Baldur's Gate 3's Shadowheart actor and her real-life partner "are finally playing opposite each other" in this gorgeous fantasy action game set in "shattered" London
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Magic-packed fantasy action-adventure Tides of Annihilation is shaping up to have a very strong voice cast, because not only is Baldur's Gate 3's Shadowheart actor Jennifer English the protagonist, BG3 performance director and English's real-life partner, Aliona Baranova, is involved too.
Tides of Annihilation was my favorite reveal from this week's PlayStation State of Play. Set in a "shattered" and "once-vibrant" London (this is meant to be a fantasy game, after all), protagonist Gwendolyn is the last surviving person in the whole city, faced with unraveling the mystery of what's happened to the world, and hopefully saving it. As we saw in the State of Play trailer, she's got plenty of tricks up her sleeve to best foes in fast-paced battles, with over 10 legendary knights – inspired by Arthurian lore – summonable in battle that allow her to pull off various magical attacks. It's giving me Bayonetta vibes in the best way possible, combined with some Shadow of the Colossus.
Anyone who's even slightly familiar with Baldur's Gate 3 probably recognized English's voice immediately, but as her partner points out on Twitter, you might not have picked up on the voice of the "blonde badass" Mordred, who Gwendolyn encounters in a library before promptly fighting in a flashy boss battle during the trailer. "Not many recognized me as this blonde badass in the trailer, and that's on range," Baranova writes. "Jen and I are finally playing opposite each other in Tides of Annihilation!"
It's too early at this point to know what Gwendolyn and Mordred's relationship is – they certainly don't appear to be besties from what we can see, but who knows, perhaps we could bear witness to a beautiful enemies-to-lovers situation. Even if their characters are destined to be foes to the end, it's still very cool to see the two actors side by side like this – Baranova says the two are "honored" to be part of the game.
Unfortunately for anyone eager to see more, Tides of Annihilation hasn't been given a release date at the time of writing, so we could be waiting a while for it yet. However, the good news is that it's not just coming to PS5 – it's also launching on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
In the meantime, you can find some fantastic games to play on our list of the best action games.
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