Hey everyone!
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.
The Tainted Grail journey
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.
Free anniversary DLC
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:
What to expect?
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.
A year in numbers
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!
Community screenshots
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:
1st place – B1GCR3AM (via Reddit)
2nd place – 🪶𝐑𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐧’𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞 ☾ 𝓥𝓟 / @aenyegynvael (via X)
3rd place – CavadorAbsolon (via Reddit)
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)
Community art
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):
1st place – Racc / strayraccoon (via Discord)
2nd place – Moony / @ArtMamoon (via X)
3rd place – ShadowKing224 (via Discord)
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)
Rewards for the winners!
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.
Modding scene
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:
jondnoj (Nexus Mods)
therealskybro (Nexus Mods)
⛧NO.S6X⛧ / zizerak (Discord)
Limited Collector’s & Deluxe Sets
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.
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
Deluxe Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108528
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
Deluxe Edition: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/awaken-realms-store#/product/108526
Artovision collaboration
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.
Shadowbox 1: King Arthur, from the Official Cinematic Trailer
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision1)
Shadowbox 2: Josephus, from the Sanctuary of Sarras Expansion
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision2)
Shadowbox 3: Mistbearer, one of the bosses from the Horns of the South
(Store link: https://tinyurl.com/artovision3)
A few words from the team
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!)
Patch Notes 1.23
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:
Gameplay
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.
\[Sarras DLC] 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.
Quest
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.
UI
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.
System
Added small optimizations, especially in fights with many NPCs.
\[PC] Fixed target FPS options when not in fullscreen mode with VSync On not behaving correctly.
Challenge Mode
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.
Misc
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.
That's it for today! Let's celebrate!
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.
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