Chinese developers Eclipse Glow Games have revealed Tides Of Annihilation, a fantasy hack-and-slash set in a “twisted”, modern yet Arthurian version of London. It casts you as Gwendolyn, a baby-faced blood-letter who must defeat Avalon‘s demi-gods by *checks notes* throwing the Knights of The Round Table at them.
I’m interested in the game partly because it’s a Chinese interpretation of London, complete with a tipped-over Millennium Wheel and cheery red phone booths, and I’m always eager to see my own plague-ridden cultural inheritance reflected in the eyes of artists from overseas. I already have some pointers for Eclipse Glow. For instance, the River Thames looks far too clean, massive fish demons notwithstanding, and there aren’t nearly enough sexshop fliers in those phone booths.
I also like the bits in the announcement trailer where bosses growl about “doomed fates”, then do a martial breakdance at you with mild overtones of Cat.exe Has Stopped Working. Love a good flamboyant boss. There are over 30 of them in the game, including a beefy bloke with floaty dreadlocks and a lady who seems to have borrowed Gilgamesh’s Gate Of Babylon ability from Fate/Stay Night. Gwendolyn, for her part, comes equipped with combos, juggles, invisi-dodges and the aforesaid ability to project spectral knights to smash things up or light them on fire.
The press release cites Devil May Cry, Stellar Blade and Nier Automata as comparisons. They could have chucked Final Fantasy 16 in there, too – the knight-summoning mechanics remind me of the latter game’s Eikons. Also, God Of War 3 or Shadow Of The Colossus, given that Tides Of Annihilation’s London is full of wandering, armoured titans who serve as “dynamic, interconnected vertical challenges”.
The developers – who are funded by Tencent, and include former Sega and Ubisoft people – say it’ll take you at least 30 hours to finish. The thing I like least right now is Gwendolyn’s acting. It’s like somebody left Morphydd Clark’s Galadriel in the fridge. I guess we can’t all be Cate Blanchett. Anyway, you can read more about Tides Of Annihilation on Steam (page not live at the time of writing). There’s no release date yet.