Hello everyone!
Autumn has arrived! Or should we call it Fall, for obvious reasons? ;)
In any case, we hope you've been doing great since the last time. We certainly have, and that's because we've been preparing something amazing for you. Let's start with performance: we managed to win another optimization battle! You can expect performance & stability improvements across all platforms. We're also introducing two Steam Deck-dedicated presets: Quality and Performance. More on that at the end of the post.
Now, the main highlight. Something many of you have been asking for since the game launched. So let's cut to the chase.
Today we are launching a brand-new free DLC, Fists of Fury, together with patch 1.30!
And by today we mean RIGHT NOW! Check out the rest of this post to see what’s new in Avalon.
Not the reading type? The trailer below covers everything that’s been added in about two minutes. You can also watch the trailer AND read through the rest of the post. No one’s checking that, really.
This one goes out to everyone who ever picked up a legendary blade, a Wyrd-charged wand, an ancient bow, or any other weapon, really, looked at it carefully, and went: "cool, but I’d rather punch my way through". And now you can do that!
All the Kung Fury, One Punch Man, or Mr. Miyagi fans will be satisfied as well :D
Unarmed combat is now an actual, fully supported build, with its own weapon category, gear, skill tree, and a dedicated teacher. Just don’t try his temper.
On top of that, patch 1.30 brings another round of optimization across all platforms, general fixes and improvements, two dedicated graphics modes for Steam Deck, and more! All info below.
1. Free DLC: Fists of Fury
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/5144140/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon__Fists_of_Fury_DLC/"]
Before we proceed - this is your friendly reminder that this part of the post contains spoilers for the new content. If you want to go in completely blind, feel free to skip to point 2!
The new free DLC will let you fulfill your deepest dream: making unarmed combat a viable build for your characters. And thanks to a new quest involving a mysterious hermit, you'll be able to put your skills to the test right away.
The DLC also adds a fist-dedicated skill tree, special items that enhance unarmed combat and, most importantly, a new weapon type that lets you fight effectively with your fists.
What’s in store with this DLC:
A new questline: Learn your master's teachings and philosophy. This will, quite coincidentally, require you to face some of Avalon's greatest threats using nothing but your fists.
A new weapon category: Fistfighting Weapons let you fight unarmed... while technically staying armed.
New armor and items: Because every advantage helps. Especially when it makes your fists hit harder.
A new skill tree: Because no build would be complete without having to spend some hard-earned skill points on it.
A mysterious traveler in the Horns of the South
Rumor has it that after years of isolation, he has uncovered the secrets of existence and discovered the meaning of life. He can also take down a bear with his bare hands. Challenge him and, if you manage to impress him, perhaps he'll take you on as his disciple. You'll find him in the Horns of the South. His teachings, however, will drag you considerably further than that.
New weapon category: Fistfighting Weapons
Seven brand-new weapons. They all share one core rule: attacks made with a Fistfighting weapon still count as Unarmed attacks. That means every unarmed bonus in the game, from gear to talents, keeps working while you have them equipped.
Brawler's Gloves, aka the honest starting point, or your entry ticket to the whole playstyle. Pick these up early and start punching.
Unburdened Hands: built for players who just want to keep gliding around. Killing an enemy restores your full Stamina, and so does a successful parry.
Unbroken Motion: the combo weapon. Every consecutive hit increases your chance of a Critical Hit by 2%, stacking up to 50%.
Patient Grasp is the sustain option. Physical attacks regenerate 20% of the damage dealt as Stamina. Infinite punches.
Bitter Lesson, or the poison and punishment. Hits apply Poison, and every Poisoned enemy within 15m increases your Melee Retaliation by 10%.
Still Touch, or the Alaska special. Hits apply Chill, and every Frozen enemy within 15m increases your Melee Critical Chance by 10%.
Charred Discipline, Scorpion’s favorite. Hits apply Burn, and every Burning enemy within 15m increases your Lifesteal by 1%.
With the latter three, getting outnumbered will never be a problem again!
New armor and items
First, the Hermit's Garb. It comes in seven variants, from Ivory up to Onyx, and each one pushes a slightly different flavor of the same idea: unarmed combat gets better the longer you keep the pressure on. Across the variants, you'll find consecutive-hit scaling, low-health payoff, heavy attack specialization, and improved mobility.
Alongside the body pieces, you get Hermit's Arm Bindings and Hermit's Leg Bindings, which handle attack speed, dash economy and a chance to restore health on hit, plus the Headband of the First Disciple for anyone who enjoys living dangerously. And by that we mean below 10% of your health.
Jewelry splits into two groups:
Three amulets, built around trade-offs. One goes all-in on raw unarmed damage at the cost of taking more damage yourself. One scales your critical chance and critical damage while unarmed. The third is purely defensive and halves the first hit you take while Knocked Down or Overexerted.
Three rings, built around movement. One rewards successful dodges with a burst of attack speed. One lets you Dash even while Overexerted, which quietly fixes the biggest weakness of the playstyle. The last is the simple one: more unarmed damage, more attack speed, more gooder.
A new skill tree
The DLC adds a brand-new skill tree under Strength. Some of our favorite picks, working especially well with the high-tier Fistfighting Weapons:
Breaking Point and Numbing Blow. Your unarmed attacks gain a chance to Break the Armor or Stun outright.
Untouchable Motion and Dash of Violence. The dash package: longer invincibility frames and bonus unarmed damage for three seconds after a Dash.
Hardening Resolve. The longer your hit chain, the less damage you take.
Sapping Strikes. Unarmed hits drain a portion of the damage dealt from your target's stamina. Exhausting.
2. Xbox Play Anywhere
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon now supports Xbox Play Anywhere! Your saves and your achievements carry over between the two, so you can leave Avalon on the couch and pick it up at your desk exactly where you left off.
If you already own the game on Xbox, there’s nothing else you need to do. Everything launching today, including the free Fists of Fury DLC and patch 1.30, is live on both.
3. The game is now 50% off for the Steam Autumn Sale! Enjoy :)
4. Patch notes v1.30
You know it well: new free DLC means a new patch as well! See what’s been changed
Another optimization pass is live, and this one lands across the board: expect stability and performance improvements on all platforms, in all areas of the game. The biggest improvements should be visible on PC, Steam Deck, and Steam Machine (5 to 30 extra FPS, depending on your setup). Console versions should see around 2 extra FPS, along with better overall stability. We keep saying it, and we keep meaning it: we'll keep fighting for every frame (with our bare hands, if needed).
Additionally, Steam Deck players now get to choose two graphic modes:
quality, around 30 FPS, with noticeably better visual fidelity than what the Deck was running before;
performance, around 40 FPS for a smoother ride.
Now, for the full list of patch notes v1.30:
New content:
New DLC ‘Fists of fury'
Added a new questline in the Horns of the South area
Added new weapon category: Fistfighting Weapons
Added new armor and items for unarmed combat
New skills and Unarmed skill tree overhaul
The upgrade required us to reset and refund all skill points spent in the Unarmed category for all characters
Optimization:
Performance and stability improvements across all platforms
Optimized Grass Density values for better performance on GPU-bound setups, high resolutions and low-end GPUs
Features & Improvements
Added FSR to Upscaling options
Grass Density and Vegetation Quality are now separate settings
New Lens Flare setting added.
\[Steam deck] Added two graphics presets to the Video settings
Quality - targeting 30 FPS with better graphics quality than previous versions
Performance - targeting 35-40 FPS with slightly improved graphics quality than previous versions
\[PC only] Increased draw distance slider to 120% in Graphic settings
On Ultra+ draw distance is now set to 120% by default
Higher draw distance may impact performance on lower end/CPU bound systems
Further reduced the damage taken when picking up Excalibur after completing its storyline
Added scrolling to tooltips that extend beyond the screen
Adjusted some tooltips visuals for more clarity
Bug Fixes:
\[Steam deck] Fixed black screen issues in Sagremor area
Removed ability to rebind Previous / Next buttons to avoid soft locks. Values have been reset to default
\[DLC] Fixed Arthur Memory not being available after reading "Royal Invitation"
Fixed rebinding issues when using an AZERTY keyboard layout
Fixed dialogue box issues when using Large UI and Big Font.
Fixed an issue where restoring settings to default also reset the difficulty
Fixed overlapping text in the Unlock House popup.
Fixed overlapping text in the Location Discovery popup.
Fixed overlapping text in the Save Armor Sets prompt.
Fixed an issue with refreshing quickslots when the UI is hidden
Fixed an issue where the arrow slot would remain visible when empty
Fixed an issue with the Cold Sun not refreshing Frenzy duration when applying new stacks.
Fixed an issue in Photo Mode where character's eyebrow colors would revert to the default color
You can no longer interact with the world during the short moment of falling when you die
5. That's it for now!
With the Fists of Fury DLC live, all that's left is to wish you happy punching! Go find the hermit, take the lessons, and then go see how a bear feels about your new philosophy.
As always, let us know what you think. All feedback, both on the new stuff and on the good old Avalon, is welcome on our Discord and in the Steam discussions.
Take care!
Questline / Awaken Realms
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/"]
