Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon Guide#

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a first-person open-world action RPG developed by Questline and published by Awaken Realms, retelling Arthurian legend as dark fantasy: 600 years after King Arthur’s fall, the island of Avalon is locked in an eternal autumn, the reality-warping force known as the Wyrdness spreads at night, and the player — an inmate confined to an island asylum — is drawn into the choices surrounding Arthur’s resurrection. The game entered Steam Early Access on March 30, 2023, and launched in its 1.0 version on May 23, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

This section collects 23 guides covering everything from beginner basics and the combat and skill systems to the boss roster, map exploration, endgame choices, and post-launch updates. All data and mechanics descriptions are compiled from the Steam store page, the official wiki, and mainstream media coverage; anything unverified is explicitly marked as not covered rather than speculated about.

Guide Navigation#

Game Overview#

Core Features#

World and Main Storyline#

• Setting: Legend has it that Arthur led humankind ashore on Avalon and founded Kamelot, only to be murdered by his own kind, the Fore-Dwellers. The Queen created the Red Death, and Arthur was resurrected through the Spindle as a Fore-Dweller, whereupon the Wyrdness subsided — but all of that was 600 years ago.
• Where the player fits in: Six centuries later, the protagonist is a prisoner held in the Island Asylum who reaches the island of Avalon while escaping; the quests revolve around collecting Arthur’s soul shards, and the player ultimately decides whether Arthur is brought back.
• Core conflict: The NPC Caradoc wants to end any possibility of Arthur’s resurrection for good; the final confrontation is fixed as a choice between Caradoc and Arthur, and the endings also depend on which of eight candidate NPCs inherits Arthur’s power.
• Wyrdness: A world-corroding force that strengthens at night. It affects enemies (Wyrd-infected enemies drop mutated materials and grant more experience) and world elements such as the Menhir statues — the environmental mechanic you most need to watch while exploring.

Difficulty and Character Progression#

The game offers five difficulty levels: Story Focus, Explorer, Adventurer (the standard), Veteran, and a Survival Mode with campfire-only saves and permanent death. Story Focus unlocks alongside Explorer, and Survival Mode alongside Veteran; difficulty can be switched at any time from the options menu.

There is no class system for character growth: six attributes (Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Spirituality, Practicality, Perception) determine which skill trees you can unlock, and skill points come from leveling up. If a build doesn’t feel right, the extremely rare Origin Potion resets both skill and attribute points.

Key Statistics at a Glance#

All of the figures below have public sources; nothing beyond them is speculated here:

Versions and DLC#

After the 1.0 launch, the game has kept receiving updates as a combination of free content batches and paid expansions. Steam currently lists 8 DLC:

Beyond the DLC, there are three bundle editions: Excalibur Edition (base game, Sanctuary of Sarras, a 16-track soundtrack, a 104-page artbook, and the golden horse armor), Adventure Pack, and Supporter Edition.

Important Notes#

1. This is a strictly single-player game — no multiplayer, co-op, or online features of any kind; “team up to fight bosses” content circulating online has nothing to do with this title
2. No mobile version — the game released only on PC (Steam, GOG), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
3. Difficulty can be changed at any time — if you hit a wall, lowering the difficulty in the options first is a perfectly reasonable choice
4. The Origin Potion is extremely rare — respec opportunities are precious, so think through your direction before committing skill and attribute points
5. Think twice before enabling Survival Mode — campfire-only saves and permanent death on failure; recommended only once you already know the game well

Three Things to Know Before Buying#

• It is not a port of the board game: Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon originates from the successfully crowdfunded 2018 board game of the same name (designer Krzysztof Piskorski), but its gameplay is completely different from Tainted Grail: Conquest, the 2020 deck-building roguelike predecessor — this is an open-world RPG with real-time action combat, so don’t let old impressions of the series mislead you
• Difficulty walls dictate exploration order: each of the three regions has its own gear tier and enemy strength, and a natural exploration order emerges from those walls; if you can’t beat the enemies in front of you, you’re usually headed the wrong way rather than under-leveled
• The 1.0 release reworked where progression lives: compared with the Early Access period, 1.0 moved the focus of character growth from attributes to skill trees — plenty of older build guides online are outdated, so check publication dates before following them

Related Games#

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — the benchmark dark fantasy open-world RPG
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl — a first-person, survival-focused open-world shooter RPG
• Elden Ring — a defining high-difficulty action RPG with fragmented storytelling
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II — a first-person, simulation-heavy open-world RPG

Related Rankings#

Best RPGs · Best Open World Games · Best Open World Games of All Time

Full Guides#

In-depth sub-guides — beginner basics, boss strategies, map exploration, character builds, the combat and skill systems, lore, items and equipment, and endgame choices — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon section.