Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon vs The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Morrowind-likes seeking gritty prose versus the polished classic — choose the world you want to inhabit, not the one with the better combat.
Updated 6d ago
A grimdark Skyrim-killer with crunchier combat and packed-with-stuff exploration — buys in if you can stomach the solo-dev pacing.
Still the best-value RPG on Steam — Complete is $10 over base for $25 of expansions. Check your OS first: the next patch drops Windows 10 and DirectX 11.
By the numbers
Prices checked Aug 7; they move faster than we refresh, so confirm on the store page.
Recent-review figures are Steam's own last-30-days window, read Aug 7.
| Measure | Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| Value The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins on value | ||
| Price now | $31.49 −30% · GOG | $7.99 −80% · Steam |
| All-time low | $17.99 | $3.99 |
| Cost / hour | $1.13/hr $31.49 · 28 h main story | $0.15/hr $7.99 · 52 h main story |
| Off its low | +75% low was Feb 2024 | +100% low was Jun 2024 |
| Main story | 28 h | 52 h |
| Health The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins on player health | ||
| Steam reviews | 88% 35k reviews | 97% 880k reviews |
| Recent reviews | 85% 1k votes · vs 88% lifetime | 95% 5k votes · vs 97% lifetime |
| Peak players | 6,694 Jul 2026 · ↑ 60% MoM | 36,591 Jul 2026 · ↑ 4% MoM |
| Launch peak | 26% of May 2025 launch peak · as of Jul 2026 | 40% of May 2015 launch peak · as of Jul 2026 |
| All-time peak | 25,568 May 2025 | 103,329 Jan 2020 |
| Support | ||
| Last patch | 3 weeks ago | 26 months ago |
| Patch cadence | 4 in last 90 days | 0 in last 90 days |
| Steam Deck | Platinum | Platinum |
Shared scale — same months across the bottom, same player-count axis up the side, so the two lines are directly comparable. A shorter line means a younger game.
What players say
Patterns from long-haul reviewers, taken from each game's verdict. Not live sentiment — each side is dated below.
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
Exploration is the hook that keeps 100-hour fans coming back — every hidden nook holds something worth the detour, and combat's weighty crunch holds up across playthroughs.
Mid-game quests start to drag, and interior spaces lacking maps make navigation a persistent friction even for veterans.
from our August 2026 verdict
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
That an eleven-year-old game still reads as current, and Blood and Wine in particular — long-haul players name the expansion as the high point.
The incoming Windows 11 and SSD floor on an eleven-year-old game, the enhanced build's frame drops in cities, and quests that lean on witcher-sense tracking.
from our July 2026 verdict
Key differences
Which one is for you?
Pick Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon if
- Morrowind, Gothic, or Outward are your favorite RPGs, not Skyrim's smoothness.
- Dark Arthurian fantasy with a Polish dev's gritty texture sounds appealing.
- You want branching dialogue where who lives and dies depends on your choices.
Pick The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt if
- You've never played it and want the Complete Edition with both expansions.
- You're on Windows 11 with an SSD, so the upcoming requirements won't affect you.
- You play RPGs for side content—Blood and Wine is a full second region.
Bottom line
If you crave deep writing and a reactive world in a AA package, pick Tainted Grail; if you want a proven, content-rich classic and can handle its age, pick Witcher 3.
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