Tainted Grail: Conquest

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon brought me here. The lore in this game is fantastic and I think it's even have better gameplay and mechanics than Slay the Spire. If you like Slay the Spire or Hearthstone, this is the game for you 10/10

Tainted Grail: Conquest это мрачный карточный рогалик, который затягивает и утомляет. Мир в духе артуровских мифов: проклятая земля, гротескные монстры, странные NPC с непредсказуемыми мотивами. Эстетика и арты унаследованы от настолки, музыка навевает шаманскими мотивами, а атмосфера выкручена на максимум. Каждая партия уникальна: новые враги, события, карты и предметы. Любопытство — «а что за враг там, на холме?» — главный двигатель. Бои простые и динамичные, но одна неудачная карта может стоить всего забега. Напряжение как в Dark Souls, умер, но часть прогресса остаётся. 9 классов с разными механиками: призыватель управляет отрядом, файтер бьёт в ближнем бою, лучник расстреливает издали. Прокачка, сбор жителей для деревни. Огромный пул карт и комбинаций делает сборку колоды увлекательной. Стильная, атмосферная игра, которая отлично заходит на первые несколько забегов. Любителям мрачной эстетики и карточных механик стоит попробовать, но будьте готовы, что к финалу новизна уступит место однообразию.

Несмотря на скромный бюджет, Tainted Grail — одна из самых увлекательных и захватывающих игр в своём жанре, по крайней мере, для меня. Каждый аспект игры выполнен с большой любовью и на высоком уровне, что заметно с первых минут. В игре представлено девять классов, которые условно делятся на три категории: бойцы, рейнджеры и маги. Каждый класс обладает уникальными сильными и слабыми сторонами: некоторые способны наносить колоссальный урон уже на ранних этапах, но уязвимы в защите, тогда как другие выдерживают множество ударов благодаря призываемым существам или способностям к блокированию. Любой игрок сможет найти класс по душе, однако выбор становится доступен только по мере прокачки, которая происходит довольно быстро. На старте же игроку доступен лишь Wyrdhunter — классический боец, ориентированный на урон. Tainted Grail работает по системе roguelite: при смерти персонажа приходится начинать заново, но определённые ресурсы накапливаются в течение всех прохождений. Чтобы использовать их в полной мере, нужно находить на полях сражений NPC-союзников, которые присоединятся к вашему лагерю по взаимной симпатии или после выполнения их личных квестов. Ещё один выдающийся элемент игры — сюжет, квесты и диалоги. Чтобы не лишать вас интереса, я не буду раскрывать подробности истории, но отмечу, что она увлекательна и мастерски ведёт игрока к финалу. В игре множество побочных заданий от персонажей, которых вы пригласили в свой «хаб», или от случайных путников, чьи истории нередко оказываются трогательными и печальными. Все диалоги озвучены на высочайшем уровне — актёры проделали потрясающую работу. Изначально я хотел ограничиться парой предложений, чтобы выразить свою любовь к этой игре, ведь она великолепна. Но затем решил рассказать чуть больше, ведь Tainted Grail определённо стоит своих денег и является настоящим «скрытым гемом», как, впрочем, и его продолжение — Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon.

卡牌“肉鸽”游戏？（360度无死角的差劲）~玩起来不像肉鸽，更像是肝帝刷子游戏~ 1.画面不敢恭维，亮度、饱和度太高，但没法调节，优化不好，画质不高，建模材质低劣，反光效果不好，和“恐怖黎明”的效果一样一样的，就这么执着于3D么？ 2.音乐方面还可以，挺有氛围感的，尤其是背景音吹的那小段口哨的riff，阴森带着引诱与戏谑的感觉~语音听感上像是AI~音效缺的厉害~ 3.翻译问题：“恐怖黎明”也是这德行，不如机翻！一大堆翻译莫名其妙甚至缺失或者错乱关键信息的地方，尤其是卡牌和技能描述是重灾区，太多太多错误了，一个卡牌游戏竟然文字描述除了残缺就是错误，玩着脑仁儿疼！ 4.敌人设计：没什么可说的，你敷衍我也敷衍~ 5.各类基础缺陷： a.缺少战斗记录，小结画面等，不知道自己之前打了多少伤害，被打多少伤害等等，这是最基本的信息之一了~ b.一般默认攻击信息是攻击力*攻击次数，持续状态信息数值*回合数，但这游戏竟然反过来显示，这么重要的信息没有任何说明，都是自己算出来的~ c.图片信息非常粗糙，“染血布料”和“人肝”竟然用的同一张图，还有很多其他不同描述但用相同图片的道具~ d.战斗中卡牌的指向选定放大是有极大问题的，单指冥尘牌~这张牌每次战斗在有冥尘能量的时候都会自动消耗变成牌发给玩家，它极其明显的比左右两边的牌选定范围要大，而且很离谱，甚至指向这张牌的附近都会选定它，导致游玩非常不流畅~ e.对话框的右上角的“X”和“返回”是一样的效果，都是返回，按Esc也无法直接关闭对话框~ f.物品栏没有整理键，但是符文石栏的整理键管着物品栏...即便是整理完了也只是都挨着没空格而已，没有任何程序性的排序~ g.在开始游戏后，打开人物界面是没有职业基本属性介绍的，只有职业背景的简短文字介绍~ h.很多按钮按完卡住且需要再按一次才行~ i.大地图做那么多不能走的地方干嘛？走着走着就卡住，多此一举~ j.选牌或者删牌的选取框有么？尤其删两张牌的时候，第一张仔细看还能看见个金边儿，第二张就什么标识都没有了，我到底选没选中啊？ k.出牌没有快捷键，只能拿鼠标点~ l.前期教程相当于没有，基本信息都是自己摸索的，再加上翻译严重错误，好在不是很难理解，但是毫无意义的增加了学习成本~ j.地图标识离远了还从地图上看不见了... k.这么肝的游戏，请问存档位置？？？ 6.局外养成：（拖时长的低级手段） a.每个阵营有97张牌，外加1张任务牌，6张村中npc中立牌，n张野外中立牌，除了基本牌全都需要解锁，每个职业有41个被动技能需要解锁（9个职业41*9=369），通关一次也就解锁两三个，非常肝，非常拖时长~ 头盔、外衣之类的外观也需要解锁，根据是每次通关的分数和职业，也就是说需要用不同的职业达到一定分数通关才行~ 最过分的是删牌这种基础功能也需要肝材料解锁，一个单机游戏做这么肝真无语了~ b.每次流程的庇佑选项跟没给一样~ c.在所有任务完成后，蜡烛熄灭也碰不到任何怪了~ d.小摊投资是真坑，白白浪费5000块就换来点打折的道具，还不是每次都能遇到，通关自动换50黄金代币不好么~ e.找神秘女巫删牌的代价是损失75%的血量上限，删张牌至于这么大代价么？这是人想出来的设计？ 7.符文系统：（搞笑的屎上雕花设计） 大部分稀有甚至神话符文都不如普通的实用，属于没活儿硬整，挺搞笑的~ a.“曼”：所有人包括敌人和自己都获得增益...？改成都敌我都减甲，狂教徒可以当专属用，其他职业也能凑合用~ b.“肯”：克隆卡牌顺序为13倍数的牌，什么是卡牌顺序？翻译的莫名其妙，怎么还有倍数的事儿？一回合能出26张牌？不就是每13张牌克隆么，懒得测试了~ c.铁匠的符文转变，用3个2级符文转变之后竟然变成了一个1级符文，相当于用9一个1级符文换了1个1级符文？？？不保留符文等级是为何？又是拖时长的手段呗~ 8.卡牌设计：（喝大了的设计） a.大部分牌都是废牌，车轱辘话来回说，费不同但效果差不多甚至一样，删牌手段又比较有限，初始牌给的太多，再加上需要应对各种敌人所必须的牌，导致什么职业手里都是一堆牌，不成体系，牌组非常臃肿~ b.“战术精通”这张中立牌是过于超模了，完成披甲战士任务就可以买，配合任何职业都是极大加强的牌~ c.本来哨兵是个非常有特色的职业，但是初始牌给的烟雾箭能眩晕一回合但给敌人加50护甲（减伤50%），这不纯恶心人么，必须删掉的牌，否则齐射牌基本没法用了~由于齐射自动出手里的牌，没有排序，所以有不少牌根本没法用~ d.噬血之箭-“每名被这张牌击杀的敌人：力量永久增加25%”？？？这不只是翻译问题吧~ e.“克隆”的问题很大，如果是一张单体攻击牌击杀敌人，显示克隆之后就没然后了，不会攻击其他敌人，只能是全体攻击牌或者是随机攻击牌才行，这明显是bug了~ f.每关的boss打完你猜玩家是选择删牌还是学一个被动技能？有的选么？ 9.NPC技能升级：（拆分基础功能拖时长的烂活儿） a.女裁缝那可以升级伤害，3级总共加3点伤害...敌人动不动都几百血，用这3点伤害蚍蜉撼树么~ b.制烛师的地图升级中，显示地图和npc位置这么基础的信息都需要解锁，而且是每周目都要重新解锁~ c.迷失的灵魂，一局通关冥尘石也就几百个，升级4级血瓶恢复量竟然要一万个石头！其他npc升级也都是如此，获取量少，但是升级需求大~ d.要是想全解锁，上千小时打底，这玩意儿也值得玩这么长时间？ 10.职业特性：（有点想法，属于脑缺氧级别） 三个阵营，九种职业（其实只有快速堆倍率打输出的职业能玩），不同职业基础属性值差别不大，主要看技能和卡牌构筑，同一阵营不同职业的卡池基本一样，只有能力牌的区别，每关boss之后给的被动技能都是同一池子的，需要数次通关慢慢解锁~冥尘猎人作为初始职业可以直接平趟最高难度，其他职业强度就比之差远了~ a.狂战士（垃圾）：怎么玩怎么别扭，被动是25%或者以下的血量获得2点能量（一次性给的，不是搞笑来的？），应该给狂战士比别的职业更高的基础血量和更高的基础攻击力吧，标准就是冥尘猎人的各项属性，而基本牌也应该不同，狂战士不应该是越掉血越厉害么？大招是吸血，必须挨打掉血才会涨大招能量，要格挡和防护罩的意义是什么？光初始牌就给了3张格挡，还得慢慢找机会删掉...大招是单回合吸血，倍率没有冥尘猎人高，配合各种献祭减血、自己加护甲、减敌人护甲以及反击的卡牌输出，问题是不掉血就不会反击，反击是按受伤百分比的，受的伤害越低反击越低，还有没血条的、有强大光环的、好几回合不攻击憋大招的怪，反击挺搞笑的，还是得靠减甲打正面输出，跟冥尘猎人有什么区别？而且还比人家少了一个强力输出的大招~再说了这是狂战士的攻击方式么？这套构筑是为了配合大招选的，吸血的大招毫无意义，你会发现越就和大招越被动，越缺能量，输出越低，越容易挂掉~ b.血法师（磨叽）：完全不同的卡牌构筑体系，设计还是蛮有意思的，魔像抗伤回血，血妖灵给大招充能，血孽怪和地龙输出，过充可以激发召唤物的亡语，并且空出一个位置，每回合自动升级，到了4级就自爆，那么献祭的意义是什么？狼也是召唤物，但是攻击力太低纯搞笑，为了凑数用的~符文对血法师基本都没什么用，可有可无~召唤卡牌的基本信息都是缺失的，召唤物的基础攻击力、如何提升、魔像的治疗量跟什么有关等等全没写，可以在角色介绍的地方写上，空这么大地方就两行字~ c.哨兵（花里胡哨、输出太低）：比较有特色的牌组~输出倍率低，但是每次攻击都有幻影再攻击一次，分为箭矢牌、箭袋牌和百变牌，非常关键的就是百变齐射牌了，这张牌可以在能量不够的情况下发出所有箭矢牌，并且有一些增益，大招是打出箭矢牌就充能一点，而箭袋牌的施放需要充能点数，可以先打出0费箭矢牌，再用需求充能点数高的箭袋牌，再打出新出的箭矢牌，再用其他箭袋牌，再打出箭矢牌，输出的连续性非常高，这样就循环起来了，但是要注意抽牌堆如果没有箭矢牌那么用箭袋牌就无效，那么可以配合的符文和技能就非常明晰了~ 百变牌是个非常好的设计，一张牌有多种可能性，每用一次该牌就会在下次入手的时候变成同类型增强或者降低的牌，这样避免了传统卡牌游戏那臃肿的牌堆~ d.狂教徒：弃牌一击流...初始牌4张“看不穿的假动作”鸡毛用没有，全都得找机会删~不过个人感觉还挺强的，越弃牌倍率越高，加上用噬血之箭杀敌人的召唤物无限升级，还真是一击必杀了，加上弃牌给防护罩加倍率的被动技能，有点太强了~ e.探路使：跟狂战士一样搞笑的~ f.其他职业懒得玩了~ 总结： 画质、翻译、优化、文字信息、图片信息、局外养成、卡牌设计、基础操作等都非常粗糙，翻译、卡牌说明和战斗记录缺失，整体流畅度非常差劲，平衡性更是谈不上，问题超多，根本写不完~ 最恶心就是想全解锁至少上千小时打底，又无聊又肝，遥遥无期的解锁，这玩意儿也配？ 建议就更新“恐怖黎明”吧，把优化做好，做个二渲三的重制，挺好的构筑刷子游戏，但你们那3d画质真是没眼看呢~

🎮 [u]Gameplay[/u] 🔲 Excellent ✅ Good 🔲 Average 🔲 Poor 🔲 Staring at Walls is better Tainted Grail: Conquest blends roguelike progression, deck-building strategy, and RPG exploration into a cohesive whole. Combat centers around card play with energy and passive abilities and once you learn the system, it’s satisfying and strategic. Enemy intents are clearly communicated, which adds tactical depth. Still, lengthy battles and occasional repetition can feel like slow pacing over time. If you love varied deck-building but do not mind limited depth, this game is for you. 🌄 [u]Graphics[/u] 🔲 Beautiful ✅ Good 🔲 Decent 🔲 Bad 🔲 Paint.exe The visuals champion a moody, gothic dark-fantasy vibe with foggy environments and grim character designs. While the aesthetic fits the tone beautifully, some textures and models feel a bit dated or under-polished. 🎵 [u]Audio[/u] 🔲 Eargasm ✅ Amazing 🔲 Good 🔲 Not too Bad 🔲 Bad Voice acting is impressively robust, lending strong character to your village and the world. Sound effects and music lean dark and atmospheric and support immersion effectively. While not universally lauded as flawless, the audio experience is rich and compelling. The celtic vibes are captured perfectly in the soundtrack. 📖 [u]Story[/u] 🔲 No story 🔲 Text or Audio Floating Around ✅ Average 🔲 Good 🔲 It will replace your life Tainted Grail: Conquest is a roguelike deck-building RPG set in a haunting, Arthurian-flavored world. As fog envelops your village, you venture into the Wyrdness with only your cards, wits, and candlelight to guide you. The narrative unfolds through multiple runs, with ghostly NPCs and quest fragments revealing more of Avalon’s fate. It’s stronger than most roguelites, with immersive lore and recurring quests, but pacing can be inconsistent as some content appears rarely in runs. 🛡️ [u]Difficulty[/u] 🔲 Just press "A" 🔲 Easy ✅ Average 🔲 Easy to Learn / Hard to Master 🔲 Difficult These challenges are meaningful, with high stakes in battles that reward attention and planning. The roguelike formula and varied class mechanics keep it demanding but fair. However, class balance can be uneven, making some paths significantly tougher. Veterans of deckbuilding will find the game easy however until they hit difficulty 8+ (when enemies unlock all their attack sets) beyond which the scaling is only higher damage/hp. By then, you get burnt out on the game even with so many classes. I wish the game started with difficulty 8 after the first win on a class. 🔁 [u]Replay-ability[/u] 🔲 No replay value 🔲 Maybe Once 🔲 A few times ✅ Many Times 🔲 Infinitely replay-able With nine distinct classes, dozens of cards and passives, and persistent village upgrades, playthroughs feel unique. The emergent storytelling and progression boost replay value, though after many hours and run completions, the content can start to feel repetitive. ⏳ [u]Length[/u] 🔲 Short (4 to 10 hr) 🔲 Average (10 to 25 hr) 🔲 Long (25 to 50 hr) ✅ Very Long (50 to 150 hr) 🔲 To infinity and beyond Runs typically last around an hour, making for engaging bite-sized sessions. In full, the game offers dozens of varied runs, side-quests, and story elements which results in a substantial, though not endless, experience. 🖥️ [u]Hardware Requirement (1440p / 75+ FPS)[/u] 🔲 Check if you can run paint 🔲 Potato (GTX 980 equivalent) ✅ Decent (RTX 2080 equivalent) 🔲 Fast (RTX 4080 equivalent) 🔲 Ask NASA if they have a spare computer This game runs smoothly on modest systems, including Steam Deck and Xbox platforms. Even on lower-end PCs, performance holds steady. Polished for accessibility, not high-end graphics. 🪲 [u]Bugs[/u] ✅ Never heard of 🔲 Minor bugs 🔲 Can get annoying 🔲 Game‑breaking bugs 🔲 The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs While I personally did not face any bugs, a few players report minor stutters which are rare enough to not derail runs. It’s polished enough for casual and committed players alike. 💸 [u]Worth Buying[/u] 🔲 It’s free! ✅ Worth the price 🔲 Minor sale (<30%) 🔲 Major sale (>70%) 🔲 You could also just burn your money For its depth, atmosphere, and unique genre blend, the game delivers strong value. Fans of Slay the Spire-like gameplay with added narrative layers will find it a worthwhile investment. 📝 [u]Rating[/u] 🔲 1 🔲 2 🔲 3 🔲 4 🔲 5 🔲 6 🔲 7 ✅ 8 🔲 9 🔲 10 Tainted Grail: Conquest impressively balances darkness, mechanics, and replay. It doesn’t reinvent the deck-building genre, but elevates it with RPG depth and story nuance which definitely merits an 8. 👍 [u]What works:[/u] Seamless fusion of deckbuilder, roguelike, and RPG systems. Nine dramatically unique classes, each demanding distinct strategies. Tactical combat featuring enemy intent awareness and resource risk management. Deep atmosphere and strong voice acting across NPCs and quests. Village hub with persistent upgrades and evolving quests adds long-term progression. ⚠️ [u]What to know:[/u] Some classes are clearly stronger, leading to balance disparities. Exploration can feel slow or unrewarding compared to intense combat. Story and events are randomized, making progress uneven across runs. 👎 [u]Weak Points:[/u] Class imbalance means a few dominate, making others feel weaker. Over time, some map traversal and hub mechanics feel repetitive. Story resolution can be gated behind RNG, frustrating tracking progress. Enemies start feeling repetitive after 10+ runs. Veterans will get burnt out by the time they grind to a challenging difficulty level of 8+. [u]TL;DR: Tainted Grail: Conquest is a masterful mash-up: dark fantasy narrative, menu-deep deckbuilding, and roguelike intensity. It’s strategic, atmospheric, and gratifying for those who dig class variety and emergent story. Some balance quirks and pacing issues surface over time, but overall, it’s a standout within its genre.[/u]

This. game. is. a. pain. to. finish. How questing works in Tainted Grail defies every good practice and lessons learnt from other games. There is a good reason why NPCs in RPG games stay in the same spot or area, so you can come back to them whenever you need. Here, it is all randomized and there is never a way to find whoever or whatever you need. Add to it a fact that quests in this game are not of usual length, not just fetch quests , but they are triple or quadruple fetch quests. You will be running back and forth, to the same NPC three times or so, over a span of multiple playthroughs. It's not like going from A to B and back to A. Here, it's going from A to B, to A again, to B again, to C, to A, to B and to A. In most of the games that actually could be a very well desired complexity, but here, due to the fact that encounters are randomized, you don't have control in solving quests. Now add to it that you'll be working on 10+ quests at the same time, again, you don't have control over this, which leads to a situation where very quickly everything turns into a blurry mess in your head, as you are unable to track what specific quests are all about and who you need or what you need for which quest. In the end, it all turns into one randomized mess of encounters, dialogues, and situations, where it's impossible to say what you are actually trying to acomplish. Now add to it that the setting and the story does not help much either, because here, in Wyrdness nothing makes sense and apparently everything is possible. Character appear and vanish without a reason or explanation, or they transform into something else entirely on your very eyes. Past, future and present are all mixed up. Death and life are mixed up. Nothing makes sense, nothing is consistent. And finally, coming back to my main painpoint. To finish the story in this game, you have to complete all the quests: main and optional. This drags on and on, and on, and you surely would like to be done with it finally, but no, it's all randomized, good luck finding that one guy which you need, etc. Wow, this game tired me out so much that I don't even have any strength left to talk about its good points, and there are some, for example music is very good. I will leave it at that. Oh, and performance of this game is pretty bad. For how it looks, it surely is too demanding for the system.

Great storytelling, lore, art, voice acting, and music, especially the music and voice acting, which were really immersive for me. The gameplay can feel a bit slow and awkward, and since it’s a roguelike, you’ll need to die multiple times to learn and understand the classes you pick. Every run will be different, even if you choose the same class. All in all, I enjoyed the game and highly recommend it to anyone who likes turn-based combat.

The game is fun, but it easily gets repetitive, have a lot of bugs, and progression is extremely luck based. A few times I got unlucky early on and fought enemies that obliterated me, and even with character progression, buying upgrades and everything, it still felt too much luck based.