Hey everyone!
So… this is IT! Today we bring you the biggest and most important update ever (other than the upcoming 1.0 version, obviously :D). Let us start with something AWESOME!
Please check out the official Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Cinematic Trailer (created by Unit Image, the studio behind the Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 cinematic trailers)!
[previewyoutube=uEJZsxyKU1Y;full][/previewyoutube]
(Song credits - Danheim & Gealdýr - Ymir)
We also have a new, shiny gameplay trailer for the game!
(with a great soundtrack by Dzivia; https://www.youtube.com/@Dzivia)
[previewyoutube=UQ9AB-Ab1Zs;full][/previewyoutube]
We would really appreciate it if you could share those two trailers around! This is the final push for Tainted Grail. We spent the last 4+ years working on this game; much of it together with you. Now that the game will launch very soon, we want to make sure as many people as possible will learn about it!
Okay! Now, let's learn more about patch 0.9! *breathe in, breathe out* :D
Today, we’re launching the final, public patch to the game that is giving you access to the almost-final prologue and Act 1 (~20 hours of the game).
This includes full English voiceovers and text translation to the following languages*:
- English
- Czech
- Italian
- Japanese
- Polish
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- French
- German
*At the premiere of the patch, there might be some readable and journal entry translations missing (they will be added in 2-3 weeks)
What have we changed?
Ha, great question!
Patch 0.9 is pretty much *almost final* version of Prologue and Act 1. You can expect final quality—BUT there still might be some bugs and problems here and there (please send us a bug report if you find anything!)
If you are wondering if anything significant changed since the last patch… yup! This is almost like a new, shiny game :D Our whole team has worked tirelessly to get to this point and the game is looking and most importantly playing AMAZING!
Once again, pretty much every aspect of the game should be better (from slight upgrades to HUGE changes). Below, you can find some examples:
- Completely new prologue, with 2 new mini-bosses, many more NPCs, and new content to discover
- Much more content in Act 1 (quests, dungeons, enemies, loot)
- New character creation
- Revamped & upgraded crafting (blacksmithing, alchemy, cooking)
- Revamped magic (much more dynamic, fluid, and satisfying)
- Totally revamped summoning (summons now block your max mana)
- Upgrades in the feeling of close combat
- TONS of new items to find and use
- Revamped Attributes and Skills system (more flexibility for build crafting and more useful perks)
- Completely revamped and polished UI
- Totally revamped Wyrdnight (new visuals and improved in terms of balance)
- New systems: sketchbooks, farming, house, pet
- ADDED ROMANCE
- Added Photo Mode
- Entirely revamped and upgraded gameplay balance, including combat
- Added “finisher” moves
- Added boss mini cut-scenes
- Added TONS of new soundtrack
- Overall lighting overhaul in the open world
- New, better weather effects
- Added a lot of new NPCs and quests
- Added shrines in the open world
- Added story interactions in the fireplace
- Added guilds and their questlines
- Added new weapon types: Spears
- …and a lot of smaller & bigger things here and there (we could be going for ages :D).
Generally speaking, we’ve been quite busy for the past year and we really poured our hearts and passion into Tainted Grail. We hope it shows in the game itself! And most importantly, our fingers are crossed that you will have A TON of fun in the 0.9 update, and the upcoming 1.0 too!
So without further ado: ENJOY THE NEW PATCH, TRAVELERS!
If you wish to, please spread the word about the game as much as you can! We are super close to the final premiere right now and we want to ensure people will hear about Tainted Grail all over the world.
And obviously, let us know about your feelings & experiences with the new stuff!
IMPORTANT:
Your current saves will be wiped and we will unfortunately have one more wipe with the 1.0 update. We are extremely sorry for that; we do know this is annoying. Keeping those saves would be extremely complicated and we need to prioritize game optimization and bug-fixing for the final version of the game.
But we feel that our game is HIGHLY replayable, both in the many different builds you can create, as well as the branching narrative with multiple quests and endings.
Okay! Now let’s give you a big screenshot dump to convince you to try out the 0.9! :D
Last but not least, a few words from our CEO!
Hey everyone!
I wanted to add a personal note from myself, from the perspective of CEO! After all, this is the most important moment for Tainted Grail! Also something I have been personally working towards for over 11 years now, leading Awaken Realms from our origins as a small 2-man miniature painting studio.
I always felt I have a huge debt of gratitude to pay to the gaming industry - thanks to them I was able to live through one of the most amazing adventures and it definitely helped carry me through my teens. I remember one holiday that I literally spent playing Gothic 2 all-day (with night of the raven expansion) for straight 2 months. BEST HOLIDAY EVER! :D
So creating a similar experience for others was always my dream and a huge passion. Both Questline and Awaken Realms teams are full of people with exactly the same approach. When we are working on a game, we do not start with the excel spreadsheet - but with an idea and tons of passion. Sure, spreadsheets are there to make sure everything accounts for itself - but we know what is most important here.
For the last 7 years I have witnessed how the Questline team developed. Both as a team and every single person individually and I have to say, I am so proud of what we managed to accomplish here! The level of growth is unprecedented and you can just compare when we launched EA to how the game looks today!
Game development is not an easy job, trust me. Sure, it has its moments - but most of the time it’s like building a house during a fire tornado. So yeah, if you want to make it, you need to be forged in that fire :D And I got to say that our team has put in all the heart, sweat, and passion into this crazy ambitious project. A TRUE open world RPG! Something that we only dreamt of doing now is something that we actually will be delivering very, very soon!
I just want to let you all know that this game is a product of an extremely hardworking and passionate team that grew from around 20 to 50 people over the course of development. While I know it’s not perfect and lacks AAA polish, I am EXTREMELY proud of their work!
So today, we are laying on your hands an awesome cinematic trailer, free demo on all platforms (as we believe it is really good practice to give customers a way to test the game before purchase) and a final patch in Early Access.
Thank you so much for being on this journey with us. It was quite a ride and your comments, feedback and goodwill is what kept us going!
Take care and enjoy the 0.9!
Join our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/Hn5zJYV
Take care, safe travels!
Always yours,
Questline & Awaken Realms team
