Tainted Grail: Conquest Review | TheXboxHub

I’m certain that the majority of you have got been spending quite a lot of time recently questioning the place all of the turn-based, roguelite deck constructing video games primarily based on Arthurian legends mixed with Celtic mythology, horrific darkish fantasy themes and Nordic folks music are. I do know I’ve. Funnily sufficient, Tainted Grail: Conquest landed on Sport Go across the similar time, so it appeared solely pertinent to offer it a go and whereas I initially anticipated to have a superb time with it, I approached with warning, figuring out how swiftly some of these video games can eat your free time; when a person performs a roguelite deck builder, he murders some a part of his Elden Ring playthrough.

At first look, Tainted Grail: Conquest appears to be yet one more entry in what may very well be thought of an more and more crowded style. Roguelites, deck builders, and mixtures of the 2 appear to have been popping up throughout as of late, and with sensible examples like Slay the Spire and the underrated Monster Prepare filling the area of interest fairly comfortably, it might be straightforward to miss Tainted Grail. Simple, however silly. It’s straightforward for me to say, as a result of I’m precisely the target market for a recreation involving demented Clive Barker-esque monsters and fantasy mythology, however I don’t assume that Tainted Grail fairly places its finest foot ahead if you first start enjoying. 

The sport begins with some fantastically voice acted, well-written dialogue that evokes a nostalgic feeling of childhood fairy story audiobooks, or of the nice 90s college of CRPG voice performing witnessed within the likes of Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, it’s severely sensible stuff – the story is grim and is advised splendidly (severely, I can’t reward the voice performing sufficient) and I used to be immediately absorbed. 

Nonetheless, launching into the tutorial was a barely much less pleasing affair; the controls are a little bit bit fiddly, initially, playing cards are chosen from the underside of the display screen with the left stick, whereas the D-pad is used to spotlight numerous UI options dotted everywhere, or to pick objects from the participant’s stock. It doesn’t sound dangerous, however one thing about it simply appears a little bit clumsy and it definitely felt like the sport was supposed for a mouse and keyboard. 

Whereas I used to be attending to grips with which buttons and sticks do what, I missed among the somewhat inconspicuous tutorial messages popping up on the correct of the display screen. This wasn’t an enormous unfavorable (and was definitely partially my very own fault), by any means, as the sport is pretty straightforward to become familiar with and after a few battles I used to be flying via the consumer interface with ease, nevertheless, as I’m about to spend the rest if this evaluate praising Tainted Grail to the excessive heavens, I felt it solely truthful to get this nitpicky element out of the way in which.

As soon as the tutorial battle is out of the way in which, you might be despatched to the village that may function your hub space to your many, many runs via the sport. Initially containing not a lot of something, you’ll recruit NPCs to populate your little hamlet as you discover the dank environments surrounding it, most of whom act as shopkeepers and talent trainers, however for now you’ll have little to do however head into the wilds.

Exploring the woods outdoors the security of your village is a disorienting affair at first – the setting is little greater than a darkish blur, owing to an evil mist referred to as the Wyrdness. The participant is given a inventory of ‘wyrdcandles’ with which to assist discover the murky, enemy-strewn maze; lighting one in every of these candles will repel the Wyrdness for a couple of minutes, permitting higher imaginative and prescient and offering a greater concept of the threats that lay down each single path. It’s a harmful world on the market, and also you’d higher be ready to know when to carry ‘em and positively when to fold ‘em if you happen to plan on surviving greater than 5 minutes.

Tainted Grail’s battle system is nice. There are 9 lessons to select from, solely one in every of which (the Wyrdhunter) might be initially unlocked, though the others unlock pretty shortly. The participant has a deck of playing cards, which might be added to as you progress via the sport, and are randomly shuffled into your hand initially of every flip. Every card requires power to play, your power is pretty restricted, so strategic considering is the order of the day if you happen to want to come via battles unscathed. A lot of the recreation’s programs might be pretty acquainted to anybody who has performed this sort of recreation earlier than, and the starter class is sort of simple, even perhaps a little bit vanilla, so attending to grips with the fight must be fairly straightforward for many gamers.

Your job is to roam across the woods, battling abominations, recruiting villagers and upgrading your character as a way to kill the 4 guardians, or die making an attempt. Dying is just the start, although; upon perishing, you can be returned to the character choose display screen, given a buff and a pat on the pinnacle, and despatched in your means again to your bleak, hellhole of a village to attempt once more; solely this time you retain any everlasting upgrades earned in your earlier run, in addition to new playing cards added to your deck, that means that every subsequent playthrough will get that little bit simpler.

Luckily, the sport begins to open up actually shortly. The second class unlocked, the Summoner, confirmed how versatile Tainted Grail’s fight system is, because it completely modified the playstyle and strategic thought course of behind the fight system. Whereas it might have been straightforward to jot down Tainted Grail off as pretty generic from enjoying because the barbarian-esque Wyrdhunter, the Summoner turned battles right into a cerebral, tactical recreation of managing numerous minions, utilising their expertise, levelling them up, buffing them, and outthinking the enemy. It was a beautiful change of tempo, and actually shook the sport up. 

Subsequent got here the Sentinel class, a squishy archer whose shadowy double mimics his each transfer, and the fight switched up once more. The remaining six lessons don’t change the sport up fairly as a lot as their predecessors, however the battle system in Tainted Grail is extremely versatile and may simply preserve you going for hours simply making an attempt new mixtures of playing cards and new methods.

All of this with out even mentioning what might be the sport’s finest characteristic; the writing. Tainted Grail has a properly advised story, however the NPC storylines and dialogues are what actually shine; every character has grim story to inform, whether or not it’s a candlemaker who makes wyrdcandles utilizing means which can be so repulsive he refuses to even broaden on what they’re, or a seamstress who makes use of her lengthy, sharp fingernails to stitch your wounds again collectively. 

The NPCs are bizarre, their tales fascinating, and the voice performing on the entire prime notch. Mixed with an unimaginable musical rating from a few of Nordic folks’s finest and brightest (try the sport’s spectacular boss theme Reida by Danheim to get an concept) Tainted Grail: Conquest exudes a mucky, depressing ambiance that makes you’re feeling such as you want a bathe, however in a great way. If you’re a fan of roguelites, deck builders, Arthurian mythology or simply love the type of video games and movies that go away you feeling a little bit bit dirty if you’re executed, you may do far worse than checking Tainted Grail: Conquest out.

Tainted Grail: Conquest is downloadable from the Xbox Retailer