Right now, the gaming world is obsessed with Phantom Blade Zero. S-Game’s Wuxia-inspired action game landed as one of the highest-rated games of 2026 and immediately tore up the charts on Steam, cracking 800,000 concurrent players on launch weekend. I’m enjoying Phantom Blade Zero, even if it does have a few too many parries for my taste.
But it’s primarily made me more excited about a similar, promising game I briefly played earlier this year: Tides of Annihilation. Tides of Annihilation is a forthcoming contender in a specific subgenre of games largely developed in China that defy easy characterization but have been rapidly growing in popularity, thanks to hits like Phantom Blade Zero and Black Myth: Wukong. Earlier this year, at Gamescom 2026, I played about 45 minutes of what appeared to be an early level.
It ruled. (Tides made Polygon’s list of the best games at Gamescom 2026.) It’s a little bit character action game, a little bit Soulslike. But in many ways, it’s more in conversation with God of War (2018) and its sequel, God of War Ragnarök, than with anything out of FromSoftware’s haunted halls. In fact, here’s a line directly from my notes: “Hot girl god of war???” There is simply no way around it: Gwendolyn, the main character of Tides of Annihilation, is stunning.
This has become some matter of debate among the game’s community. In July, 2025 Game Awards winner Jennifer English, initially slated to play Gwendolyn, dropped out of the role, citing health concerns. Eclipse Glow Games quickly revealed her replacement as Angela Sant’Albano (best known for her role as Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem), and around the same time, redesigned Gwendolyn’s facial features.
You’ll never believe this but: No. No they did not all agree. Hands-on with Tides, I can say that Gwendolyn’s model doesn’t look cheap, rushed, or like “every mmo Korean AI slop model,” to quote one Reddit user.
She looks great — like an actual human being rather than an anime figurine tucked into the corner of an IKEA bookshelf. And yes, she happens to be conventionally attractive. But Gwendolyn’s character design isn’t played for sheer objectification, like, say, genre contemporary Stellar Blade treats its main character Eve.
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