps if the player decides to spare their lives.
The Song, as long as she is alive, can be found in Morgens' Den after completing Sunken Treasures and Voice From The Rift quests.
The Farewell, Lady Alisa quest will now correctly fail if Alisa leaves.
"Omen in Flesh" quest should now progress properly if Eyvor is killed without talking to him.
Stranger in the Chapter House Cindrill should now be impossible to kill until the end of her quest.
Fixed issues with Maggots’ interactions during the sequence inside his mind.
Fixed a bug in the endings where the player could give away Arthur’s soul multiple times, causing several endings to appear simultaneously.
Audio
Player footstep sounds reworked.
Player armor / foley movement sounds added.
Ghost sounds added in the Gunnvaldr Stronghold.
Fixed duplicated Luth VO (line playing twice).
NPC Fae grunts fixed.
Strawfather sounds fixed.
UI
Added a DLC carousel to the Title Screen, allowing multiple available DLCs to rotate automatically.
Added the ability to mark items as Favorites, preventing them from being accidentally sold or dropped.
Added a horizontal scrollbar to the Upgrades UI to better indicate additional available options (e.g., Transmogrification).
Optimized the appearance and disappearance of the player's HUD.
Added distinct map marker visuals for unlocked Sarras Shrines.
Hidden redundant skill points for players who have fully unlocked skill trees.
Miscalleanous
Added filtering your save files by every character you created.
The Baneful Choir quest got a new icon.
Added a new entry to the lore journal about the Knights of the Round Table.
Yngvi now has a Journal entry, unlocked after completing Sleep That Never Comes.
French: Egill received the missing translations for some of his dialogues.
Hopefully, all of the balance changes, along with Act 3 improvements, will make your adventure in Avalon a much more engaging one! Be sure to let us know what you think – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
In the meantime, the next free content DLC that we announced for the end of March is still being cooked, so stay tuned. It will be worth the wait ;)
And we have more coming after that, too!
Cheers!
Awaken Realms / Questline
Shell Without a Name
Champion of Tuathan Breastplate
Thorn Helmet
We've just rolled out the v1.16 update for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon! Our team has been working on some quality of life changes, fixes - but most importantly, as promised before - some extra optimization. Again, we are limited by the game engine to some extent, but we are fighting hard for every extra FPS :D
Today, we are happy to report that we managed to gain a 3-5 FPS boost on PS5, Xbox X/S and PC! Those are mostly due to the following changes:
\ Removed some expensive lighting updates that did not provide much improved fidelity.
Removed the cost of mouse input when it is not being used.
Removed some unnecessary update cycles for all input.
Decreased physics update frequency. We found that there is no impact on behaviour.
One of our logic systems for deferred actions has been optimized.
Removed some unnecessary refreshes on hero HUD.
The fight is not over; we'll keep digging and trying to improve the game's optimization on both consoles and PC. Thank you for your patience!
We are overall dedicated to supporting Tainted Grail long-term. First of all, this game is a result of our deep passion, and we simply want to make sure it will get an extra level of polish. Secondly, you guys made this game quite a success, and we can afford to add extra time to it! Thank you for all your support! Thanks to it, we can continue making our dreams come true!
We'll keep supporting the game with more or less regular updates, including new content, plus fixes and improvements across the board. As for the next couple of months, you can expect:
Around the end of February, we're aiming to drop an update with extra pass mostly over Act 3, polishing many layers of the game (level design, loot etc.)
Then, around the end of March, we are preparing an extra free DLC with cool content that will be a mystery for now ;)
Stay tuned, and drop your deepest conspiracy theories in the comments about what's coming next! :D
Removed some placeholder texts that were using up memory but were never visible to the player.
Fixed a leak in Cuanacht that caused performance degradation further into the story for each game save and load in Cuanacht.
Added some new Alchemy recipes for existing potions (check your alchemy tables, as you can already know some of these from recipe books you have already read).
Updated generic status icon for statuses applied by hero's talents.
Fixed and updated visual effects of Severing Ray spell.
Statuses given to the hero by gems attached to gear should now correctly display in Hero status page.
Fixed Haste status not showing up correctly in some instances.
Updated Haste status icon.
Fixed being able to lose items when trying to interact with things blocked during combat.
Rebalanced item level stat gains for Arcanist's Breeches: Mana Shield 1 > 0%; Mana Regeneration 0.05 > 0.1
Killing with Cheese status now properly subscribes this kill to the character applying the status (usually the hero).
The Strongest Potion no longer leaves residual increased attributes, when changing scenes before the effect ends.
Thunderous Greatbow can no longer be used accidentally as a weapon coating.
Skills targeting Summons should be more optimized and shouldn't lag while using channeling spells, e.g. Melee Macabre.
Disable picking up weapons from enemies that are not lootable.
Neutral enemies that turned hostile should become neutral again after combat ends. There was also a small leak associated to this issue.
Fixed Maggot not being under a Menhir during Menhir Rites quest. He should teleport there directly instead of walking there and potentially getting stuck.
Beherit should no longer be under ground in Dødheimsgard.
Fixed being able to enter Yvain's Mansion before visiting Cuanacht. This caused some story locks later.
Portal shouldn't be active during the fight with the Queen Bee.
Turning someone into cheese (and other weird things) shouldn't break kill counters for quests.
NPCs shouldn't be attacked by player AoE effects during dialogues.
Fixed an issue where the player could lose the ability to interact with certain objects after reloading the game during the Thing on the Doorstep quest.
Improved interactions with Foredwellers in the Conquered Scars quest.
The player can now start the Altars of Madness quest after speaking with Therrov.
Fixed a dialogue lock when speaking with Heber about alchemists.
The Rise the Mountain, Face the Storm quest will now correctly mark Darv'hanr's location if the player has progressed the Stonewarden guild questline.
Thrygve should survive being thrown off a cliff.
Caradoc should now join fight immediately after duel starts with King Arthur.
Doors to Yngvi the Theud's chieftain should always try to reopen for everyone who started their questline.
Fixed portal in The Pit deactivating after save and load.
Fixed an issue where the Charm of the Faithful Fae was removed from the player’s inventory upon starting NG+.
Fixed a quest marker in Price of Healing that did not correctly lead to Bonxie.
Fixed an incorrect objective being set as active after Qurban’s death in the Abyss Beckons quest.
Fixed unusual objective behavior after giving Neante herbs in the Hollow Blessings quest.
Fixed an dialogue option in The Price of Healing Quest where Bonxie would not accept a repeat offer to purchase her inventory .
GOG now also has a mono branch available for modding.
Fixed UI scale settings not applying correctly after game restart.
fixed a leak in Cuanacht that caused performance degradation further into the story for each game save and load.
Fixed a potential error from Reusable Resources skill, when the number of crafting resources in a recipe was smaller than 1.
Fixed choice icons in the dialogue with Jolly Skeleton.
Restored multiple missing keyword links for Critical Hits and Weakspot Hits in skills and item descriptions.
Fixed clipping clothes on Drowners.
Fixed the loading of native mods. We are at work to update and improve the native mod support with some better documentation/tutorials.
Upgrade and Weight Reduction for Sarras Items now uses Sarras Resources.
Fixed Blessing in a Bottle item description displaying wrong duration.
Rebalanced crafting recipe costs for Frailty and Dousing Arrows.
Added a new recipe variant for Coral Arrows (found in the same recipe book).
Changed a duplicated crafting recipe in Druid's Note recipe book of Head Above Water potion for Gills of the Deep potion (only the outcome item of this recipe was changed, so there is no need to re-learn it).
Rebalanced randomly generated loot in some Vendors, Sarras Chests, Barrels and Vases to grant more useful items more often, especially if they are locked.
Increased the value of loot generated in all Diggable Sarras Chests.
Changed item values of:
Archivist Eyeballs 75 > 120
Coral Growth 25 > 220
Morgen's Claws 10 > 475
Morgen's Tail 15 > 550
Scion's Bone Spikes 10 > 500
Scion's Fangs 10 > 600
Scion's Neck Frill 10 > 500
Tidewraith's Illicium 25 > 200
Wailcap's Skull 25 > 100
Webbing 10 > 50
Coral 225 > 150
Added a Sharpening Stone item drop to the Hallucinated Crawler from Purple Bursting Bulbs.
Moved some items from a single buy to a restockable Vendor assortment for Leira, Waste and Bozz.
Added more fish species in randomly generated loot (this is only a cosmetic change, as looting them will still grant a Fish Fillet).
Dead bodies that felt down into the abyss should appear in the closest playable area.
Fall damage absorption and water damage zone in Dungeon Distance Meaning now work correctly.
An unwanted hole has been covered in Dungeon Hatchery.
Fixed an issue where mashing the attack button could skip some of Apse’s dialogue.
Entering and exiting afterimages should:
correctly swap Skills and King's Powers.
equip correct weapons and shouldn't change loadouts.
select the correct active Sarras Skill Tree.
Starting a New Game + now removes Wraith Spores debuff.
Added a fade-out during Vosk’s dialogue while he is eating.
Fixed an issue where some NPCs could appear in Tumbo Village after the player had completed the Archives quest.
Fixed a bug that allowed the player to stash quest items required for quest progression.
Fixed some objective issues in the Feast of Mercy quest. The objective to kill Nautilume will now fail if we kill Viridian Wailcaps .
Fixed marker in One Against The Tide quest.
Fixed discovery for Ulcerate which appeared unnecessarily on the compass.
Fixed objective bug in One Against The Tide quest. In one of the paths, Depth-Gore should no longer tell us to talk to Branth if we have already spoken to him.
The Song , as long as she is alive, can be found in Morgens' Den after completing Sunken Treasures and Voice From The Rift quests.
Camera rotation after Fast Travel between scenes has been improved.
Fixed incorrect appearances of some NPCs.
Fixed Kraken's Maw item throwing an error when looted from a Proving Grounds chest.
Thank you so much for sticking with us and playing the game! We wish you only the best journeys through the worlds of Avalon and Sarras!
Oh, and don't hesitate to join our Discord server if you want to get in touch, ask things, or just hang around!
Awaken Realms / Questline
We hope 2026 has been treating you well so far! We kicked the year off with an incredible milestone, and now it's time to share that...
As always, thank you so much for all the love and support throughout this journey! After all, it's literally you who made this achievement come to life!
To celebrate, we've prepared a special trailer; check it out!
Additionally, the base game and our first expansion, Sanctuary of Sarras, are both 20% off on Steam for a limited time.
Enjoy, and safe travels!
Awaken Realms / Questline
\ Thrygve should no longer lock out at the end of the fight.
Bugged out Restoring Order and Forge Extinguished quests should complete retroactively.
Fixed the disappearing of the Blood Abomination in the Archspire.
Fixed statuses applied to the hero by gems breaking the game when you looked at their description.
The Drowned Knight armor set is no longer consumable.
Fixed an issue where if neither Steam nor GOG was detected, no language was loaded.
The following fixes are not present on PS5 as it received a rapid fix for Thrygve, so the following will be sent out tomorrow:
Minor performance improvements for players that saved and loaded the game many times in the Horns of the South.
Fixed an issue with NPC animations incorrectly unloading. This will likely fix the T-pose issues and some quest locks when you talked to an affected NPC.
Fixed targets of executions not having the correct animation.
Gates of Knowledge story progression improved, all dialogues should start correctly.
Spells and skills shouldn't block saving forever when the scene was changed during their activity.
Fixed the locking of a dialogue with Zhizz when playing in Russian.
Fixed a long standing issue where the players clothing would sometimes stretch in a random direction
Fixed an error that would cause the summoning limit to be ignored
Fixed some save corruption issues
Optimized game data layout. This means that update sizes will be smaller. Especially when they have few changes
TASK: Hunt for the Wyrddeer should now be fixed. If it doesn't appear, go further away from the spawn point (it's easiest to just teleport to the Horns castle) and back, and it should spawn (at night, of course).
Some story-based NPC deaths fixed.
Parrying Dagger, Blackwater Gloves and Abyssal Heir Gauntlets are no longer consumable.
Restoring Order and Forge Extinguished Quests should now be fixed. We are working on a patcher that will fix the state for you if you have already killed all the targets.
Fixed Arthur dialogue post Sarras reflecting wrong choice
It should no longer be possible to break duels with multiple damage instances killing a target at the same time, bypassing duel safety.
if you ever modded, or might mod in the future. We would like to remind you that using mods on the default branch is not supported and will cause game breaking crashes preventing you from continuing the game. We cannot fix this as the mods for this version corrupt the games memory breaking completely random systems in unpredictable and undetectable for us ways. We will be adding a popup telling you this in a future version. We will not check bug reports from your game if you continue anyway. If you used mod installers such as vortex to mod the default branch (NOT MONO), just removing all mods using vortex does not fix your game as it has already added the mod loader which is what breaks the game. you have to go to your game installation folder and remove the Bepinex folder you will find there. only then will you have actually removed mods. you can get to your installation folder by right clicking your game on steam > manage > browse local files For users modding it manually you know about the existence of the Bepinex folder and you need to remove it as well if you modded the default game For more modding info check the modding database on our Discord server: https://discord.com/channels/644877829791809566/1386680270727413846
The week has passed, and as announced…
Since our 1.0 release in May, we’ve been working a lot on ongoing patches, fixes, optimizations, and general improvements across all platforms - and this work will continue, as there are still things we can do better. But our “content” part of the team was focusing on this expansion, and we are extremely proud of their work! It is also important to highlight the input of our amazing beta testers, providing valuable feedback, reporting bugs, and doing all the other important stuff to help us deliver the best quality of Tainted Grail possible. To our playtesters, to everyone who played the game, to content creators and media - a huge THANK YOU for appreciating our work, spreading the word, and helping the game thrive!
This expansion is our biggest post-release milestone so far, and we can’t wait for you to dive in (pun intended) and explore the Sanctuary. Watch the release trailer to see what’s coming!
We have shared advanced access to some of the content creators, and the first videos are in! You can see them below, along with some highlight quotations:
And just in case you’ve never heard about the Sanctuary of Sarras, this is our first full-fledged expansion for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, with a completely new storyline, a new zone to explore and 10-15 hours worth of new content!
You will enter the titular sanctuary, a realm shaped by the deep sea, full of ancient structures and naval creatures. Follow the trail of Nimue and the deserters who challenged King Arthur. Piece together the truth behind their disappearance and Merlin’s horrible retribution.
The expansion offers a lot of new additions, such as 4 boss fights, 12 regular enemies, over 20 dungeons and interiors, as well as more than 100 items, including armor, melee weapons, bows, rings, amulets, spells, relics, and more. Explore carefully to find them all!
To fulfill our most sacred tradition, enjoy a batch of fresh Sanctuary of Sarras screenshots!
You have to have the expansion purchased.
You must have Cuanacht (act 2) unlocked.
You need to watch the cutscene that plays when entering Cuanacht city (the awakening in Yvain Mansion).
Place a campfire (Q) and talk to Black Annis. She should give you the quest that leads to the Sarras Chapel dungeon in Cuanacht.
Track the quest and go to the entrance of Sarras Chapel in southern Cuanacht, near the water. Below are screenshots of this place on the map, as well as the entrance itself. It’s very near to the Horns of the South entrance.
6. The dungeon quest will guide you into the new region: Sarras.
If you were debating whether to jump into Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, this is the best time! To celebrate the release, you can grab the base version of the game with a 30% discount for a limited time. This is the biggest discount since the 1.0 launch.
You can also get the Adventure Pack (base game + expansion) and the Excalibur Edition for a full Tainted Grail experience (base game + expansion + Supporter’s Pack). The Excalibur Edition comes with a 5% discount on top!
Aaaaaand in addition to all that, we've also added Community Items on Steam! Here's what's available:
9 trading cards (those who played the game before should already have some of them unlocked!)
1 to 5 level badge + a foiled badge
9 emoticons (available in the Steam Points Shop)
3 profile backgrounds (available in the Steam Points Shop)
Enjoy!
We wish you the most pleasant journey and smooth sailing through the mysterious Sanctuary of Sarras! Equip your favorite gear (but prepare to loot a lot of new ones), and start the adventure today! There’s A LOT to uncover!
In the meantime, we’ll still be on high alert for any possible bugs and fixing them ASAP, as well as implementing any needed improvements to the game. Keep your feedback coming, and join our Discord to stay updated on our work!
To end with, we have some good news for Xbox & PlayStation players: with today’s update, we managed to significantly reduce the frequency of crashes on both consoles. We’re also working on another fix that should slightly improve FPS on consoles, and will hopefully be ready in January!
Cheers, and thank you for being with us!
Awaken Realms / Questline
And now it's time we enjoy our thematic release cake. The tentacles are 100% edible!
A small hotfix has just been launched:
STP fix (caused graphic issues after the update)
Adjusted UI sounds volume levels
Small optimizations
We know we’ve been more on the quiet side lately, but that’s because we’ve been working VERY hard on Tainted Grail to bring you something REALLY amazing! This update will be quite hefty, but there’s a lot of big and important news coming your way. Many of you have been waiting for this, so stay tuned!
Before going further, we’d like to once again THANK YOU SO MUCH for playing Tainted Grail and supporting us along the wavy and shaky development road :D With our biggest post-release update so far (version 1.1), we aimed to address most of your commonly reported issues and requests. Since then, we’ve seen tons of positive comments and reviews on Steam, so seriously, keep that feedback coming because you’re being heard! You can consider yourselves a vital part of Tainted Grail, Travelers!
Okay, back to the juicy part!
Today, we are extremely proud to announce 3 things!
> New Patch (1.15) with some important improvements
> Free DLC with some extra content
> New, fully fledged expansion - Sanctuary of Sarras!
We’ve yet again collaborated with the one and only WolfheartFPS to bring you a video overview of the contents of this update! Check it out right here:
Or go directly to his channel! https://youtu.be/eLuIr9NTi-I
Let us start with….
Say hello to Patch 1.15, our new update that has just been released on Steam! Before listing all the patch notes, let’s start with what has been our #1 priority for this patch: optimization across all platforms.
We’ve constantly been going through the game top to bottom, searching for things to optimize. With today’s patch, the biggest improvements should be seen on Xbox. Our internal testing shows a significant performance boost of around 20+ more FPS.
These optimizations should also help older or weaker PCs run the game better, although, as always with PC, it heavily depends on your hardware. Modern or high-end PCs probably won’t see much difference, but the game should run better overall. Our internal testing also shows an improvement of around 2–3 FPS on Steam Deck and PS5.
Now, regarding PlayStation 5: we’re working really hard on this platform, but the issues we’re facing mostly come from how Unity handles graphics on PS5 (which we can’t change) and, unfortunately, memory allocation as well. This makes fixes tricky, but we’re digging through systems and rewriting parts of the game to find any solutions.
Our internal testing shows that we’re getting closer to significantly reducing crashes, and we hope to push an update that should help with this when Sarras launches. This crash-fixing patch will, of course, be available to everyone, not only to people who decide to buy Sarras.
All in all, the struggle for better performance on PS5 continues, and we’re doing everything we can on our end to improve the situation. We hope to have more good news in February, but we can’t promise anything; it’s not entirely in our hands. Still, today’s patch should offer a small boost to performance and stability. We’re really sorry for all the trouble, and thank you for your patience.
Now, for the rest of the patch notes!
Gameplay:
Three items that were meant to land in 1.1 were missing. They should now be available:
Sanguine Heart amulet → Corrupted Temple (in the secret cave)
Pendant of Endless Study amulet → Gates of Knowledge (in Kingie's room)
Harness of Inverse Right → Tomb of a Knight
An old item that was no longer available has been added again: Phantom Helmet in a chest at Kings Road Bridge
You can now access your stash at the boosted fireplace
Butterfly items are no longer consumable and can’t be placed in the quick-use slot
NG+ experience gained from quests and enemies has been tweaked
Mana Shield effect is now calculated before kill-prevention checks
Wyrdspawns should no longer spawn during dialogues
Hero no longer slows down when reaching shallow water
Buff/Debuff strength and duration now affect more statuses
Updated selection of items sold by Hjarn
Lowered Tempest Alliance increase to Mana Shield: 1% -> 0.25% per Perception point
Druid Shrines in Cuanacht now increase Mana Regeneration and Stamina Regeneration by a flat amount instead of a percentage, fixing inconsistencies depending on your mana regen at shrine completion
Quests:
In Price of Healing, Lord Yvain can now be convinced to fund the hospital once the Cuanacht main quest is complete
Improved and repaired objective tracking in Hollow Blessings: it now correctly tracks the amount of collected herbs
Fixed a bug where the player could start For the Silent after finishing the Úlfr tribe main storyline
Fixed an issue in Gunnvaldr Stronghold where the player was sometimes forced into dialogue with Frode even if he was already dead
Fixed looping dialogue and quest markers for Ulick in Handy Business
Completed quests should no longer show quest markers in certain edge cases
UI:
Added vignette and chromatic aberration toggles in the settings
Added an option to change the game’s font
Relic level now displays on items, and descriptions reflect the correct relic level
Fixed magic item tooltip separator visibility when only Mana Cost is displayed
UI asset rendering and structure optimized to boost performance, visuals, and load speed while minimizing memory usage
Equipped items and tools are no longer affected by bulk options in stash and shops
Fixed incorrectly cropped or wrong journal entries
Audio:
Voiceovers re-post-production should now fix loudness inconsistencies for dialogue lines: Osbryht, Cillian, Dicun, Drest, Imram, Vidar, Sir Vast, Self, Orlaith, Alma, Foxglove, Vorick, Gavrel, Ailei, SickBeggar, Pravda, Endrik, Briar, Neante, Asgall, Therrov, Ughwe, Berg, Betrys, Huardoc, Heber, Cinnamonsage, Rhys
Controllers:
Fixed an issue where DualSense controllers were sometimes detected incorrectly, breaking integration
Modding:
\ The mono modding branch requiring a password has been removed; you now have access to a public branch called "mono" without a password
Minor / Misc:
Added visual effect indicators to the HP bar; Bleed, Poison, and Burn now trigger unique graphic overlays
Armour weight modifiers in the Equipment UI now account for proficiency bonuses
Crimson Cave now has a new discovery marker
Improved visuals and concept for the FireRune spell
Some bandits should no longer drop 0-stack arrows
Fixed pixelated snow in the Forlorn Swords area
Debug Console QoL: toggle.debug-shortcuts is now saved between game sessions
Now, let's move to the big one!
We’re super excited to announce Sanctuary of Sarras, the first full-fledged expansion for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon!
And it’s coming closer than you think; watch our announcement trailer to know more:
Sanctuary of Sarras expansion* launches December 15, 2025, at 1 PM EST / 7 PM CET on Steam and consoles! That’s right, just one week left! Let that sink in.
*We are calling it expansion instead of DLC, as we feel a new, fresh adventure for 15 USD should not be in the same category as a few cosmetic skins :D
Okay, cool, but what is the Sanctuary of Sarras about?
The journey will take you into the titular sanctuary, a realm shaped by the deep sea. Ancient structures rise from the ever-shifting currents, and forgotten paths pulse with the life of a submerged world. But try not to get charmed, as when you begin to explore the unknown, the true nature of Sarras starts to surface.
For six centuries, the fate of Sarras and its rebel crew has been shrouded in myth. Now, a hidden passage reveals a path into the past. In a completely new storyline, follow the trail of Nimue and the deserters who challenged King Arthur. Piece together the truth behind their disappearance and Merlin’s horrible retribution.
So yeah! This will be practically like a whole new act for the game, with 10-15 hours of gameplay, a new storyline, interesting characters, and multiple side quests! As mentioned before, there are TONS of new content coming. Not to spoil everything, but some of them are:
4 new epic bosses,
12 unique regular enemies,
more than 20 hand-crafted dungeons & interiors,
over 100 equipment pieces, including armor (#FashionGrail), melee weapons, bows, rings, amulets, spells, relics…
The expansion will also feature an alternate progression system! Activate sacred shrines to gain special skill points to spend within three new, distinct skill trees. You can level them all up at the same time, and choose which one is active at any moment. This will allow you to change your build on the fly and adapt quickly!
For those interested, you don’t need to finish the game to enter the expansion zone! To access the Sanctuary of Sarras, you’ll only need to have Cuanacht (act 2) unlocked.
You know screen-dumping is our tradition, so we have to preserve it this time, too :D Enjoy this never-before-shown set of Sanctuary of Sarras screenshots:
How much will the expansion cost?
Sanctuary of Sarras will be available for 14,99 USD on Steam (or your regional equivalent).
More info about the expansion coming soon, so stay tuned!
We have also decided to add some extra content for free to the core game! We hope that you will enjoy this free addition ;)
Take a peek at the screenshots below, or check all of that (along with patch 1.15 highlights) in our trailer:
You will get 5 completely new armor sets, serving as rewards for your in-game achievements.
Fore-Dweller: finish the I See A Darkness quest.
Champion: kill the Wyrdstalker.
Harbinger: finish the Thing On The Doorstep quest.
Weaver: resolve the mysterious encounters with the Weaver.
Unhallowed Divinity: finish the Menhir Rites quest.
Along with that, the DLC includes alternative looks for Qrko (your cute little pet), King Arthur and Caradoc.
You can try them out RIGHT NOW! :D
This free DLC is now available, and you should be able to see & download it in the DLC section on our Steam page!
Let’s quickly summarize all of this up:
Our first expansion, Sanctuary of Sarras, is launching in a week from today: December 15, at 1 PM EST / 7 PM CET.
Our first FREE Bonus Content DLC #1 is out now…
… and so is the patch 1.15 for the game!
Even for us, sleep-deprived indie gamedevs, this is quite a lot for one update! :D But at the same time, this is a result of our passion for Tainted Grail, and RPGs in general, and we’re honestly quite proud of it!
We hope you’ll like all the new stuff as much as we do. Feel free to share your thoughts regarding Sanctuary of Sarras, as well as the new armor sets, alternative looks for characters, and patch 1.15 contents! We’re excited to hear your thoughts!
This is going to be a crazy week! Talk to you soon, and see you in the Sanctuary!
All the best, Awaken Realms / Questline
Hey everyone!
The Steam Awards 2025 nominations have recently started. We've already received numerous nominations and new positive Steam reviews related to the process, and we're very grateful for them!
If you feel like Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon deserves your votes, we encourage you to cast them! There are several categories to choose from, but if we were to suggest only one, it would be the "Outstanding Story-Rich Game". But obviously, it's totally up to you which category to choose!
Once again, thank you so much for all the nominations and positive reviews. Your support means the world to us. Stay tuned for more, as this is not the end of our journey with Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon!
Stay safe,
Awaken Realms & Questline
\ Added a shader preloading timeout after 25s per shader collection for players having issues with getting stuck at 41%
Fixed an issue with Triskelion Core killing the player on save load
Fixed a stack overflow crash caused by Frozen Seer's Vestment and a specific talent when leveling up/changing a stat. Other similar items likely could also cause this crash and should be patched as well
Fixed an edge case when spam selling/moving to stash that could hang the game
Fixed an issue where items that modified damage type could leak the bonus increasing/decreasing for every next instance. The most visible case was enemies healing when dealt melee retaliation by the player
Fixed an issue with blind and boots of roots that could cause the player to be unable to move
Priestess Cape, Sirja’s cape and spellgorger will have their upgrade level reset and resources returned to you for the nerfs in previous versions
Fixed Absorption spell Heavy Cast
Updated Thorn Helmet to scale with Item Levels and NG+
Fixed an harmless error in Tranquility talent
Changed Ice Weaver projectile VFX to better fit the theme
Nerfed Druid's Talisman Mana Cost NG+ scaling 50%>5%
Fixed an error sometimes occuring when using Flamegorged or Frostwoven Breastplates
Fixed an error with a transmogrified Thunderous Greatbow
Fixed an error with Tiresome Weave talent occurring when critically hitting non-living targets
Fixed flame heart amulet (project name: fire starter) modified damage not being taken into account for elemental damage armor and having possible side effects of healing the enemy
As usual, we’re tracking the different issues you guys are reporting, and they will be landing as we fix them. One known bug of note: The Dead Eye Bow takes effect even in your inventory. This will cause you to deal no damage if you do not crit or hit a weak spot. If you are not using the bow, please place it in your stash until the next hotfix Chest armor clipping through when in first person will also be fixed next week.
Fixed Tidepiercer & Sunfire Shortsword sometimes not shooting projectiles
Thunderstone relic shouldn't break the game
Summons shouldn't disappear when fast traveling between acts, if they still do the bonfire rest should properly kill them.
Fixed unexpected actions occurring on player input if you connect a new input source to the game that is already launched
Fixed summons being incorrectly initialised when restoring from save
Fixed dialogue forcing and sequence-breaking issues with Self during the Sweet Dreams quest.
Fixed dialogue loop when talking to Vitus about Lile’s condition, during the Hollow Blessings quest.
Butterfly items should stack with other copies.
Deadeye Bow is now considered a Magic item
Revengeful Restoration Talent no longer heals on Damage Over Time effects like statuses. It allowed for very easy immortality
Galahad's Mace Light Attack Stamina Cost increased 45 > 65
Duel Knights' armor sets mistakenly gained perception requirements. They have been removed
Let’s clarify the crit chance changes introduced in patch 1.1. We previously stated: “We have removed pretty much all gain of crit chance from items in the game. \” To be clear, the base critical chance bonus on an item remains unchanged. What’s been removed is the extra critical chance that used to be gained with each upgrade level (+1, +2, etc.). The reason is that it was too easy to get to 100% and broke the NG+ balancing.
Removed Mana Shield stat gain from all items. High mana shield values were unbalanced in combination with the easy access to large mana regeneration
Nerfed the following items; they scaled way too quickly on very strong stats:
Fledgling's Mask Critical Damage Multiplier Gain 3% > 2%; Attack Speed Gain 3% > 1%
Crow's Mask Critical Damage Multiplier Gain 5% > 2%; Attack Speed Gain 5% > 1%
Archdruid’s Vestments Max Mana Gain 10 > 2; Spell Power Gain 5% > 1%
Duel Knight Armor Attack Speed Gain 5% > 1%
Frozen Seer’s Crown Spell Power Gain 5% > 1%
Netherbloom Vestments bonus Armor when at low Mana 25 > 5
The Prophet’s Cowl Spell Power Gain 10% > 1%
Servant’s Mask Spell Power Gain 100% > 1%
Usurper‘s Robe Casting Speed Gain 10% > 1%
Theud Dreamwalker Headpiece Spell Power Gain 5% > 1%
The Green Knight’s Chestplate Max Stamina Gain 5 > 1
The Twin Dirge Dress Attack Speed Gain 3% > 1%
Smuggler’s Knife Critical Damage 25% > 26%; Critical Damage Gain 20% > 2%
Titanium Tonic Physical Damage Gain 0.5% > 0.1%
Spellwarden’s Jacket Restoring Mana after taking damage Gain 2 points > 1 point, Spell Power Gain 3% > 1%
Wayfarer’s Cuffs Attack Speed below threshold Gain 10% > 3%
Ashen Veil Bracers Attack Speed below threshold Gain 10% > 3%
Duel Knight Gloves (Drastus) Attack Speed after taking damage Gain 3% > 1%
Corpsebinder Gauntlets Bow Draw Speed Gain 5% > 1%
Quickdraw Gloves Duration Gain 0.2 s > 0.1 s
Crystal Walker Greaves Physical Damage Gain 10% > 2%
The Prophet’s Breeches Max Mana below threshold Gain 10 points > 5 points
The Prophet’s Boots Mana Regeneration below threshold Gain 2 points > 0.5 points
Poison Ring Damage Gain 10% > 1%
Soul-Draining Talisman Restoring Mana Gain 5 points > 0,5 points
Removed scaling of certain stats in the following items. Some were missed in the crit removal in patch 1.1. Others are stats that are too strong to improve with each NG+/upgrade
Spiteful Arch Blind Duration Gain (Blind is one of the strongest debuffs in the game. Even small scaling was unbalanced)
Sir Gawain’s Weathered Helm Melee Critical Chance Gain
Thornsword Lifesteal Gain
The Twin Dirge Veil Critical Chance Gain
Sir Lancelot’s Chestplate Melee Critical Chance Gain
Úlfr Warsworn Chestplate Melee Critical Chance Gain
Knight's Helmet Stamina Usage Gain
Fungal Envoy‘s Mycelium Melee Critical Chance Gain
Spellwarden’s Hat Mana restore Gain
Duel Knight Trousers Melee Critical Chance Gain
Corpsebinder Chestguard Decreased Stamina Cost Gain
Hexgrip Vambraces Physical Damage Gain
Archer's Quicken Gloves Bow Draw Speed Gain
Quickdraw Gloves Bow Draw Speed Gain
Rogues' Step Dash Speed Gain
Crystal Walker Boots Melee Critical Chance Gain
Úlfr Warsworn Boots Movement Multiplier Speed Gain
Sir Lancelot’s Sabatons Movement Speed Multiplier Gain
Sir Galahad’s Sabatons Dash Counter Gain
Duel Knight Boots Decreasing Dash Cost Gain
Cloak of Retribution Lifesteal Gain
Herbalist Cape chance to gain additional loot Gain
Hunter's Cape reducing chances of being detected Gain
Priestess’ Cape Regeneration of Max Mana Gain
Spellrush Ring Consecutive Hits Gain
Marksman‘s Treasure Ranged Critical Chance Gain
Oldsteel Fang Armor Gain
Amulet Of Inspiration Restoring Mana Gain
Archdruid’s Amulet Magic Critical Chance Gain
Talisman of Renouncement Restoring Health, Mana, Stamina Gain
Several items rebalanced
Doublet of the Last Jest Decreased Incoming Healing Gain 9% > 0%; Spell Power Gain 1% > 2%; Physical Damage Gain 1% > 2%
Volker Warborn Trousers now increases Critical Damage instead of Critical Chance
Crow's Breeches now increases Critical Damage instead of Critical Chance
Ashen Veil Cloak Critical Chance 20% > 5%
The Horned Warden’s Amulet Critical Chance 15% > 5%
Stonewarden Talisman Critical Chance 20% > 10%
Azure Leechstone
It’s been a while since our last patch, but there’s a good reason for that: we’ve been cooking up the biggest-ever post-launch update for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, version 1.1. And you know what? The update is now live!
As this update is very special, we again teamed up with the one and only WolfheartFPS to bring you a video overview of the new patch. If you want to see an RPG pro going through all the new stuff, you’re in for a treat. Enjoy the special behind-the-scenes look!
We’ve also prepared a brand-new overview trailer for version 1.1! Watch it here:
And if you prefer the text version, you can find it below! But first, let’s start with a quick intro!
We know many of you have been waiting for this to arrive, and we want to thank you for your patience and all the amazing support you've provided up to this point. We have been reading all of your comments, reviews and community posts - while we often do not have time to be very active, you can be more than sure that we are reading everything very carefully. Our team is also fully devoted to making sure we will upgrade the Tainted Grail experience for all of you as much as we can. After all, your support made it all possible, and we could not be happier with the reception of Tainted Grail!
So, this update is BIG! We bundled up pretty much all of the most popular requests/feedback and added a lot from our side. Our team worked quite hard on everything, so we really hope you will enjoy your visit to Avalon! You can find full patch notes later down the update, but here are some highlights!
New Game Plus (NG+),
transmog system,
various Forlorn Swords (Act 3) fixes and content additions (including much more loot to find everywhere, and 3 new caves),
third-person perspective camera improvements,
late-game console stability improvements,
new Qrko (the cute pet) forms, including a mount and a summon,
origin potion crafting recipe,
new weapons and armor sets,
3 new dungeons, 6 new quests. A lot of other quest fixes, new rewards, dungeon redesign etc.,
a bunch of visual and audio updates all around (in-game, UI, etc.),
new enemy sound effects and a few extra tracks by Dzivia,
TONS of bug fixes and rebalancing all over the place,
and many, maaaany more (see the full list below).
Just before we proceed to the patch notes, a special feature: community mods!
As you might know, we’ve recently shared our internal modding tools for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. Some of you have already started getting passionate about it, and we want to appreciate that! Starting from today, every now and then, we’ll be featuring some cool community-made mods for the game. Today’s duo was made by jondnoj:
Custom Difficulty, to tweak the difficulty level of various game features to your liking (Nexus Mods page here).
Damage Numbers, to know exactly how hard you hit them (Nexus Mods page here).
Big thank you to everyone who tries modding our game! We believe Tainted Grail is THE GAME to be modded, and we’re talking about tons of various strange ways to twist the game, make it more enjoyable, fun, and unusual. Don’t hesitate to let your imagination go free!
New Game Plus
The entire world is reset. You can complete the game with new choices
You lose your: King’s Power, learned recipes, quests, keys and readable items. Everything else is kept.
Your armor is debuffed for each NG+ level.
Enemies are stronger and have higher status resistances.
All items found and crafted are stronger and rewards are improved.
A couple of enemies will drop more loot.
Lots of fixes and improvements to the 3rd act of the game, along with new content as well. Details below.
\ A new transmogrification feature is now available at the handcrafting station (no charge at the player's home). You can now change the visual appearance of your items to any discovered style in the game (for the same types of items).
Added origin potion recipe to Helled's sanctum from the alchemist questline.
Added an unread status marker to readable items to clearly indicate which ones have not been read yet. (All readables in your inventory will be assumed read)
The journal now has more than 120 entries about NPC characters, along with new lore entries. Most of them apply retroactively.
Added new dialogues for Kvorr and Black Annis for players whose attempts for a new pet did not work out too well for them lost their hand
Qrko - your pet has received a couple of new practical tricks for you to try out.
\ Headbobbing has been added. You can enable it in your game settings.
\ Improved spine IK in TPP so that the player does not hunch over as much while traveling. A blend was also added for actions such as bow draw to prevent instant snapping.
Added alphabetical sorting for items and fixed an issue where identical items did not appear next to each other after certain sorts.
Added bulk options for items in shops and stashes.
\ Significant RAM optimizations that should improve late-game stability on consoles. We’re also working on another console stability optimization, which will be released once it’s ready.
Mage
Ring: Ring of Reduced Conjuration – Summons block 20% less mana.
Amulet: Pendant of Endless Study – Increases Spell Power by 1% for each character level you have.
Amulet: Witchglass – All negative status effects are 50% stronger on your enemies. All negative status effects are 50% weaker on you, but last 100% longer.
Amulet: Sanguine Heart – Bleed you apply has 100% increased duration, but deals 50% less damage.
Gem: Smouldering Wrath – Critical hits light your weapon on fire for 5 s, increasing its damage by 15% and burning enemies.
Melee
Armor: Ripper’s Jacket – Increases parry window when dual-wielding weapons. Blocking costs 80% less stamina when dual-wielding.
1h Axe: Titanium Tonic – Increases physical damage by 1% per missing health point.
Gem: Gambit Scale – Increases your Dash invincibility window by 0.02 seconds. Receiving Damage has a 25 % chance to lower your Movement Speed by half for 3s.
Back: Stoneback Cloak – All Damage received is applied over 4s duration, instead of instantly.
Archers
Light Bow: Assassin's Bow – Attacks have a 10% chance to Blind. Sneak attacks have an 80% chance to Blind.
Heavy Bow: Harrowbend – Using this bow does not cost any stamina. Missing a target results in maximum Overexertion.
Stealth
Dagger: Quiet Death – Deals 200% increased backstab damage.
Armor: Ashwalker Boots – Your footsteps produce no sound.
Hybrid
Back: Harness of Inverse Rite – When you hit an enemy with a melee attack, your next ranged attack has 66% increased damage. When you hit an enemy with a ranged attack, your next melee attack has 66% increased damage.
Armor: Hexgrip Vambraces – Increases physical damage by 50% of your Spell Power.
Amulet: Triskelion Core – Your Max Health is equal to your Max Stamina. Your Max Stamina is equal to your Max Mana. Your Max Mana is equal to your Max Health.
Missing recipes for some armor and coatings have been added to their recipe books. These books were also added to new sources, so that even if you sold the recipe book, it will be available to you.
Players' armor is now hard-capped at 95%.
\ We have removed pretty much all gain of crit chance from items in the game. It was too easy to get to 100% and broke the NG+ balancing. All nerfed items' upgrade level will be reset, and resources spent will be returned to you.
Coatings effect should scale with an Item Level (previously, only duration was scaled up).
New enemies have been introduced in Womb of Máthair.
New enemies have been introduced in Mountain Ice Cave.
A new enemy, the Skeleton Knight, has been added.
Added additional enemies to some Forlorn Dungeons.
Improved combat with Bodil in the Enter the Void quest.
Fixed skill Imbibed by the Alchemy sometimes generating errors and not applying the duration correctly
Fixed First Blood skill description.
Fixed Carnage skill description.
Fixed Charged Cantrip skill increasing all Critical Chances.
Fixed Unstoppable Rage skill description and increased value 0.5% > 1%.
Fixed Clair's Pen Wand effect not being increased by the Wand Mastery and Wand Overcharge skills.
Fixed Archdruid's Amulet wrongly calculating Max Mana in its description
Fixed the Worn Sentinel Shield effect.
Fixed Sunfire Shortsword and Tidepiercer shooting multiple projectiles with one attack.
Some AoE spells now take the height of an enemy into hit or miss calculations.
Increased damage dealt by enemies in Forlorn Swords.
Increased damage dealt by tier 5 and 6 bows.
Nerfed the damage and decreased the mana cost of the Scorching Blaze spell.
Changed Amberstride, Sapphire Weave and Eternal Guardian Seal Relics to increase stats by a percentage, instead of a flat value.
Lowered Endless Pursuit Relic proc chance 50%>30%, but greatly increased the accuracy of the duplicated arrows, making it more reliable to use.
Added Summon Sir Gawain and Summon Sir Bertilak spells to Tomb of Sir Gawain.
Horse movement in third person has been modified.
Rebalanced Agile Hunter and Rabbit Juice potions.
Rebalanced Archdruid's Set.
Rebalanced Spellslinger Set.
Rebalanced Nightstalker Set.
Rebalanced Royal Set.
Rebalanced Spell Gorger Wand effect gains per Item Level.
Increased The Stag’s Defiance shield damage 12-16>24-33.
Lowered Revenant's Ribcage effect gain per item level 2%>1%.
Lowered Queen's Protector Crown effect gain per item level 2%>1%.
Fixed Lucky Amulet having an unintended effect on NPCs' block behaviour.
Fixed some keywords not showing their descriptions.
Removed the slight camera offset when drawing a bow in TPP.
New model, animations and behaviours for Big Corpse Eater miniboss.
New animations and improved behaviours for the Giant Boss.
Fixed the Ancient Beholder enemy so it has correct attack ranges and doesn’t remain idle during combat.
Arrows should now properly appear on equipped Robbie's Bow.
Stagfather should now rotate correctly in combat.
\ Hero Summons should properly restore King's Soul.
\ Hero Summons shouldn't deal damage to the hero from their ranged attacks.
The boss arena in Stonewarden’s Vault has been improved.
In Giants’ Barrow, an exploit allowing players to attack enemies from an unreachable rock has been fixed.
Lowered the weight of tools.
Rebalanced Plague Warden NPCs.
Rebalanced Forlorn Corpse Eaters.
Yvain and Maggot should reappear and stop disappearing.
Talk option shouldn't always be available at the fueled bonfire even if no dialogue is available.
Revamped the Stonewarden ending mission:
Added new dialogues and choices that determine the conclusion of the guild’s quest.
As a reward, Darv'hanr will teach the player how to craft a unique set of armor.
Sveinn Tribe – The player may encounter these quest givers while exploring the Sveinn fortress:
Love That Lingers – Vragi died during a hunting trip, yet his soul cannot pass on. Now bound as a restless spirit, he asks the player for help to finally move on.
Kindred Curse – H’jarn abandoned the hunt long ago, haunted by the fear that the curse afflicting Sveinn hunters will claim him as it did his brother.
Flesh of the Forest – After resolving his personal troubles, Atli once again seeks the player’s aid. The sap of rare fleshtrees holds potent healing and strengthening properties—resources he desperately needs to treat his tribe’s wounded.
Úlfr Tribe – These quests can be started by speaking with NPCs in the living quarters beneath the Úlfr tribe’s fortress:
There Was Light Before – Kord asks the player to visit the grave of his father, the would-be chieftain of the tribe.
Looming Shadows – Halvor seeks to learn more about giants and their worship, pursuing knowledge of the lost tribes of Oighreata and Gunnvaldr.
For the Silent – Katla has been forbidden from visiting her mother, who lies in a deep stone sleep. (This quest will be locked if the player has already completed the Úlfr storyline.)
Added Quest Rewards:
Blood for Blood
Healer Instinct.
Drofa will now give the player relics based on the dialogue choices they make
The Breach,
Heart Turns to Stone
Hollow Blessings
Fixed interaction with the Necromancer in the Forlorn Swords region.
Fixed quest markers and reworked the logic of the Light Reading quest.
Some quest markers should update (disappear/appear/move) immediately (they required save and load or manual refresh).
Morgen's chest will now appear in the correct location.
Fixed an issue in the Blood for Blood quest where cultists killed before accepting the quest did not count toward the required total.
Fixed an issue in the Blood for Blood quest where the player could complete it without taking any action.
The Breach – reporting to Barlaam will now complete the quest instead of failing it
Beor's shop will now be available if the player had previously rejected him.
Fixed an issue in the dialogue with Cinnamonsage where, if the player was invited inside his house, the dialogue would not reflect it.
Fae in Unholy Matrimony quest should attack the player instead of waiting for the hero.
Fixed portal for quest Omen in Flesh.
Fixed an issue where Hob would give the player infinite Memory Shards when spoken to in the Forlorn Swords region.
Perceval should be able to talk to the hero even after receiving instant damage, not staying in an undefined state until reloaded.
Hunting for Wyrddeer shouldn't self-complete after night ends.
Attacking Stag Father before talking with him no longer corrupts quest progress
Chatterblade will no longer speak during dialogue with other characters.
Fixed the subtitles display issue for some Chatterblade lines.
Implemented progression for Tiernan's shop.
Fixed the incorrect progression of the Shadow of the Horns quest that occurred if the player bypassed Odran.
Fixed an interaction concerning a ghost residing in a certain piece of armor.
Replaced placeholder text and improved objective flow in the Restoring Order quest series.
Head Hunting quests in the Horns of the South region.
Hollow Blessings quest.
Improved dialogue flow for Brother Crispus.
Fixed logic for dialogue options with Kvorr in the A Pebble in a Pit quest.
Improved the flow of the initial conversation with Fearghas.
Improved the flow of certain conversations with Eda, located in Cuanacht’s Farmlands.
Fixed the conversation flow with the Custodian of Sagremor’s Castle.
Fixed the conversation flow with Sine.
Improved the flow of choices during the final dialogue of the game.
Improved the flow of dialogue with Deirdre while completing her quest.
Added missing objectives and markers to the quest The Breach.
Fixed trackers and improved objective descriptions in the quest God’s Cure.
Huld will no longer mention the village’s problems if Sveinn’s main quest has already been completed.
Added retroactive completion for the quest The Long Defeat.
Denholm will no longer disappear in front of the player when handing him the Menhir Rites.
Fixed quest marker in The Forked Path so it now points the player to the correct NPC.
Kedrun will no longer stand up after the player leaves.
Added an objective to the quest Heart Turns to Stone and moved Olf outdoors, closer to his sleeping brethren.
Improved quest markers in Healer Instinct.
Improved quest markers in A Pebble in a Pit.
Improved quest markers for the Unholy Matrimony quest.
Claire's Dream narrator should continue the story after save and load.
His Heart Was Greener Than Mine quest progression fix
The player can no longer use Beor’s bed while he is wounded and lying on it.
While visiting the tavern in the Fishing Village, the player may encounter Randell and Noll debating what constitutes “Excalibur.” Listening to their conversation now grants proficiency gains.
Reworked quest markers in the White Stone quest.
Made it so that it is impossible to fumble crafting the Ear Necklace quest item.
Enemies and NPCs in the open world now feel more alive, with improved behaviors.
The geometry of Eira's and Frig’s dungeons have changed and new tunnels have been added.
Added three brand new caves in the Forlorn Swords area.
Gunnvaldr Ancestral Cave
Crimson Cave
Remors' Caves
Rooms of Bonemask's Cave have been improved and extended.
The Gates of Knowledge dungeon has been reworked.
In A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, an exploit that allowed players to jump onto a collider during the boss fight has been fixed, and a loot tunnel that unlocks after defeating the boss has been added.
In Vigdis & Egill’s House, the basement where Vigdis lives has been rearranged.
In Elevator Pass, a lever has been added at the lower section of the level to call the elevator.
In Grotto Of The First Men, the miniboss arena has been expanded, and new resting spots with a campfire have been added.
In Ulfr Village, terrain tweaks have been made.
In Wretched Hideout, vegetation has been added and some blocking elements on the floor have been removed.
Hrafn will now work in the forge alongside Stron'ner.
Fixed a cliff's geometry in Perched Cave and smoothed the terrain near the water.
In Mine, non-interactive beds have been replaced with interactive ones, and an exploit near the grate has been removed.
In Mine, new enemies have been added, along with additional loot and a new room containing a bed and a crafting station.
The boss fight arena in Lands of the Hunt has been changed to create more space.
Grotto of the First Men, the level entrance has been reworked.
Fixed an issue with the crane that could be exploited to break the boss fight in Remors' Cave.
In Cave by the Cliff, safeguards have been added to prevent enemies from walking into the rocks.
Near Theud Village, minor visual improvements have been made to the path.
Added alchemy station in Heledd's Sanctum.
Added a crafting table in Kvorr's camp.
Blacksmith stations and alchemy stations were added to some houses in Forlorn Swords.
improved landscape texture painting in the entire Forlorn Swords region.
Added an alchemy station in Stigr’s House and Dolf’s Hut.
The Forlorn Swords have been populated with the amount of loot you have come to expect from the previous two regions. The majority of added loot will be retroactive.
Scattered new sets of Tribefolk armor for each of the remaining Dal Riata tribes across the region and their villages.
Grotto of the First Men
Dødheimsgard
Gawain's Crypt
Mine Pass
Old Wyrdstone Mine
Cave by the Cliff
Perched Cave
Cobalt Cave
Mountain Ice Cave
Frozen Cave
Frozen Realm
Stonewarden’s Vault
Womb of Máthair
Warrior Grave
Gates of Knowledge
Tomb of Sir Gawain, Tomb of Sir Galahad
Giants' Barrow
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
The Weaver’s Sanctum
Stonewarden’s Hearth
Stonewarden’s Vault
Enhanced environment art in the following dungeons:
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Warrior Grave
Shrine Cellars
Elevator Pass (both)
Barrow Of The Horned Shadow
Coldreach
Pictish Hideout
Dødheimsgard
Cave by the Cliff
Frozen Realm
Remors' Cave
Giants’ Barrow
Old Wyrdstone Mine
Stonewarden’s Vault
Fixed a hole in the wall in Coldreach
Fixed geometry in King's Threat that could cause the player to get stuck in the rocks in the final room.
In Stonewarden’s Vault, a hole near the stairs has been patched
Cave by the Cliff, collision issues have been fixed
In Warrior Grave, a non-interactive shield has been replaced with an interactive one
Hostile NPCs will no longer wander into Govannon
In Stonewarden’s Hearth, collision at the end of the level has been improved.
Fixed terrain holes and navmesh in Shrine Cellars (the enemy should no longer get stuck during combat)
Fixed navmesh in ElevatorPass
Fixed navmesh in Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Fixed navmesh in Captain’s Quarters.
Fixed Killing Planes in The Frozen Realm.
Fixed the disappearance of precipitation at the Wyrd barrier.
Added a collider to the grail pedestal, changed the lighting.
A portal's render queue was changed so that it does not render above VFX.
Bonfires should be correctly placed on top of some rocks.
Enemies shouldn't sometimes freeze when running away from them.
Invisible enemies should become visible on death if killed in an invisible state.
Textures optimization.
\ Switching player perspective no longer re-equips all items that are currently equipped. This fixes the “loss” of HP on changing perspective.
Performance optimizations for the main gameplay update loop.
Fixed an issue where resting after being stopped by wyrdness would advance time by a couple of decades, which could eventually break the game as you reached year 9999. Saves broken this way should now be available again.
Fixed missing corpse loot after loading a save that was created instantly after the fight.
\ Fixed game locking up with controllers constantly vibrating.
Added additional audio and locomotion sounds for the following enemies: Wyrdspirit, Red Cap, Grindylow, Zombie, Skeleton, Corpse Eater, and Red Death. Enemies should now be audible when approaching the player from behind.
Fixed Frostbitten Warrior polearm hit sound.
Added new licensed music tracks - created by Dzivia.
Re-recorded voice-overs: Breandan.
Changed voice-overs post-production: Fearghas, Odran, Vrann, Alisa, Duncan.
Added missing elevator audio in Forlorn Swords.
Introduced new ambiences in several dungeons in Forlorn Swords.
Winter Crone's wrath, small explosions will not cause camera shake anymore.
Cold explosions graphical tweaks.
Refreshed the appearance of hero HUD bars.
Updated icons for item tabs to improve visual clarity.
Added solid background to crafting ingredient slots.
Fixed an issue where a corpse in the Forlorn region was missing part of its legs.
Fixed an issue where certain elements of the male version of Perceval's Headpiece were not displaying correctly.
Sir Vast's texture has been updated to give him a more undead appearance.
Nightstalker's Gloves are now visible in FPP.
Fixed slow walking animations for Wyrdstalker.
Tweaks in the position of the magic VFX in hand.
Fixed broken idle animations in some enemies
Fixed the cut waterfall in Cuanacht.
Added foam and particles to the river end in HoS.
Changed how reflections work on water in the open world for better visuals.
Added animations to hero bars and wyrdpower.
Fixed bounds of flying rocks in some dungeons
Fixed Red Spectral Sword's appear/disappear effects.
Added effects to player hp/mana/stamina/wyrdpower bars.
A large batch of fixes for issues related to rebinding, especially when you use multiple controllers.
Mouse and keyboard are now properly supported on consoles.
Added immune status icons to indicate which statuses an enemy is immune to.
Added icons to indicate if an enemy is resistant or vulnerable to a status.
Refreshed main character HUD bars.
Better organization of buttons on the Title Screen UI for a cleaner layout.
Fixed the incorrect position of the Hero in Character Sheet Status UI.
You can now change the default perspective for mounted travel in the settings.
Fixed upgrade costs not refreshing properly in Sharpening and Weight Reduction.
Fixed 3D quest marker appearing in the Quest Log UI.
Added notification merging to reduce the number of messages displayed on screen.
Popups no longer display a separator line if no title is present.
Added an info message to the Mod Manager UI when no mods are available.
Fixed an issue where some parts of the clock couldn’t be selected in the Resting UI.
Fixed weapon comparison bug using off-hand instead of main hand.
Added a notification when a crafting ingredient is returned to the inventory.
\ It was impossible to remove the chosen ingredient from the cooking.
Fixed ingredient quantity not updating correctly when using a talent that returns ingredients after crafting.
Unified gamepad controls for tab navigation across all UI panels, excluding item list tab changes in the Bag UI.
Added pagination to recipe book tooltips for correct recipe description display.
Added a missing description for one of the Duel Knight Capes.
Fixed inaccurate max armor weight display in the Equipment UI; values now properly reflect scenarios where ArmorWeightMultiplier is 0%.
Queen Bee should correctly light up her wings during combat.
"Paused" label in cutscenes now appears on top to avoid confusion in rare cases.
Unified the Skip prompt in Credits with the one used in cutscenes.
Added 3D Gamma setting while changing brightness in-game.
Fixed the silent elevator in Forlorn Swords.
Robbie's Bow - Fixed issue with animation synchronization.
Eyvor - Fixed animation, now Eyvor looks at the hero during conversation.
Added new readables to the Gates of Knowledge dungeon.
Minor issues with NPC's rotation and target tracking have been resolved.
\ Fixed an issue preventing save slot names from being edited again.
And we probably missed some changes here and there, you’ll find while playing :)
If you’ve made it so far through the whole patch notes, we honestly admire your persistence. Now, feel free to download the update, boot up the game, try the new stuff, and tell us about your experiences with the patch 1.1. During the next few days, we’ll be keeping a closer look at your feedback and reports to identify any potential issues and fix them ASAP.
As always, thank you all so much for sticking with us and supporting us along the way! Rest assured, this is not the end of the story for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. We still have a bunch of cool stuff in stock for you, but more about that later, when the time comes… Join our Discord server and follow the social media channels to stay updated; all of the links can be found on the game’s Steam page.
Cheers, and safe travels!
Questline / Awaken Realms team
But before the full list of changes, let's start with something unusual…
As announced in one of the previous updates, today we're sharing with you some of the essential tools for modding the game! We've created a dedicated subforum on our Discord server, so if you're interested in modding Tainted Grail, make sure to join in for all the important info!
https://discord.com/channels/644877829791809566/1386679598112313404 On this forum, you can find, e.g., access to the mono branch for easier modding.
We really can't wait to see your creations! (And we can certainly see that Shrek mount mod coming)
- Fixed Invocations of Might skill to properly display the Mana Cost value and increase the Max Health of summons
- Origin Potion now properly removes statuses gained from skills
- Fixed King Arthur’s Breastplate to apply its effect correctly.
- Updated logic behind the King's Soul preventing death to better work with other sources of death prevention
- Fixed Volatile Minion spell description not showing the damage it does
- Updated Ice, Fire, and Lightning Golem loot tables
- Added new effects to the Night Stalker set
- Fixed skeleton behavior in Barrow of the Horned Shadow
- Fixed Wyrdstalker (and other enemies) sometimes teleporting to a strange location, resulting in the end of combat
- Summons' kills were not counted towards quests' and achievements' progress
- If the player's Trinity achievement wasn't unlocked despite defeating three required knights, it can now be acquired by entering the dungeon that is unlocked after killing them
- Corrected success and failure conditions for the Golden Suggestion quest
- Improved and fixed progression in the Oh Merry Men quest
- Improved and fixed progression in the Long Defeat quest
- Improved progression and quest markers for The Price of Healing quest
- Fixed quest markers for the Measured Mercy quest
- Fixed quest markers leading the player to Quartermaster Fearghas
- Fixed looping dialogue with Eda
- Fixed issue where Kedrun would endlessly call out to the player
- Items connected to the Broken Hourglass quest will now disappear correctly after quest completion
- Neante will no longer accuse the player of not asking her about the grave she stands near
- Some runes on the walls of the Midwife's room will now correctly display notes
- The dialogue option connected to the quest This Is the Part Where You Run Away will now correctly disappear after completing the quest. There was no note required for this bounty
- Looping dialogue options in the conversation with Darv'hanr have been fixed
- The Fields of Light quest will now display the number of required lanterns from the start
- Fixed strange camera behavior when speaking to Neante, which also caused her to change location
- Increased cash rewards for turning in Elite Bandit heads in Cuanacht.
- Fixed item tooltip comparisons so that throwing knives are no longer compared with other consumables like food or potions.
- Fixed item tooltip comparisons to allow comparing identical items in the inventory.
- Fixed the size of the interactive area on sliders in the Options menu.
- Loading a save made with slowed time will no longer affect the player's movement
- Cutting off heads for bounty should be less likely to break the game
- Disabled overriding auto and quick slots
- Prevented stone gates to various crypts from briefly opening after loading a save.
- \: Fixed an issue where an incorrect state of stats with skills that listened to them would cause saving to quietly fail, creating corrupted save files.
- Added mod manager UI. The main menu with the collector's edition is currently very raw due to this addition. Expect an improvement in the next patch
- Sea Monster visual effects visibility
- Upgraded Thunderstrike visuals
- Small VO fixes for various characters
- Fixed an issue where the leave/shop icons were not displaying correctly in dialogue story choices
- Updated the look of Sneaky Archer's Vambraces
- Tome of the Forsaken II is now obtainable
- Fixed: fishing results pop-up could overlap other UI elements
- Lightning Golem now has a display name
- Added dialogue with King Arthur before entering the King's Threat dungeon if the player hasn't secured the support of all Dal Riata tribes.
Added many new whispers to Arthur for both Cuanacht and Forlorn Swords,
Added Shader preloading. This will decrease or alleviate completely one reason for stutters on the first use of visual effects by the game on a per-machine basis,
Fixed heal value for Nature's Caress, Mother’s Embrace, and Divine Grace spells to be in line with their tooltips,
Buffed Frostfang Dagger,
Fixed Ulfr Stormforged Cape effect,
Rebalanced The Horned Wardens Vestment's main effect 10>20% and added item level gain,
Increased item level damage 0>2 for Leech Bite,
Increased item level damage gain 1>2 for the following wands: Claire's Pen, Spellgorger, Unstable Conduit, Wand of Chain Lightning, Defiler's Spark, Twincast Twig, and Font of Recovery,
Made Sunfish faster to catch,
Made Sneep easier and more consistent to catch,
Fixed armor proficiency gain after save and load,
Tiernan's furniture shop will now become available only after repairing the village jetty,
Sine will now correctly reward the player with cash for completing her tasks,
Fixed a quest progression issue in Over My Dead Bodies. If you're stuck on the "I have to uncover what he’s been experimenting on" objective, re-reading Caelum’s journal should resolve it,
Implemented rewards for completing The First Men quest,
Implemented rewards for the Aberrant Minds quest,
The Ascension quest now grants the correct amount of experience points,
Rebalanced the experience awarded for The Forked Path quest,
Updated to Unity 6000.0.51f, which has fixed one of the long-standing crashes on all platforms,
Fixed an issue where the directional damage indicator sometimes wouldn’t disappear,
Fixed UI navigation blockages in Handcrafting when using a gamepad,
Fixed a case where saves were duplicated on game start if they were manually edited/duplicated in certain languages to have certain special characters in their names,
Fixed overwriting of saves, not removing the old save file,
Fixed gold horse armor,
Divine Grace & Mother's Embrace – fixed timing and symbol orientation to match new animations,
Ephemerate Crystal & Piercing Ember – added rotation to the crystal projectile,
Fire Rune – adjusted VFX timing and improved fade-out,
Resolve visual artefacts along the seam in the water pool portal,
Fixed the variable speed of clouds in the rain,
Skeleton archmage scythe material visibility,
Crushing Blow and similar VFX optimization,
Neante VO fix,
Added missing VO for Kestrel,
Added missing barks for Asgall,
Fixed NPC markers for Vesna and some Children of Morrigan,
Weightbound spell & Crippling Bolt spell effects now can be applied simultaneously,
Changed Claire's Pen wand description (item works the same way, but it is now clearer on what it does),
Chatterblade now taunts the hero less often,
Clarified the end-game continuation popup: you can continue playing, but the final sequence cannot be replayed,
Fixed mismatched eyebrow icons in the Character Creator
Fixed jumping gamepad focus on the list of items when selling/stashing, etc.
Item tooltip comparison is now more accurate: it better matches items for weapon loadouts, allows comparing consumables, and properly handles multi-slot items like rings
Multi-slot items now display an indicator when equipped in another slot, similar to weapon loadouts
Weapons in loadouts now swap hands if already equipped in the other hand
Consumables and rings are now moved from the other slot to the current one when equipped
Buying fish in bulk should now give you the correct amount of fillet instead of 1
Fixed the Essence of Fire & Essence of Cold potion duration
Fixed Unbound talent math to properly calculate spell movement slowdown
Daisy horse will no longer be sold to Denholm after you buy/steal it. Daisy will show up again at her starting spot if you first decided not to buy Daisy and then bought the horse later
Fixed Frostwoven Graves not showing up on the Handcrafting station list
Fixed Exploit Weakness talent
Fixed some instances of NPCs not properly applying Statuses to the hero when damaged
Red Caps and other enemies shouldn't freeze after running away from them
{Spoiler} Rowan will correctly react to \being compromised\
Bandits from The One Percent quest should count as killed even if you exit the house
Chatterblade crafting can no longer fail, resulting in its corresponding quest softlocking
Over My Dead Bodies out of order progression fixed
Fixed Over My Dead Bodies so that it works correctly if the player collects Forebloom first. This fix should work retroactively
The Price of Forgiveness should be completed after returning the button outside the cave
Margh should offer his remaining quests even if we skip him at the end of the Dead as Dreams quest
Improved performance and stability by making sure invisible HUD elements are truly inactive
Sharpening an item you're currently holding should no longer prevent you from using it
Minor fixes and improvements to the UI layout for ultra-wide resolutions
The menu scale is now capped at 100% (was 110%) to prevent visual bugs when using multiple accessibility options. Large UI Mode remains available for those who need a bigger interface
Photo Mode will now properly pause the entire game
Player eyelids shouldn't stay half closed after some cutscenes
Fixed Sell from Stash not checking if the item can be sold
Refreshed character HUD bars and Wyrd skill view
Severing Ray spell visual upgrades
Fixed visibility VFX during the death event for Wyrdspawn
Fixed a bug in the visualization of the FurDad behavior VFX
Improved visual effects for Solarbeam
Horses now have eyes
Fixed VO for Alma
Fixed VO for Dolf
Added missing VO for Stronner
Added missing VO for Cobalt
Added missing VO for Elira
Added missing VO for Heledd
Added VO for Dal Riata Guard
When met in Cuanacht, Fionola should no longer crouch or levitate
Some summons are now correctly marked with a blue color on a compass
Fixed sleeping interaction in Lile's House
Added the missing Depth Card to the portal to Sveinn Sanctuary
Summon icons on the HUD are now updated
Turned off the placeholder description for all the fish
Fixed a missing talent name in the Perception/Daggers tree
Transmog,
NG+,
22 new Arthur conversations, including whispers and one special dialogue designed to guide you in a... particular situation,
Giving Qrko one extra feature (you're gonna love it),
Various free content DLCs; a flying mount maybe?
Allowed using stashed items at the Blacksmith Table
Added Tier 4 and 5 weapons to the possible loot from higher-tier Unidentified Items
Dual Wielding Spells no longer unlock Mana Regen while channeling & casting simultaneously
Reworked Fishing balance. If you find it difficult to catch some fish, we recommend looking for better fishing rods
Added 29 new fishes (and updated corresponding achievements)
Updated Fishing spots across all of Avalon. Remember that some fish only appear at certain times or in certain bodies of water
Fixed the following talents: Fury Without Fatigue, Shieldbearer, Mighty Blows
Lunge attacks will no longer trigger while walking with a high movement speed multiplier
2 Wyrdspirits joined the combat encounter in Ghost Realm
Rebalanced the cook and alchemist shops in the castle in HoS
Fixed the Severing Ray damage calculation
Replaced Thunder Lash spell with Thunderstrike in HoS Stronghold
Added Gytha's shop in Volker village and fixed her dialogue
Anselm, Maggot, and Yvain should return to their interiors (if they have disappeared for you)
Fixed blocker in Vrell dialogue when finishing the Temptation quest while having already finished the next objective
A Carnation to Remember won't fail if it's already completed
Fixed incorrect descriptions of some quest items
The incorrectly failed objective in quest "The Price of Healing" is now fixed
Fixed Pup being freed by save & load
Orlaith should take your package even if you request a reward
The dialogue option about reward from "This is the Part Where You Run Away" should be visible, but blocked, even without the proof
\ Fixed the loading of autosave in the Sympathy and Trickster realm, breaking dialogue trigger
A cave between Cuanacht's Gardens and the Plains will now correctly become accessible as you progress the Children of Morrigan questline. Before that, it will be blocked by a rock
The Price of Healing quest and Neante and Yvain funding interactions improved
Yngvi's dialogue shouldn't block the hero
Wayward Son quest forces the hero to look at the outcome (so the logic won't break)
The Construct dialogue can now be triggered when a weapon is equipped
\ Returning to Cuanacht and a couple of dungeons after a long time shouldn't break scene loading
\ Fixed a possible corruption of Steam cloud files if the game crashed/PC crashed during cloud update
No more free money! Selling items during sorting won’t make you rich anymore. This also fixes the item duplication glitch. If you really want infinite of certain items, you can always look at mods, such as unlocking the debug console
Talent effects should update correctly after changing player perspective (some of them didn't)
NPC audio should now follow its body when in ragdoll instead of playing in place of death, etc.
Fixed an issue with being stuck in the crouched state after fast travelling from a fireplace
Fixed incorrect refresh of the selected list item after sorting when using a gamepad.npc
Fixed edge case bugs in the rain system
Fixed small memory leaks generated by the rain system
Fixed performance issue when using two-handed weapons with AOE Crushing Blow talent.
Fixed some minor bugs that appeared when using the Thunderous Greatbow
Fixed missing starting furniture after purchasing only the Cuanacht home
Sveinn Village's overall stability increased
Improved color correction in the Spawn Tibby VFX
Optimized texture size in the Rock VFX for better performance
Improved fire visuals and distortion effects in prologue wyrdness
Removed transition flickering during fast travel
Fixed Ulfr Guards displaying incorrect clan tattoos
Vragi's Mother's placeholder model was replaced with a monster form
Your hand should now be visible when placing the bonfire
Wyrddeers from Stagfather‘s Trial are now spawning and despawning with a proper dissolve effect
Fixed female armor piece not displaying for Battlemage Tunic
Added new icons for several summoning spells
Changed the appearance of Deathbound Guardians and Blood Abomination summons
Dressed up a dead body on the Plains of Cuanacht
Improved VFX for Arthur's initial appearance in the resurrection room
Added Theud tattoos to Frail
Fixed missing and broken VOs for some NPCs (Egill, Self, Flaithri, Stigr, Eyvor, Elira, Heledd, Yngvi, King Arthur, Flyrna, Kjell, Barlaam, Theud Mother, Hrafn, Heiko, Galahad, Sir Vast, Darvhanr, Turtar)
Added audio to the EldritchReaver Generic
Changed the explosions' audio volume levels
Fixed the bear audio
Added audio to FrostbittenWarrior Female and T5_Skeleton1H
Changed Zombie attack volume level
Removed the duplicated line of Maggot during one of the story interactions
Fixed incorrect display of characters in fonts that support Cyrillic script
Fixed Neante holding a comically large piece of paper in her house
Added more NPC interactions to the Ulfr Barracks
Fixed the interactability of fireplaces in some dungeons
The buried chest in Mountain Ice Cave is now diggable
Fixed Smuggler's Dagger description to properly display the Critical Damage increase when upgrading the item
Changed loot in Shrine Cellars
Repaired the first mist gate in King's Threat dungeon (now it should block you until after the fight)
Broth no longer gives bread instead of broth
Added a treasure chest in the Ruined Towers in Cuanacht
Crafting/Blacksmithing: pressing the selection button again on an already selected recipe or item now jumps to the ingredients/gems (gamepad)
Removed unnecessary interactions with decorative flowerpots
First of all, we want to start by saying a big, fat THANK YOU again! The reception of Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon has been absolutely amazing, and seeing so many people passionate about the game is absolutely rewarding.
We’re getting TONS of feedback from you all every day—some very positive, some negative—and no matter what, we always read and listen. One thing you can be certain of:
we will definitely keep working on the game until all bugs are ironed out. We’re also planning to add a lot of extra stuff ;)
Either way, seeing so many people passionate about Tainted Grail is extremely humbling for us, and it motivates us to keep going.
450k copies of Tainted Grail sold! Thank you!
Roadmap—what’s coming next
BIG Patch—v1.03
Our favorite community screenshots and art :D
First, let us share some good news! Across Steam and consoles, Tainted Grail has sold over 450,000 units (this includes the Early Access period)!
Once again, thank you so much for your trust. It truly means a lot to us!
Here are the most important things we’ll be working on over the next few weeks and months:
Regular patches to address major bugs and performance issues. We’re aiming for weekly patches, but they may sometimes come sooner or later. We’ll continue this work for months to come.
We’re working on enabling Mod Support—expected in about 3–4 weeks.
A special performance version for Steam Deck is in development (exact timing TBD).
A huge batch of extra content is coming in Patch 1.1, which will include many of the most popular community requests, especially in the Forlorn Swords (Act 3) region. We're aiming for an August release! We won’t spoil anything, but expect some really cool additions. ;)
We're also exploring other popular requests, such as the New Game+
Now, let’s talk about Patch v1.03. As you’ll see below, there’s a LOT of stuff!
Before diving into the details, we want to give a quick explanation for some of the bugs.
(Please note: this is not supposed to be an excuse—we take full responsibility for the issues)
When we set out to make Tainted Grail, we wanted to create a deep, complex adventure, both in terms of storytelling and exploration. But we also wanted to give you, the player, as much freedom as possible.
That’s why you can kill many NPCs, experience wildly different quest outcomes, and approach things in any order. We wanted to minimize hand-holding, just like we’d expect as players.
Of course, the “cost” of that freedom is that there are SO. MANY. DIFFERENT. OPTIONS.
And sometimes, the most random combinations can cause problems. Here’s one bug example we encountered before launch:
Using the relic system, you can upgrade weapons—all good.
But then, if you sell that item to a vendor, it's still fine.
But THEN, a few hours later, when the vendor’s inventory resets—boom, the game experiences problems and crashes.
Anyway, that’s just a quick preamble to help explain where some of the weird bugs are coming from. That said, we’re extremely motivated to find and fix every single one, so your experience with Tainted Grail keeps getting better.
Fixed one source of crashes. We have another crash fix in progress as well, but it needs more extensive testing before being pushed out to you guys
(PC Missing Saves) The most common cause of missing saves on PC has been due to the game failing to find Steam and loading GoG or fallback saves. Last week, we added a pop-up informing you when Steam could not be found. This week, we have added a pop-up that asks you whether you want to move saves found in the other folders to your Steam folder automatically. We recommend that everyone migrate using the pop-up.
Items with special effects have been optimized. This should help with performance for players further in the game or hoarders who have many unique items with them.
Fixed a few memory leaks in our UI visuals
A quest in the fields of Cuanacht will no longer permanently block player saving Monstrous Marriage)
Lockpicking now uses the main camera. Significantly decreasing memory footprint is especially important on consoles.
After finishing the game, you can now choose to keep playing and explore the world further or to quit.
Added kill prevention to some essential NPCs in Cuanacht and Forlorn Swords regions. The player will now have to intentionally execute them, preventing accidental murders by the player or other enemies
Prevented enemies from shooting backwards when the player dodges behind them
Added an option in the fireplace to bring Qrko back when it's lost.
Visual change for spells such as Impenetrable Shield, Mystic Ward, and Arcane Aegis.
(Items) Item weight is now displayed to two decimal places for very light items; otherwise, it remains rounded to one decimal place.
(Items) Rebalanced upgrading of 53 different Weapons so that they gain both damage and improve their special effects
(Items) Added item effect gains upon upgrading in handcrafted sets
(Items) Rebalanced armor weight loss when upgrading
(Summons) Fixed player summons sometimes not attacking when outside of player FoV
(Summons) Fixed player summons not attacking NPCs that are, by default, non-hostile towards the player, but the player is engaged in combat with them
(Summons) From now on, summons should be able to exit interiors with you
(Summons) Disabled collisions with player summons outside combat
Retroactively fixed dialogue flow with Barlaam in the quest “The Trial”
Fixed conditions for the Crown of Ashes achievement/trophy
Fixed conditions for And My Axe! achievement/trophy
Fixed: Honor Over Life achievement/trophy was blocked if the Brothers in Arms quest was completed despite the player not giving all dog tags to the Quartermaster. If you were affected by this bug, now you can come back to Quartermaster and give him the remaining dog tags despite completing the quest earlier to obtain the Honor Over Life achievement/trophy. Ninian's dog tag is now required for the Brothers in Arms quest. Pate's dog tag is not required anymore for the Honor Over Life achievement/trophy
(Spoiler: HoS Main Quest) Yorath will no longer die after 7 hours in-game if you convince him to leave HoS
Dialogue fix, some options in Drest's dialogue would end it prematurely, blocking further progress
Unholy Matrimony can be completed if NPCs are killed before talking to them.
Denholm now gives the correct reward for the quest "Forging a Path"
The player will now be able to ask Asgall about Tom only once.
The Extinction of the Weak quest marker should correctly target Dolf.
Stitch By Stitch quest markers and respawning ores fixed.
See no Evil quest markers fixed.
Fixed NPC Abner's dialogue lines.
Divided we Fall and Arthur's Crown interactions and non-linear flow improved.
The Old Letter should be found only in one specific place.
A Carnation to Remember can be finished after finishing other quests.
Blade in the Shadows can be completed if you decide to collect the bounty before talking to the NPC.
Fixed "Deep Calleth Upon Deep" quest. The chest will no longer stay in the inventory.
Fixed dialogue flow for quest "The Weight of Honor"
Petition The Lord quest should correctly lead the player
Cuckoo’s Egg failed task can lead to failing a quest.
Over My Dead Bodies consequences.
The Silent Burden quest should give rewards, and its progression should be more straightforward
Denholm will now correctly pay the player for his silence in the quest: Burdening Letter
The player will no longer be able to continuously speak with Brother Vitus about abortion
Removed some incorrect dialogue from Lile
Fixed an issue where the player could not lie to Rigby when delivering his book.
Fixed Eira's dialogues after she returns home.
Fixed an issue where the player couldn't progress the Stonewardens questline if they sold Kvorr's Amulet. The recipe will be restored to players who lost it upon entering the Forlorn Swords.
(Spoiler: Brotherly Love) Fixed a bug where exiting the conversation with Rob before asking about his grandfather would block progress.
(Spoiler: Alchemists) The Alchemists questline can be continued after killing Dolf by reading his research.
(Spoiler: Sweet Dreams) Nest portal should now be easier to interact with
Fixed Giant Sentinel audio volume levels
Fixed the sounds of Vilekin's Eldritch Reaver, which is guarding the Pict's Hideout in Act 3
Fixed the audio length of one of the Rune's lines.
Resolved an issue where Skuld would begin to speak but immediately stop when approaching the gate in Theuds Village within the Ghost Realm.
Wyrdness music event update - improved layer adaptation for dynamic transitions
There should now be combat music while fighting the boss in Sagremor Castle
Added multiple missing VOs
(JP) Added another BIG batch of missing Japanese localization for dialogues (Forlorn Swords/Whispers). That should cover probably 99% of the missing dialogue loc. Any left missing will be added soon.
Fixed descriptions of several items (Great Mistake, Chatterblade Fragments, Heiko’s Crumble, Oldsteel Fang, Hollow Core)
Fixed Absorption spell description to properly state Mana Shield as a percentage value
Fixed Spell Syphon talent description
Added description of Skull Knight's Blade Sword
Fixed an edge case that prevented all hero attacks from happening. Most often happened on fast travel from the bonfire to a different map
(New) Swimming in the ocean should now take waves into consideration
Fixed an issue where some enemies could disappear at certain angles after death.
Fixed an issue that prevented players from attacking after switching loadouts while lumbering.
The sometimes-missing VFX on player hands while wielding magic should always be visible now
Fixed controller vibrations breaking in some cases
Fixed various two-handed axes not properly registering heavy attacks on lumbering spots.
(New) Item tooltips now accurately reflect player stats when requirements aren’t met, making stat comparisons easier in shops, crafting, relics, and upgrades.
Resolved performance issues on PlayStation 5 in Dungeon Galahad
Added two new debug console commands: template.revive-npc and memory.clear-faction-unforgivable-crime. Provided as is.
(Future) A fix for the infinite selling of an item will land in the next patch. So, build your piles of gold and items before then. You can always use mods if you really want to have infinite amounts of any item
Added Marrowghast helmet recipe to Ukko's shop
Fixed Arcane Mace item Mana Cost
Fixed stat increases when upgrading certain armors (Alisa set, Festering set, Flayed Drowner‘s set, Spellslinger’s set)
Increased effects of individual parts of the Archdruid set
Fixed Gem of Dodge not properly decreasing Dash Cooldown
Fixed ReusableResources Talent sometimes duplicating all of the currently held Ethereal Cobwebs
Fixed Galahad's Mace sometimes not applying Burn on hit
Deirdre's chest can no longer be opened with a lockpick
Changed Arnulf's loot in Smuggler's Bay
Sour Herring and Cheese no longer decreases the encumbrance limit when eaten
Added a player's room to the Children of Morrigan hideout.
Fixed Weightbound spell affecting hero summons
Buffed Bors in Sagremor Castle
Fixed Heiko’s Crumble description and effects
Update the Tidepiercer projectile collision
Fixed projectiles made by Scourge Of The Seas and Tidepiercer occasionally not hitting enemies
Rebalanced and fixed Bear's Claw to be in line with other items of its tier
Fixed Severing Ray sometimes using Light Cast logic when being Heavy Casted
Giant's Club is no longer a usable weapon
Frostgrots are now considered animals
Moved the location of copper ore in Ulfr Village
Fixed a diggable chest in Gunnnvaldr Village
Qrko will now be more aligned with the ground it's standing on.
The campfire mistakenly affected the player’s total weight. Not anymore!
Improved level-up notification
Improved quest notification
Fixed interaction with the alchemy station in the Tomb of the Good Druid
Fixed an issue whereby a player could fall outside the water in one of the Cuanacht rivers
Journal was not counting summon's kills
Fixed bonfires in Cuanacht
Fixed wyrdstone mining in Cuanacht dungeons
Human summons are wearing proper summon markings on their clothes
Blind status VFX rework
Fixed missing lip movement for some speaking characters.
Updated Foredweller, Remor Mage, and Wight attack VFXs to better represent their actual area of effect
Fixed VFX charge explosion on Snail
Fixed distortion Y-offset on Bonefires
Fixed mask layer of Bonefire (fire visible from the top)
Guards in Cuanacht will now wear helmets.
Dark clouds are no longer visible in Dungeon Frig
Fixed color issues in the effects Flickerbolt, ThunderLash, and Stormpiercer.
Updated visual effects for the Mistbearer boss fight.
Additional VFX AOE for Archmage and Wight enemies
Fixed bounds in vfx FloatingSnow
Fixed bounds in vfx CompanionLight
Fixed the bug with the elevator chain in Corrupted Temple
Blocked unused doors with boards in the Horns of the South castle
Fixed trees placed in the wrong places in HOS and Forlorn
Ghosts with hair should render correctly after game load.
Fixed the issue where wheat was generated underwater in Cuanacht.
Added missing DepthFadeCard under the ladder in Broch
Killing planes have been added to high places in Sagremor Castle, and the rock embedded in the floor in the underground section has been removed.
VFX Heart of the Plague visibility of the debris layer
Fixed a floor gap near the portal in Prolog Jail
Fixed the issue with the furnace clipping through the floor in the player's house in Cuanacht
Improve the Snow Explosion effect used in Cold Magic.
Updated visual effects for the Tidepiercer slash explosion
Updated the visual in the Wyrdspawn Dead event.
Tidepiercer coatings fix
Drain of Vigor visual update
Projectile trails tweaks
Added visual effects to signal ore acquisition when destroying it.
Tweak VFX when activating souls in the Resurrection Room.
Conchur's beard now moves when he talks.
Updated Gytha's appearance.
Úlfr Tribesfolk NPCs now wear helmets.
Fixed floating coins and removed objects located outside the map in the Dungeon_Crypt_Small level.
Here are some of the best/funniest/coolest screenshots and fan arts from the community that we’ve absolutely loved!
By @ArtMamoon
By ✨ • WeepingArr0w •
By Menashikami
By alphatardy
By @AzmoLIVE
By @StefanieMcMaken
By _dangles_
By _zabon_
By Szincza
By toomuchusednames
By Azazelus
By KenjjooNSFW
By SASS
By Ghostmantle
By @floccinaucinihilipilificationa
By Zall
Once again, thank you so much for playing our game, for the continuous support, and for your patience! We’re working hard on polishing Tainted Grail and fixing issues, so it can become an even better game for everyone out there!
Cheers,
Questline & Awaken Realms
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.