Tainted Grail is a fantastic successor to the Elder Scrolls games of the last generation

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a sprawling, atmospheric open-world RPG that reimagines Arthurian legend through a lens of darkness and decay, drawing inspiration from the rich board game and RPG lore that inspired it. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is ambitious in scope, often breathtaking in tone and occasionally undermined by uneven polish and technical issues, leading it to remind me of older genre classics such as Might and Magic and, almost unbelievably, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. 

This videogame adaptation of Awaken Realms’ board game takes the mythos of King Arthur and plunges it into a bleak, corrupted Avalon. You awaken in a land where the Wyrdness — a creeping, supernatural fog — twists reality and consumes villages, forests, and castles. The narrative is heavy with despair, but it’s also rich with lore, branching quests, and moral choices that shape your journey. 

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon features a world that feels alive, if not always welcoming, and the writing leans into the tragic weight of legends unraveling. The characters are old-school in feel, with everyone having at least something — often inane — to say, and those who are obviously quest-givers or otherwise important having a much deeper dialogue tree. Writing for both the core story and the characters is good, albeit unrelentingly dark in tone.

Gameplay is firmly in the tradition of Skyrim, Oblivion and any other first (or third) person RPG. You explore a vast open world primarily on your own; battling enemies, scavenging resources, and uncovering secrets. Combat mixes melee, ranged and magic, with skill trees allowing you to specialize in different playstyles. 

The progression system is flexible and encourages experimentation, though some players may find the difficulty spikes jarring depending on their build — certain encounters feel punishingly hard compared to the relative ease of exploration, and it’s easy to get yourself into dangerous places that your character simply is not ready for. One thing that I loved (and which took me back 20 years) was the ability to simply go into stealth mode and wander around towns crouching, watching my stealth stat creep up with every passing minute. If you know, you know!

The Xbox Series X version benefits from the console’s power versus the relatively workmanlike visuals, delivering expansive landscapes and moody lighting effects that reinforce the oppressive atmosphere. Forests are dense, ruins are haunting, and the fog-shrouded valleys create a constant sense of unease. Tainted Grail is a game that looks good because it’s been crafted well, not because it delivers jaw-dropping technical and mechanical features.

Performance on Xbox Series X is generally stable, though I did experience a couple of crashes and bugs, such as being able to get stuck inside scenery and so on. These were occasionally my own fault, because like anyone who plays this kind of game, I often explored in places where I clearly wasn’t meant to go. Load times are reasonable, and the Series X handles the scale well, but polish remains an area for improvement.

What sets Tainted Grail apart is its narrative ambition. Quests are rarely simple fetch tasks; they often involve moral dilemmas, faction politics, or choices that ripple across the world. Do you aid a village succumbing to the Wyrdness, or abandon it to secure your own survival? Do you trust a knight who claims loyalty to Arthur, or suspect corruption in his motives? These decisions carry weight, and they give the game a gravitas that elevates it beyond mere imitation of Bethesda’s formula.

Replayability — or least longevity — is strong thanks to branching storylines and multiple character builds. The game offers well over 50 hours of content, with side quests and exploration adding significantly to the runtime. For players who enjoy immersion in lore-heavy worlds, Avalon is well worth your time to explore, even if its technical flaws occasionally break the spell.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon on Xbox is a bold, atmospheric RPG that succeeds in delivering a dark reimagining of Arthurian legend. It doesn’t always match its ambition with flawless execution — bugs and uneven difficulty can frustrate — but its storytelling, world-building, and sheer scope make it a compelling experience for fans of open-world fantasy. If you can accept its imperfections, there’s a haunting journey here that lingers long after you put down the controller.

Tainted Grail is available now for Xbox and PC.