Combat in Tides of Annihilation is a stylish action system built around Gwendolyn fighting alongside summoned Spectral Knights. Rather than treating allies as disposable, the game makes the knights central to both offense and traversal, and lets the player blend their abilities with Gwendolyn's own attacks in real time. The studio describes the combat as "Neo-Medieval": Gwendolyn commands an Order of more than ten legendary knights, each with their own skills, and the focus of the first public hands-on event is letting players try this knight-led combat firsthand.
Summoning Knights
Gwendolyn channels a mysterious gray fog to summon spectral Knights of the Round Table. The full roster includes more than ten legendary knights, and the player builds a personal Order from them. Up to four knights can be set into the active loadout at once, arranged as two interchangeable sets that can be swapped during a fight.
Dual Frontline Battle System
The Dual Frontline Battle System is the core combat framework. Knights can be summoned mid-combo, and the two knight sets can be swapped on the fly to chain different abilities together. In certain encounters the system also lets the player control Gwendolyn and a knight at the same time across mirrored dimensions, most clearly shown in the Mirror Space Folded Realm.
Elemental Affinities
Each knight carries an elemental identity that can be imbued into Gwendolyn's active weapon, changing the damage type and adding effects. Confirmed examples include Sir Lamorak with a lightning affinity and Palamedes with fire; an ice-affinity knight has also appeared in earlier footage. Some elements interact with the environment as well as with enemies, for example using fire to break through certain obstacles.
Partnered State
When Gwendolyn and a knight combine, they enter a Partnered State, a merged form that reshapes her moveset and grants enhanced attacks and mobility tied to that specific knight. The merged silhouette changes per knight so the pairing reads at a glance.
Weapons
Gwendolyn fights with a set of weapons that can be swapped to suit an encounter. In interviews the developers have referred to four weapons; their full details have not been shown. See Weapon Types for more.
Bosses
Combat is punctuated by large set-piece fights. The developers have described more than thirty bosses, ranging from human-scale foes such as the shape-shifting witch Tyronoe to the towering Colossal Knights that the player can scale and fight across their own bodies.
Progression
Combat options expand through light RPG systems, including leveling and skill trees, plus customization of the knight loadout, weapons, equipment, and accessories. See Skill Tree and Progression for details.