Tides of Annihilation Preview Shows Combat Is Already Its Greatest Strength

Tides of Annihilation remains one of the more intriguing action-adventure games on the horizon. Chengdu-based Eclipse Glow Games is aiming high with flashy action, Arthurian influences and a version of London twisted beyond recognition.

The bigger question has always been whether it actually plays as well as it looks. After going hands-on at Gamescom 2026, the answer is a slightly complicated one. When Gwendolyn is fighting, summoning spectral Knights and tearing through increasingly elaborate encounters, Tides of Annihilation can be difficult to look away from. The quieter moments between those battles did not leave quite the same impression.

Our fragmented demo offered a longer section set in a ruined London museum, alongside separate boss challenges for players after something tougher. I concentrated on pushing as far as possible through the main section before sitting down for a brief chat with the lead producer, Kun Fu, and the lead level designer, Peng Fei.

What emerged was a game with an exciting core and obvious ambition, but also one where the adventure surrounding its combat still needs to prove it can keep pace. God of War, Devil May Cry and Bayonetta are all easy reference points once Gwendolyn starts moving.

There is speed, aggression and plenty of spectacle to her attacks, with weapons and abilities flowing into elaborate combinations. In an era where melee-focused action adventures are so frequently compared to Soulslikes, Tides of Annihilation feels refreshingly interested in a different lineage.

Familiar Character Action Finds a New Partner in the Knights

Parries exist, but they are more situational than something Gwendolyn can endlessly rely on against every incoming strike. Offence remains the priority, encouraging players to keep moving and move seamlessly between their own attacks and the Knights summoned alongside them.

Those Knights are also where Tides of Annihilation begins separating itself from the games it resembles. They are not simply flashy abilities triggered whenever a cooldown ends. Different summons can work alongside Gwendolyn as finishers, help break enemy defences or provide another way out of danger.

“The core is our protagonist fighting together with knights, and we expand on this idea and incorporate the adventure parts to make it whole as an action-adventure game,” Kun Fu explained.

That description feels accurate after playing it, as the combat loop is already the biggest attraction. Pulling Gwendolyn and her Knights together into increasingly elaborate sequences can feel excellent, even if some of the more advanced inputs for summoning them were awkward enough that I occasionally struggled to execute what I wanted in the middle of a frantic fight.

That matters because these Knights are not a peripheral mechanic; they are supposed to be among the things that define Tides of Annihilation. If those inputs can become more natural over time, there is significant potential to learn which combination of Gwendolyn’s own attacks and summoned allies works best in different situations.

Kun Fu told us that work on the game in its current form started at the beginning of 2023. Whatever groundwork preceded it, what Eclipse Glow Games is now attempting is substantial, particularly once the combat starts layering more mechanics together. The concern is whether the other half of the action-adventure equation can become equally compelling.

Exploration Struggles to Match London’s Spectacle

Exploring the museum was where my enthusiasm dipped. Gwendolyn herself controls well, while both the technical quality and art direction remain excellent. London’s familiar architecture colliding with supernatural and Arthurian imagery gives Tides of Annihilation some genuinely striking spaces to move through.

Peng Fei described that contradiction as deliberate.

“It’s not a realistic representation, but we bring in elements from King Arthur, put in the modern setting of London. It’s a blending of different elements.”

Even this relatively contained demo suggested that the game will not be limited to wandering through another ruined interpretation of the British capital. Actually interacting with those environments was less convincing.

The puzzles and spatial challenges I encountered were straightforward enough to feel more like separators between combat arenas than meaningful obstacles themselves. Optional exploration proved more rewarding, with hidden corners offering useful items and giving me an actual reason to stray from the obvious route, and that distinction became difficult to ignore.

The environments make me want to explore them. The current puzzle design does not necessarily make that exploration interesting on its own. When I asked what Eclipse Glow believes really separates Tides of Annihilation in an increasingly crowded action market, the developers again returned primarily to the fighting, its Knight system and how those elements combine.

“For the adventure part, we also have the puzzles for the players to explore,” they added.

Combat understandably remains the centrepiece, and it should. But if the game wants to spend meaningful stretches away from fighting, those quieter sections cannot simply exist to provide breathing room before the next arena.

Niniane Is Helpful to a Fault

Niniane did not help that impression. The young companion, another obvious nod towards Arthurian legend, accompanies Gwendolyn and can transform into a bird. She also seemed determined to make sure I was never stuck for long.

During the quieter moments, Niniane rarely gave me more than a few seconds to consider an obstacle before offering a suggestion or pointing me in the right direction. It is a familiar frustration in modern action-adventure games.

Hints can obviously prevent players from getting stuck, but there is a difference between offering assistance and removing the satisfaction of figuring something out yourself. That becomes particularly noticeable when the puzzles themselves are already relatively simple. Kun Fu hinted that Niniane has considerably more importance than merely acting as an overly eager guide.

“She has an important role to explore; if you notice, when she takes the bird shape, she sits on a crossroads.”

He understandably refused to elaborate much further. There could therefore be far more to her involvement than this demo allowed us to see, but for now, I just hope she learns to give Gwendolyn a little more time to think.

Anubis Shows Tides of Annihilation at Its Best

Thankfully, a trip into the museum’s Egyptian section and a confrontation with Anubis quickly reminded me why Tides of Annihilation remains so easy to get excited about. The boss battle embraces the DNA of classic character action games.

The arena changes around Gwendolyn; precise movement becomes as important as maintaining a good combo, and flashy abilities combine with quick-time sequences to give the encounter an appropriately extravagant finish.

This is Tides of Annihilation operating at its best. Once the screen fills with movement, Knights and increasingly theatrical attacks, it becomes easy to temporarily forget my reservations about the exploration. It also highlights the strange position the preview left its story in.

I still knew relatively little about who Gwendolyn was or why I should care about much of the drama unfolding around her. There were enjoyable interactions and some well-executed cutscenes, including a pair of strange, hand-shaped serpents that were creepy and funny in equal measure, but the build itself offered limited context for the wider conflict.

Our own coverage of the Gamescom story trailer provided considerably more to work with, introducing additional characters and giving Gwendolyn’s journey clearer narrative stakes. That makes this feel more like a consequence of how the preview was assembled than proof that the full game’s story will lack substance.

Still, it added to the fragmented feeling of the hands-on, as the fights looked ready to command attention but the connective tissue between them felt much less complete.

Eclipse Glow Is Still Building the Adventure Around the Action

That impression became considerably more interesting during the final part of our conversation with the developer. I asked Kun Fu and Peng Fei about design challenges the team had already overcome during development. Their answer revealed that an earlier version of Tides of Annihilation did not contain puzzles or the same emphasis on exploration.

“We believe this part makes the whole gameplay experience richer,” they explained, adding that the experienced team at Eclipse Glow Games has been able to draw on expertise brought across from studios including Sega and Ubisoft.

That answer helped explain some of the imbalance I had felt while playing. Combat is not merely the thing Tides of Annihilation currently does best. It appears to be the foundation around which more of the adventure has subsequently grown.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, expanding the game beyond a procession of increasingly elaborate fights could ultimately make the full experience much stronger. But those additions need to become essential rather than feeling like material placed between the parts everyone really came to see.

At Gamescom, the puzzle design was still basic, Niniane was far too eager to solve problems for me, and the fragmented structure did little to establish why I should care about Gwendolyn’s wider journey. Then Anubis appeared, Gwendolyn summoned her Knights, and Tides of Annihilation looked spectacular again.

That contrast leaves Eclipse Glow Games in an interesting position. The studio already appears to have one of the most difficult pieces in place: combat that is stylish, immediately enjoyable and distinctive enough to make its Arthurian companions feel like more than another set of special abilities.

Now the adventure around it has to become just as convincing. If Eclipse Glow can give exploration, puzzles and narrative context enough substance to match those battles, Tides of Annihilation could become far more than another beautiful action game. For now, though, the Knights are comfortably winning the fight for our attention.

Tides of Annihilation does not have a release window yet. It is in development for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.