Tainted Grail Ready For 1.0 Launch?

Crafting a standout fantasy RPG in today’s gaming landscape is no small feat, whether you’re a scrappy indie developer or a big-budget AAA powerhouse. Recently, Avowed took a solid swing at it, but if it didn’t quite hit the mark for you, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon might just step in to fill the void. After roughly two years in early access, this indie gem has rolled out a massive update that serves as its final tune-up before hitting version 1.0 later this year. Plus, you can now dive into a fresh Steam demo to see all the changes for yourself.

For those new to it, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a first-person RPG that channels some serious Skyrim vibes while carving a path similar to Obsidian’s Avowed. Its lengthy early access phase isn’t surprising—building a sprawling, immersive RPG as an indie team takes time. But with the hefty 0.9 patch dropping today, it’s clear the game is in the final lap toward its full launch.

This update packs in a ton of new stuff, including a near-final prologue and all of Act 1, which developer Questline estimates will keep you busy for about 20 hours. That chunk of the game now features new bosses, NPCs, story beats, and loot to discover. On top of that, it’s adding features you’d expect from top-tier RPGs: a romance system, photo mode, farming and housing mechanics, and a revamped character creator. The soundtrack’s been expanded, brutal finishing moves are now an option, and boss fights come with slick “mini cutscenes.”

Beyond the new additions, the team’s also overhauled a laundry list of systems—combat balance, spell summoning, weather and lighting effects, the UI, attributes and skills, and crafting. In short, this update is a beast, and it’s setting the stage for something big.