Hello, Travellers!
We’re ready to present you with our December development update! As announced the last time, WolfheartFPS has partnered with us as a pro content creator and prepared yet another overview video for the update’s content. You can watch it here:
[previewyoutube=KVo1faWj3hY;full][/previewyoutube]
The end of the year is coming closer, and our team has been working incredibly hard to wrap up Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon. We’ve got tons of updates to share, but first, let’s lay out our roadmap to 1.0 so you’re fully updated on what’s coming.
Road to 1.0!
We’ve been passionately working on this project for almost 4 years now—including 1.5 years together with you during Early Access. And guess what? We’re REALLY close to the finish line! No pressure...
There’s still A LOT to do, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, here’s the plan for the final, epic release of the game we all love:
First of all—monthly updates will continue! You can expect development update posts in January, February... and then we’ve got a big surprise coming in March! What’s that, you’re wondering? Well, first we have a confession to make: we lied to you. Not intentionally, obviously, but it turns out we did. And before we end up on the stake, let’s explain.
We recently announced that no more updates will go live before the 1.0. version in Q2 2025. Change of plans. There will be one more major update before the full release. In March 2025, the 0.9 update for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon will see the light of day!
That’s it. That’s the whole lie. Please forgive us!
This update will include:
- The fully finished and polished Prologue and Act 1 (Horns of the South).
- Full English voiceover and additional translation options (more on that in the future).
It will also bring:
- Better optimization
- Final game balance
- The majority of bugs fixed
- 100% of mechanics and UI in place
- Fully upgraded visuals
- Tons of new dungeons, quests, and side content
- And… ROMANCE! :D
One note: this patch will wipe your saves—BUT this will be the last time that happens! From Patch 0.9 onward, your saves should be safe and sound for the final release.
IMPORTANT: Alongside this update, we’ll also change the game’s price to its planned final 1.0 price of 44.99 USD (or regional equivalent). Why the increase? We simply believe that the game's planned scope will be worth the new price.
The full release of Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is planned for May/June. It will include tons of content:
- All 3 acts of the game, including the main story
- An estimated 70–100 hours of content
- A vast, branching main storyline
- TONS of side quests, activities, dungeons, and more
We’ll drop a full plan for Early Access progression below so you can see it all at a glance.
We’re sharing this news now—3 months in advance—so there’s still time to grab the game at its Early Access price of 29.99 USD. Obviously, if you purchase now, you become a full-fledged owner, and you’ll get the 0.9 update + the full game afterward, at no extra cost.
Before we jump into the new content, just a quick recap of the last development update, featuring new combat changes and a massive Prologue + Act 1 revamp. We’re really happy with the evolution of the game; hope you like it too:
[previewyoutube=UHDYZJ9YIdc;full][/previewyoutube]
We’re now done with this prolonged intro, so: to the point we go!
Since our last update and beta test, we’ve mostly been fixing what was broken and considered weak by the community. As a result, we don’t have many flashy things to show. However, there are still some major cool things that we’ve managed to add or improve in the game!
Summoning is (almost) back!
You hear that right. We’ve listened, and we’re trying to bring it back. We’re quite happy with the progress, but there’s still a lot left to do. However, we already feel it’s better than before, and that is because…
- … you can now command your minions: After summoning, you can click on an enemy, and your summons will attack whoever you’ve chosen;
- … it’s been simplified: Each summon temporarily holds a flat value of your mana; the more max mana you have, the more you can summon. This prevents summon spamming while still allowing the use of other spells. We might change this mechanic in the future, but that’s where we are at the moment.
First iterations of housing and farming
Everybody dreams of their own place, right? Thankfully, developing a game allows us to tease ourselves a bit and get a house, even if it’s only a bunch of in-engine rendered pixels. I mean, better a bare foot than none.
- Housing: The current in-house version of the game allows you to buy a (prototype) house in the Fishing Village. You still have to be a millionaire to afford the property, but getting there is less harsh than IRL. You can also add and replace various furniture and homeware in the special Decor Mode!
- Farming: Works pretty much like Housing, and will also see similar improvements in the future.
Shrines
Shrines are our new “point-of-interest” type of open-world activities. There are different kinds of shrines you can find:
- Shrine of the Wilds: These depict various animals and offer certain items related to these animals in order to get a one-time boost to your XP, proficiencies, etc. It also offers a new gameplay-related twist!
- Druidic Shrines: These will allow you to constantly “feed them” with animal-based crafting components in exchange for a tiny XP boost.
- Stagfather Shrines: These start a special event: you get a timer and you need to hunt down animals within the time limit to receive a reward (such as a skill point, etc.).
- Memorials: You can find statues of various legendary warriors all over the open world, interacting with them will boost certain proficiencies.
NPC improvements
Being a vital part of every RPG, NPCs also deserved our attention. After some adjustments, they feel more natural and are a more integral part of the world.
- Better looks: We’ve improved NPC faces, hair, and beards across the board. Most should look better now (though some surprises may arise due to global changes, we’ll be fixing them later).
- More natural movement: NPCs now turn more naturally when you approach them. (This one is subtle and may go unnoticed unless you're aware of it. You might just feel something is better without being able to pinpoint exactly what. Previously, you couldn’t talk to NPCs unless you approached them head-on, and even then, they would rotate toward you like robots. This has been improved so their movement appears more natural. We plan to refine this further, but the first iteration of this system is now working.)
- Dynamic reactions: Enemies now respond faster when interrupted during “simple interactions” (e.g., sitting). (This change addresses enemy interactions. Previously, if enemies were in a “simple interaction” (for example, sitting) and you attacked them, it took them ages to stand up, draw their weapons, notice you, and get into combat. We’ve now implemented a system that handles interruptions and uses prototype animations to make their reactions more dynamic. This is just the first iteration, but we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made.)
- Coming Soon™: Enemies will move their lips and show facial reactions in combat. You’ll almost be able to measure their level of hate for you, just by looking at their faces when they bash you down.
Further balancing changes
Balance, balance, balance… While it’s hard to explain, be sure that balancing the whole experience is still one of our top priorities. The feedback from the recent playtests has been super helpful in that matter (thank you, beta testers!). For example, we’ve fixed some issues with bows since the tests showed we’d nerfed them too much.
We’re now surely moving on to balancing the mid-to-late game areas, starting with Cuanacht.
Fashion Grail continues
Let’s be honest: in RPGs, armor is all about fashion. Well, not really, but you get the point. So more not-so-shiny stuff to wear is always welcome.
- New enemy armor sets.
- New player armor sets: Over 18 new armor variants, including the Plaguewraith and Children of Morrigan sets. Take a peek:
UI improvements
We hope you like the recently shown new version of the game’s UI! We’re polishing it and adding more options to make the navigation easier and more intuitive.
- Equipment grid categories: This is a huge deal, as we’ve always wanted to implement this feature. Items in your bag are now categorized, e.g. when you select “weapons”, they’ll be sorted into categories like one-handed, two-handed, shields, etc. This system will soon be applied to all other inventory screens, not just your bag, and will be further refined.
- Equipment display: The “body” equipment slots are now presented more intuitively.
- Character progression & handcrafting menu: We added category artworks for character progression and handcrafting.
New content in Cuanacht
Cuanacht is perpetually getting expanded and polished, and the whole area is now even more vast in terms of content.
- Quests: We’ve added 15+ new quests so far. All of them are at various stages of being done (or broken).
- Dungeons: A 7+ new ones of those.
- New interiors: Previously unavailable areas are now accessible (or will be soon). The work in this field continues.
- Something for later: A new huge dungeon, the Abyss of Sagremor, is in progress. Want a peek?
Smaller & misc changes
- New lockpicking minigame models: Simple as that, lockpicking looks better now.
- Enemy variants: Some of the old bad guys and their models received new variants that will differ between regions. Also, some completely new bad guys have been added, too. Remember Bonemasks from a few updates before? Their shaman version will be resurrecting the enemies you fell. Ready to get annoyed?
- Enemy animations: We’ve smoothened up some enemy animations, including their idle versions. Some of them are just adorable:
[previewyoutube=fwqG7Qg_nY0;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=_-vPW-VMiRw;full][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube=fV7z8VR3QE0;full][/previewyoutube]
And that’s it for now!
The comments section is yours. Tell us what you think about the newest changes.
We can’t wait enough for March to share the 0.9 update with you! Join the Discord if you want to get in touch more directly: https://discord.com/invite/Hn5zJYV
Stay tuned, stay safe, and good travels!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/
