[STEAM] We don't get action games like Tides of Annihilation very often, and after 45 minutes this Arthurian take is better than I expected

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(Image credit: Eclipse Glow Games) Key info Developer: In-house
Publisher: Eclipse Glow Games
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
Release date: TBC

Immediately, attacks feel weighty and satisfying – Gwendolyn can pull off all sorts of elegant moves, but her main form of dishing out damage is by summoning her Phantom Knights. You have multiple equipped at once – between the 'main' and 'sub' Knight slots – and swapping between them is as slick as hitting a button, allowing you to make the most of their different skills.

Fighting against Mordred, I swap between a nimble and agile Knight with a time-slowing skill and a big, burly bloke who's much more cumbersome, but packs a real punch when he manages to land one. There are a number of different combos to learn for each Knight – too many for me to completely absorb in a short hands-on session – but it's thanks to being thrown in at the deep end like this that I realize Tides of Annihilation's glamorous female protagonist isn't the only thing the game has in common with

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It's definitely possible to button mash your way through a lot of these combat encounters, at the very least when it comes to dishing out damage. Don't get me wrong, dodging and counterattacking incoming moves is a requirement rather than a suggestion, but attacking is easy to learn and hard to master. The depth is certainly there for anyone who wants to take the time to learn every string of inputs for each Knight, and I'm already looking forward to being able to spend more time getting acquainted with Gwendolyn's skills come launch.

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(Image credit: Eclipse Glow Games) Eventually, Mordred goes down, and I breathe a sigh of relief to have finally overcome a fight more challenging than I've faced in some Soulslikes. I then look down at the demo fact booklet handed to me at the start of the session, and see the fight labeled as "medium" difficulty. Ah. I don't know what would have awaited me in the "high" difficulty boss fight, and at this point I'm afraid to ask.

My time with Tides of Annihilation flew by, and I can't overstate how pleasantly surprised I am by how good it feels to play. We'll just have to wait and see if Eclipse Glow Games can stick the landing come launch, but for now, I'm optimistic that this action game has the potential to be a heavy hitter.

Feeling a tidal pull to play more like this while you wait? Check out our

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