# Tainted Keep

> Console-quality magical twin-stick hack and slash adventure game. (iPhone/iPad app by Ravn Studio AS.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tainted-keep/id900407095 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Ravn Studio AS](https://appshunter.io/developer/579569810)
- Category: Games, Entertainment, Action, Adventure
- Price: $1.99
- Rating: 4.00/5 from 37 App Store ratings · 23 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 7.0 · 193 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, Norwegian Bokmål, European Spanish
- Released: 2014-11-20
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tainted-keep/id900407095/reviews.md

## What is Tainted Keep?

Uncover sinister evil in this console quality, magical, twin stick hack and slash.
Complete game! No In-App Purchases! No advertisements.

Note: iPhone4S/iPad2 or newer required.

The once idyllic village of Greenhaven is now a near lifeless husk, the souls of its inhabitants having been drained by the powerful wizard Morg, who has used them to create the abominations that now occupy the mighty keep that was once the source of protection for the village.
Morg’s evil influence has caused the people of Greenhaven to forget their old lives of happiness and even the presence of Morg himself, instead falling into a mindless stupor.
With the village’s crops withering untended in the fields and its people heading mindlessly toward oblivion, the one person unaffected by Morg’s influence, a young woman named Xobia, enters the keep to find the source of Morg’s power and put an end to the misery that has been unleashed on the hapless village.


• A variety of fearsome creatures to defeat!
• Multiple different weapons, each with unique strengths and abilities.
• Release trapped souls to increase your stamina, health and weapon skills.
• Find hidden gems to further enhance your chosen weapon.
• Learn spells to unlock new areas as you progress deeper into the keep.
• Cast a single spell, or chain it with another for devastating effect.
• Unique and twisted domains that contain powerful treasures and secrets.
• Defeat vicious bosses on your way to Morg's tower.
• Full world dynamic shadowing.
• Stunning dynamic reflections and full screen effects.
• Adjustable graphic settings and HUD.
• Full support for game controllers as well as touch screen controls.
• Benchmark mode to test your device's hardware.
• Extreme benchmark mode for the latest (OpenGL ES 3.0) devices.

## Key features

- Twin-stick hack and slash combat
- Variety of weapons with unique abilities
- Release trapped souls for upgrades
- Learn and chain spells
- Explore unique and twisted domains
- Defeat powerful bosses
- Full world dynamic shadowing and reflections

## Recent user reviews (10 of 23)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tainted-keep/id900407095/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Where is controller support??

*2022-03-23, version 1.0*

Game looks good, but I can use my MFi controller…. Please get this fixed

### 3/5 — Please add controller support.

*2022-01-16, version 1.0*

I picked this game up to play with a controller.  No such luck.  The game looks really nice.  Please add that feature.  I hate the awkward swiping and screen tapping stuff.

### 5/5 — THIS GAME BLEW MY MIND NO CAP

*2020-10-26, version 1.0*

Best game I ever played i tell ya what

### 5/5 — outstanding

*2019-09-22, version 1.0*

I'm enjoying this game, and I'm quite comfortable with the controls. I hope if the devs change the controls at all for all the people complaining about them, they make the change optional and not mandatory - I'd hate to suddenly have this game go from great to sucky for me because the controls were changed to something that doesn't work for me.

if the character is "staggering around like a drunkard" on your screen, you might consider whether your phone can handle the game. I'm running this on a 128 gb iPhone 6 Plus with all graphics options maxed out, and not only does it look gorgeous, but it runs beautifully. totally smooth, everything happens at the right speed, no complaints. a lesser device might have more difficulty - understandably. this game is nothing if not graphics-intensive.

And for people having a hard time with the controls, you might also consider whether they just seem a little laggy, and if they do, just keep playing until you upgrade your sword. One of the things that makes the lowest-level sword the lowest level is that it's not very responsive. I haven't noticed this issue with the wooden staff or the axe that are acquired later in the game.

so no complaints from me! on the contrary - it's utterly replayable (i've completed it about five times now and it still gives me chills), and all this with no in-app purchases and no ads! *and* I got it while it was free! yowza.  :)

I could lodge a very minor complaint about the quality of the voice-acting – it's pretty poor – but there isn't much of it and what there is is certainly more than bearable.

*Update, June 2017: I've completed the game 100 times now if not more, and I still enjoy it and it STILL manages to give me the occasional chill. And there are still zero ads or other obnoxious distractions, and neither have I ever seen a warning that the app won't work with future versions of the iOS. This is, very unfortunately, unheard of anymore. But you can still experience it here in this game. Quite an accomplishment, this. Thank you, devs!! I only wish now that they had produced a sequel (or two, or three, or…).

**Update, August 2019: I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many times I’ve completed the game now, but I continue to play it on my iPhone XS Max running iOS 12.4 and it continues to run flawlessly from start to finish. It’s just amazing to me that anyone could be so compliant with Apple developer guidelines as to build a game that would run without a hitch on every iPhone and under every iOS developed over a period of this many years - however many it’s been now since I started playing this game. Eight? Ten?

I just noticed that one reviewer who doesn't like the controls was talking about sliding his fingers around on the screen. I hope when he says "finger" he means "thumb". Anyone trying to control this game with their fingers – as opposed to their thumbs – will naturally find it difficult. That's not what the game – or the iPhone, really – is designed for. So I just thought I would add this note to anyone who is actually trying to play this game with their fingers: use your thumbs, silly! I bet you'll find it a lot easier.

And to the person who couldn’t figure out what the objective was: you just haven’t played long enough. There are lots of small objectives to be completed along the way toward attaining the much bigger final objective.

And I would advise anyone reading these reviews not to be dissuaded by the negative ones, because you might find that your experience of the game is as good as mine has been for all these years, and continues to be today.

Enjoy!!  =)

***Update, September 2019: I’m disappointed to relate that I am today, with the release of iOS 13, seeing the first evidence (in about eight years of playing this game on every device and iOS version that’s come out in that time) of incompatibility between this game and the OS. The game doesn’t take up the whole screen, and the header bar icons and the clock are appearing in their usual place. Sadly - very sadly indeed, for me - this could mark the beginning of the end for this game. As yet, it still plays fine, but the first problems have finally appeared. We’ll see what this portends.

### 5/5 — Better than expected

*2019-05-07, version 1.0*

Truly this game has a dark souls feel, excellent graphics and smooth gameplay. One of the few games on mobile that run so well. Underrated and hidden gem.

### 1/5 — Was super excited

*2018-10-23, version 1.0*

DEVELOPERS PLEASE READ!!!
I was super excited to find this game on Pinterest and couldn’t wait to download it ! ESPECIALLY considering it said it had MFI controller support! With my gamevice that works perfect!! It was completely unresponsive! Please PLEASE fix developers I would love to play this game

### 3/5 — Oct 2018

*2018-10-20, version 1.0*

Dear lord, this game is amazingly sick! The devs just abandoned this game - sad. 

You know how in Skyrim, (at highest graphical levels) when you first enter a dungeon, or cave. You see all that graphical detail, how your shadows cast off in the distance when light flickers shine against your body, you know that dark, broody atmosphere with the music hitting the right tones, letting you feel the ambience of the place? This game has that. 

Graphics are SICK!! On iPad Pro 10.5 (Metal did it justice)

Sad part. No controller support with nimbus. 
Touch pad, camera rotation controls are super 💩 💩 💩 

Blocking is real good, dark souls, Skyrim ( has stamina) so hits do drain stamina.

Story is real cool, simple sentences explain a whole paragraph worth - very well written, gives you deep insight without having to spend your real life time to figure out, while still maintaining it deep enough. 

If these guys would fix the 💩 camera rotation,
Add a “auto orientation of enemy, that we can change to another enemy by pressing shudder buttons “animus harbinger on iOS does an amazing job of this” 
Give it true controller support.
These guys would have an actual contender, rewrap and sell it. 

I would had easily paid $5 - $10 for a good revamped version of this game.  Oh well, their loss. They literally abandoned a gold mine and huge potential for a community to “grow behind it”

Too bad. Enjoy it for what it’s worth, abandoned freeware. 
Future devs, take ideas from here, and run with it.

### 2/5 — Beautiful disaster

*2018-01-24, version 1.0*

A waste of an awesome game with great potential. Great graphics, combat mechanics are there, but need work. I feel like this is one of those games that everyone got hyped for and then was let down big time. The combat is extremely repetitive, the sound effects and soundtrack sound like they came from haunted mansion with Eddie Murphy, and, as far as I can tell, there’s no objective. I played for about 2 hours and I just ran around this huge castle where everything looks the same and killed perfectly identical monsters

### 4/5 — Good game but play on Easy

*2017-01-22, version 1.0*

As far as I can tell the only difference between hard, medium and easy modes is the number of lives you get. Hard=1, Medium=5, and Easy=unlimited. The worst part is that once you lose your lives you have to restart at the very beginning, with tutorials and everything. I always select Medium when presented a choice and didn't realize my lives were limited until I fought the first boss. I lost my fifth life there and almost deleted the game when it made me start over. But, after figuring out the lives limits, I selected Easy and now I find the game more enjoyable without having to worry about the number of lives I have.

### 1/5 — 😐😐😐

*2015-10-12, version 1.0*

It has awful bug in witer places

## Frequently asked questions about Tainted Keep

### What is Tainted Keep?

Tainted Keep is a console-quality, magical twin-stick hack and slash adventure game. Players take on the role of Xobia, who enters a keep to defeat the wizard Morg and save the village of Greenhaven from his evil influence.

### What are the key features of Tainted Keep?

Key features include a variety of fearsome creatures to defeat, multiple weapons with unique strengths, releasing trapped souls to increase stamina and skills, finding hidden gems to enhance weapons, learning and chaining spells, and exploring unique domains with treasures and secrets.

### How much does Tainted Keep cost?

Tainted Keep is a complete game with no in-app purchases or advertisements. The price is a one-time purchase to access the full game content.

### What devices is Tainted Keep compatible with?

The game requires an iPhone 4S/iPad 2 or newer. It also offers full support for game controllers as well as touch screen controls, with adjustable graphic settings and HUD.

### What is the main goal in Tainted Keep?

The main goal is to progress through the keep, defeat Morg's abominations and powerful bosses, and ultimately find the source of Morg's power to put an end to the misery he has unleashed on the village of Greenhaven.

## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0 — 2014-11-20

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

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All apps by Ravn Studio AS: https://appshunter.io/developer/579569810

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*