After touring 5,500 miles to Chengdu in southwestern China, I discover myself – in opposition to all odds – strolling across the British Museum.
Overgrown and eerily deserted, this model of the enduring London landmark has positively seen higher days. Water floods into the domed atrium whereas gargantuan tree trunks burrow by way of the crumbling brickwork of exhibit partitions. But regardless of the disrepair, as I stroll previous authentic-looking £5 donation indicators and step over a tattered Historical Egypt exhibition poster, I can’t assist however smile.
That is Tides of Annihilation, a flashy motion RPG that reimagines Arthurian legend with enjoyably over-the-top anime extra. Turning heads throughout final yr’s State of Play, Tides stood out by buying and selling grueling gray soulslike sadism for incandescent, PlatinumGames-esque motion. I got here into my demo anticipating two hours of knights, QTEs, and barmy boss fights, however what I wasn’t anticipating was to see Girl Gwendolyn comboing throughout Trafalgar Sq. and banishing historical evil alongside the Southbank.
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“Tides of Annihilation brings a Chinese language perspective to Arthurian legend,” explains sport director and Eclipse Glow Video games co-CEO Ary Chen, on the sport’s intriguing mix of modernity and mythology. “There are acquainted London places like our Nice Russell Museum, impressed by the British Museum, alongside loads of fantasy components.”
As my demo begins, I take a second to admire the transformation of this once-bustling metropolis right into a surreal, post-apocalyptic wasteland. Following a mysterious otherworldly invasion, humanity is all however worn out, inserting gamers within the knee-high boots of the only real human survivor: Girl Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn was initially performed by Clair Obscur actor Jennifer English, however after she pulled out of the undertaking citing well being causes, it’s now been revealed that Angela Sant’Albano, the voice of Resident Evil Requiem’s Grace, has been recast within the function.
Whereas it borrows from Darkish Souls and Remaining Fantasy XVI alike, when you’re within the thick of it, Tides of Annihilation feels nearer to a mix of Satan Might Cry and Stellar Blade. Half motion RPG, half Bayonetta-esque combo-racker, Gwendolyn can summon two historical knights to her aspect mid-battle, combining speedy sword assaults with devastating blows from her bruising behemoths.
“We needed to create a sport the place the principle character is accompanied by knights and the gameplay is combo-driven,” says Chen on how the setting happened. “This core gameplay idea got here first, and afterward we realized that Arthurian legend match the concept completely.”
As Gwendolyn approaches the enduring silhouette of the sport’s legally distinct British Museum, two blindfolded twins float menacingly forward earlier than a skyscraper-sized, stone-encrusted behemoth stomps overhead, looming over the crumbling ruins. It’s a satisfying mix of Chinese language people horror and stereotypical British architectural grandeur, a mishmash of disparate cultural references that feels refreshingly distinctive.
“We needed to create a sport the place the principle character is accompanied by knights and the gameplay is combo-driven… we realized that Arthurian legend match the concept completely.”
As soon as contained in the museum, I’m greeted by two leviathan-like creatures with gloved arms for faces-who dart about comedically, God of Battle (2018) style-before being left alone to face its occupying monstrosities. This demo is the one time I’ve ever loved operating round a near-empty British Museum, making for a novel fantasy in itself. The place I’m often battling by way of hordes of vacationers, Girl Gwendolyn finds herself slaying demonic entities as a substitute.
Preventing hulking fits of armor throughout the nice corridor’s crumbling partitions, fight feels suitably slick. I juggle my attackers within the air with a collection of lavish animations, swapping between Gwendolyn’s knightly summons at will utilizing the D-pad (very like Bayonetta 3’s familiars). I can ship the brutally robust Palamedes to deal Hulk-like injury or cease an enemy of their tracks with Kay’s time-altering skills. Mixed with fashionable motion staples like parry home windows and stagger meters, it creates a fluid, combo-happy spectacle.
“The UK and London are filled with historical past,” explains Chen on Eclipse Glow’s impressively detailed digital London. “We’ve been to London a number of occasions on area journeys, and each the historical past and structure left a very robust impression. We additionally spoke with students who examine Arthurian legend to do deep analysis. All of those components helped form the event of the sport world.”
With every go to to my dwelling metropolis, the staff tells me a brand new London locale made the record. As I leap and slash throughout London’s crumbling streets, I discover myself transported by way of hanging post-apocalyptic vistas. An ash desert reveals iconic surroundings coated in gray mud, with a ruined London Eye mendacity half-buried on the horizon, whereas my native hospital, St Thomas’, is enshrouded in thick vines and foliage.
Whereas it takes some time to unpack, I’m impressed by the construct selection already on supply in my demo. I unlock a number of weapons all through my hands-on, alongside items of armor and equippable badges that alter your playstyle. One badge drastically resurrects you as soon as mid-battle at the price of utilizing therapeutic vials, rendering them unusable, for instance, whereas one other drastically boosts your velocity at the price of your assault. You additionally acquire XP from every battle, although it wasn’t solely clear from the demo how levelling up works or what sort of talent bushes might be obtainable at launch.
Whereas that is Eclipse Glow Video games’ debut, the 150 builders who comprise the Chengdu-based studio have labored on globally famend franchises like Persona, Yakuza, For Honor, and Murderer’s Creed. It’s a shared pedigree that reveals, with virtually every part in my demo executed to a excessive customary. The sport seems totally beautiful operating on a high-end PC, persevering with the development of visually beautiful releases from Chinese language studios. But it’s the near-constant gameplay selection that actually impresses.
“Whereas that is Eclipse Glow Video games’ debut, the 150 builders who comprise the Chengdu-based studio have labored on globally famend franchises like Persona, Yakuza, For Honor, and Murderer’s Creed.”
Gwendolyn’s ‘Fog Sense’ potential is your basic visible filter that reveals hidden environmental pathways, main you towards puzzles and objects hidden throughout every space. A cool magical bow fires arrows that create ethereal ziplines, whereas summoning Palamedes lets you transfer heavy objects, break down partitions, or place pillars to succeed in beforehand inaccessible walkways. The puzzles are all pretty easy however gratifying, and together with temporary snippets of platforming, assist to interrupt up the fight and enhance the pacing.
As anticipated from a contemporary motion sport, there’s a Bonfire-esque system awaiting gamers in Tides of Annihilation. Adorned with a big sword sitting atop a stone basin, these enemy-respawning save factors are often called ‘Oath Reforged’ thrones. Whereas they will let you get better well being, swap gear, and alter knights, their greatest utility within the demo was serving as fast-travel factors.
After wandering into an impressively detailed duplicate of the museum’s Historical Egypt exhibit, my instructional environment all of a sudden lurch to life. Transported to a floating platform, I’m attacked by Anubis in an enjoyably epic, multi-stage boss combat the place the Egyptian deity transforms into an aerial menace, bombarding me with ranged assaults from the sky.
It’s a battle that undoubtedly emphasizes cinematic spectacle over uncooked talent, nevertheless it’s an absolute blast – and after combining parries, knight skills and supreme assaults, I take down my first boss and the medieval melee actually begins to click on into place.
“We had lots of inventive freedom to construct these sorts of bosses throughout the museum’s pavilions-Anubis, or bosses within the Chinese language pavilion,” says Chen. “A museum like this can be a place the place many cultures converge, and that’s what we needed to carry to life for the participant.”
After getting into some form of historical tome, defeating Anubis warps me to an arid, sand-coated model of the Nice Russell Museum – seeing London’s as soon as overgrown deserted streets changed by an unlimited desert. Earlier than heading into the newly Egyptian-inspired construction and cracking on with the story, gamers have the choice to freely roam the encompassing sandbox – and who am I to say no to a little bit of beckoning distraction?
“We had lots of inventive freedom to construct these sorts of bosses… A museum like this can be a place the place many cultures converge, and that’s what we needed to carry to life for the participant.”
Exploring the desert reveals a lot to find: I battle large lizards, unearth buried treasure, resolve a collection of mini-game-led puzzles, and get my arse handed to me by an non-compulsory boss named Redrend. I’m advised there might be a number of massive explorable zones all through the sport, providing non-compulsory distractions between the extra scripted path of linear story beats.
Earlier than heading again inside to the museum, I encountered one other powerful non-compulsory problem within the samurai exhibit. It’s in these non-compulsory encounters that gamers can search out a real take a look at of talent, dropping panoramic cutscenes in favor of tight, precision parrying.
After I return to the museum as soon as extra, it’s reworked again-this time coated in frost. I resolve puzzles on an enormous chessboard and platform throughout an historical library earlier than preventing a magic-wielding Mordred. The Mordred boss combat spans three phases, that includes her commanding knights, freezing your summons, and attacking from the skies atop a colossal dragon. It’s a spectacle worthy of PlatinumGames, full with QTEs and seamless mid-fight cutscenes. With greater than a whiff of Remaining Fantasy XVI’s wonderful extra to this spectacular finale, I finish my demo feeling elated.
One key facet repeatedly showcased in trailers that I sadly didn’t get to check, nevertheless, was the Shadow of the Colossus-esque behemoth battles. “Now we have this large knight, and it is vitally essential to our plot, although to say any extra would spoil it,” says Kun Fu, the sport’s Lead Producer. “[Facing these knights] entails very dynamic battles. Gamers can climb on or stroll inside its physique, making [these showdowns] an interactive and pivotal second within the sport.”
All in all, I got here away from my time with Tides of Annihilation completely impressed. From Ghost of Tsushima to Murderer’s Creed Shadows, gamers are all too accustomed to exploring Japanese settings by way of a Western lens- but right here, the tables are turned.
As somebody who’s lived in Larger London his complete life, it’s exhausting to not get a kick out of seeing my dwelling reimagined with a distinctly Japanese flourish, and I can’t wait to see what strange depictions of London and the UK they pull off subsequent.
“From Ghost of Tsushima to Murderer’s Creed Shadows, gamers are all too accustomed to exploring Japanese settings by way of a Western lens- but right here, the tables are turned.”
Gameplay-wise, it’s all slick-feeling stuff. Balancing depth and accessibility is rarely a simple process, however Tides of Annihilation’s versatile strategy to fight and problem seems to supply sufficient cinematic spectacle with extra challenges that can cater to extra hardcore playstyles.
The one space that actually underwhelmed me was the sport’s writing. The dialogue out and in of cutscenes felt a bit flat, and the lore notes I found relied on clunky clichés. Regardless of being set in London, every lore pick-up was closely Americanised-employing US vernacular like ‘film’ quite than movie, omitting ‘u’s, and utilizing ‘z’ as a substitute of ‘s’, all cardinal sins for a UK setting, innit. That being mentioned, a weak story has not often detracted from the brilliance of the Bayonetta video games, so time will inform whether or not that actually issues.
One story that’s undoubtedly a successful one is the rise of Chinese language-made video games. Since Eclipse Glow Video games began improvement in 2023, video games made by their friends have loved elevated visibility within the West, with high-quality motion titles rapidly changing into an indicator of the nation’s dev scene. “It’s simply been a blast,” displays Chen on the studio’s journey and the spectacular rise of Chinese language-made video games.
“We’re so completely satisfied to have gamers having fun with our sport, and we’re actually proud to see video games from China reaching a broader viewers. Seeing titles like Black Fable: Wukong performed world wide is superb.”
But because the duo sit earlier than me in a lavish occasion house with a whole lot of gamers queuing up outdoors, it’s the enthusiastic on-line response to their debut that Chen says has impressed the staff essentially the most. “It’s been a journey, and the assist of the followers is what we’re most pleased with. Since final yr’s State of Play announcement, we obtained a lot suggestions. We had been at a tricky stage of the undertaking on the time, and the gamers actually gave us the energy to maintain going and make the sport higher.”
