In my hectic pursuit of a scoop, I have spent a non-zero amount of today peering at a smudgy image of a London bus sign from a Tides Of Annihilation trailer, trying to work out whether the new gooner-baiting Arthurian slasher has screwed up its portrayal of Britain’s public transport network. If it had, you’d best believe that’d be a headline. I’d have broken the internet with it. “Never mind turning the Dread Knight Mordred into a waifu,” I’d have written, hissing like a kettle. “Those absolute tourists at Eclipse Glow Games have made a mockery of the sacred N19 route from Finsbury Park to Clapham Junction.”
Unfortunately for journalism, I can’t quite decide whether the sign is accurate or not, so instead I’m here writing that Tides of Annihilation’s bossfights seem fun. Boss, bus – probably an amazing play on words to be had there, but no time, no time, for there are flying golden swords to dodge, atomic axes to parry, and carpets of lightning to jump over. The trailer is below – it comes from a GeForce blog detailing something called “DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation”. If memory serves, “DLSS 4” is the daytime circular between Archway and Blackfriars, but I’ll defer to the expertise of our hardware editor.
It’s a bit of a numbers-fest, isn’t it? I don’t see the point of a frame-rate over 60, myself. You might need some narrative context. Fortunately, there’s another, longer trailer from a couple of weeks ago that gives you more of an introduction to ivory-mannered heroine Gwendolyn, and features an extended bash with the aforesaid Mordred. This is the one that has the suspicious bus sign in it. Skip to about 2.50 if you’re interested, and let me know if you have a breakthrough. There could be a Pulitzer in this.
If you’re not able to watch either video – possibly because you’re on a London bus right now and don’t want the driver to see footage of that bus sign and become enraged – the short take on Tides of Annihilation (which was announced just last month) is that you’re fighting a bunch of demi-gods from Avalon in a city that has been pancaked by extra-dimensional invaders. Gwendolyn gets DMC-style dodges, combos, parries, grabs and juggles, plus the ability to summon spectral Knights for specific combat roles – there’s a big fiery one for brutish punching, an ice one that’s great for launching, a green one who’s best at a distance, etcetera.
Apart from the regular street fights and boss battles, there are gauntlet-run platforming bits that wreak havoc upon the laws of physics. Sometimes you’re running along a wall as buildings fold together like tectonic plates, sometimes you’re brawling on the ceiling in a lake of gore. There are also vast stone colossi that must be clambered on and tamed. I’m not moved by the game conceptually but it does look like a laugh. There’s no release date yet – here’s the Steam page.