A couple of weeks in the past, S-GAME invited me out to Los Angeles, the place I joined a number of different influencers, content material creators, and media retailers for an prolonged hands-on session with Phantom Blade Zero. In contrast to my shorter classes at Summer Game Fest 2024, Summer season Sport Fest 2026, and CES 2026, this wasn’t one other demo the place somebody was watching the clock or ready to maneuver the following particular person in line. This time, I had roughly six hours with a near-final model of the sport. Nobody telling me the place to go, nobody stopping me from exploring, and nobody standing behind me ready for his or her flip.
It was simply me, Phantom Blade Zero, and a number of other uninterrupted hours to see what S-GAME has been engaged on. And let me inform you, I used to be in heaven. Phantom Blade Zero has been certainly one of my most anticipated video games of 2026 for fairly a while, and as somebody who’s already an enormous fan of this fashion of motion recreation, lastly with the ability to sit down and actually dig into it was precisely what I had been ready for. As a result of this was a way more full model of the sport, I used to be in a position to get a greater really feel for the way every part comes collectively, from fight and weapons to development and exploration. Plus, I bought this actually cool picture op with members of the S-GAME group, together with Soulframe Liang (Liang Qiwei) William Chen, and Chloe Feng. Critically, the parents over S-GAME are some actually cool individuals.
That mentioned, that is nonetheless a preview, and I’m not about to spoil every part S-GAME has packed into the sport. As a substitute, I need to offer you a style of what I skilled throughout these six hours and why it left such a powerful impression on me. There was lots I noticed that I’m deliberately leaving out, as a result of a part of the enjoyable is discovering these items for your self.
Soul’s Story and a World That Rewards Curiosity
We already know from beforehand revealed story particulars that Soul has been betrayed, mortally wounded, and given simply 66 days to dwell. That setup provides him a really private motive to maintain shifting ahead, however I favored that the sport doesn’t painting him as somebody who solely cares about saving himself. As I met NPCs and took on quests, I began seeing a way more compassionate facet of him. A few of these smaller interactions may result in belongings you may utterly miss.
One in every of my favourite examples occurred early on when I discovered a person sitting on a rooftop in a village. Nothing compelled me to talk with him, however the gamer in me principally demanded that I see what he needed to say. He defined that he had as soon as educated a number of college students in archery, just for them to make use of what he taught them to kill individuals. Crammed with remorse, he requested Soul to take care of them if he encountered them.
Ultimately, I did. After taking them down, one dropped a broken bow, and I instantly remembered the person sitting on that rooftop. I introduced the bow again to him and was rewarded with a Phantom Edge, a secondary assault means that gave me entry to ranged assaults. Had I by no means spoken to him or thought to return that bow, I’d by no means have gotten it.
That was one of many issues I appreciated most about Phantom Blade Zero. The sport isn’t consistently pointing at every part with big markers or portray the setting yellow and screaming, “Hey, go over right here.” It rewards you for paying consideration, speaking to individuals, remembering what they inform you, and exploring since you truly need to. S-GAME informed us there are extra moments like this all through the sport, and Phantom Blade Zero appears completely snug letting gamers miss issues, which I really like.
Loads of Distinctive and Gratifying Weapons
S-GAME was particularly passionate in regards to the weapon system. Phantom Blade Zero has loads of weapons to find, however the concept isn’t to search out one early on and use it for your complete recreation. S-GAME desires gamers to experiment and discover weapons that match how they prefer to play. After spending a number of hours swapping between totally different choices, I can see why.
You possibly can equip two major weapons without delay, and the fight actively encourages you to make use of each. Your Sha-Chi is depleted whereas blocking and attacking, for instance, however switching weapons can replenish it. You too can swap weapons on the fly throughout fight, permitting you to maintain your momentum going with out utterly breaking your rhythm. As soon as I bought snug with that, weapon switching turned a part of how I approached fights quite than one thing I solely did between encounters.
As I progressed, I discovered weapons from enemies, characters, and easily exploring the world. Every has its personal assault strings and combos, however many even have distinctive properties that utterly change the way you strategy fight. One weapon I picked up towards the tip of my session used a Drunken Fashion, and ingesting whereas utilizing it truly made Soul stronger. It was utterly totally different from what I had been utilizing and confirmed simply how far S-GAME is prepared to go together with its weapon designs.
Then there was the Jagged Metal, which shortly turned my favourite weapon. Attacking enemies builds their Bleed Gauge, and as soon as that fills, it triggers Blood Loss for extra injury. As soon as I bought my palms on it, I just about refused to let it go, and it shortly turned the MVP for me. Later, when S-GAME moved us forward to a different portion of the sport, one of many first issues I did was verify my stock to ensure the Jagged Metal was nonetheless there, and fortunately, it was.
That’s to not say that the opposite weapons weren’t enjoyable, as a result of they had been. There have been loads of actually fascinating weapons, however I’m going to chorus from mentioning them. I’m fairly certain S-GAME desires to maintain loads of that stuff as a shock for when players soar into the sport for themselves.
Fight Is The place Phantom Blade Zero Shines
Clearly, fight is likely one of the largest components of Phantom Blade Zero, and from what I performed, it’s additionally the place the sport actually shines. There are many assault strings and combos, however merely hammering away on the assault button isn’t going to get you very far. Positioning issues, as does understanding what sort of enemy you’re combating and being attentive to how they react to you. Some enemies vanish or reposition themselves when attacked, whereas others block or instantly create distance.
There are even enemies whose defenses can’t merely be brute-forced, requiring you to alter your strategy or use a selected Phantom means. The bosses observe that very same philosophy, forcing you to concentrate quite than merely overwhelm them with assaults. Button mashing isn’t going to hold you thru Phantom Blade Zero; the sport desires you to be taught what an enemy is doing and reply accordingly. When you perceive that, the fight begins to really feel way more deliberate.
One of many clearest examples comes from Pink and Blue assaults. Pink assaults are unblockable, which means you’ll want to dodge them, and timing that dodge simply earlier than the assault lands allows you to pull off a Good Dodge. Blue assaults work otherwise, as they are often blocked usually, however completely timing a parry triggers a Ghoststep, a transfer that shortly strikes Soul behind the enemy and offers you a chance to punish them.
As soon as I began recognizing these assaults and reacting correctly, the fight actually clicked. Phantom Blade Zero desires you to look at, react, and make the most of openings quite than mindlessly attacking no matter is standing in entrance of you. That fixed back-and-forth between offense and protection provides the fight a rhythm that feels extremely satisfying when you perceive what the sport expects from you.
Talking of fight, I fought a variety of bosses throughout the session, however the Lion Dance Grandmaster was simply one of the crucial memorable. We’ve all seen it in trailers, however truly sitting down and combating it’s a utterly totally different expertise. I’m not going to spoil what occurs since you need to go in blind the best way I did. What I’ll say is that although I’ve fought one thing comparable earlier than with Elden Ring’s Divine Beast Dancing Lion, this one takes the cake, simply.
I’ve seen the comparisons between Phantom Blade Zero and Sekiro, and after spending time with each, together with loads of hours in Sekiro, there’s an enormous distinction. Certain, Sekiro is quick, however Phantom Blade Zero operates at a distinct tempo totally. Between Good Dodges, Ghoststeps, and weapon swaps, you’re hardly ever standing nonetheless, and all of it flows collectively like a seamless dance.
Making the Sport Accessible Was a Should
Whereas that is an motion/hack-and-slash journey and never a Soulslike, S-GAME has included a number of methods to make the expertise much less punishing. Probably the most helpful comes throughout multi-phase boss fights. When you attain a boss’s second part and die, you’ll respawn at first of that part quite than replaying your complete encounter. S-GAME defined that it needed the sport to be accessible and understood how irritating it may be to lastly overcome one troublesome part solely to get destroyed throughout the subsequent and be despatched all the best way again.
From what I skilled, I’m grateful for that call. The bosses can nonetheless put up one hell of a battle, however the recreation doesn’t really feel considering losing your time only for the sake of being troublesome. That doesn’t imply the problem disappears, since you nonetheless must be taught the fights and execute correctly. It merely removes among the pointless repetition that may make troublesome encounters extra irritating than enjoyable.
How Did Phantom Blade Zero Run on PC
Earlier than we began, S-GAME requested whether or not we needed to play on PC or PlayStation 5. Being the PC gamer that I’m and eager to see how Phantom Blade Zero carried out on the platform, I went with PC. I’m glad I did. I couldn’t verify the precise specs of the machines, although they had been clearly high-end programs.
I did verify the settings, and Phantom Blade Zero was working at 4K with every part cranked to Extremely on NVIDIA {hardware}. Efficiency was wonderful all through my session, with no hitching, noticeable stuttering, visible artifacts, or the rest that pulled me out of the expertise. It was a flawless exhibiting throughout the time I performed, which is encouraging contemplating Phantom Blade Zero is constructed with Unreal Engine 5. That engine has had its share of PC efficiency points when video games aren’t correctly optimized, however no matter S-GAME is doing, the construct I performed gave me none of these complications.
Talking with S-GAME, the purpose was to make sure the sport was working as optimum as potential, and so they put in a number of work, taming Unreal Engine 5, so to talk. And from what I noticed, they undoubtedly completed that.
After all, there may be an apparent caveat right here, as a result of these had been highly effective machines. I can’t communicate to how the sport will carry out on mid-range or lower-end {hardware}, particularly since I don’t know the precise specs of the programs we had been utilizing. However on the machines S-GAME supplied, it ran extremely nicely. That no less than provides me some confidence heading towards launch.
Six Hours Later, I Needed Extra
Earlier than I used to be even invited to this occasion, which I’m extremely appreciative of, Phantom Blade Zero was already excessive on my record of video games I completely needed to play this yr. After roughly six hours with it, that pleasure has solely gone up. The whole lot I skilled impressed me, from the fight and storytelling to the boss encounters and exploration. Throughout these six hours, there actually wasn’t a lot that left me feeling damaging in regards to the expertise.
After all, six hours continues to be solely a portion of the complete recreation. Nevertheless, based mostly on what I performed, Phantom Blade Zero feels just like the sort of recreation that would find yourself in loads of Sport of the Yr conversations. If the remainder of the expertise holds up, I might simply see it changing into certainly one of my private favorites of 2026. That’s clearly one thing the complete recreation might want to show, however the preview gave me loads of causes to be excited.
S-GAME additionally made it clear that what I skilled was solely a style of how over-the-top issues ultimately get. Contemplating among the encounters I already performed, that has me much more excited to sit down down at dwelling and expertise the completed recreation from starting to finish. These six hours did precisely what a preview ought to do: they confirmed me sufficient to know what S-GAME is attempting to perform whereas nonetheless leaving lots for me to find.
Extra importantly, they left me wanting extra. A lot in order that after the session, I walked as much as Soulframe and informed him, “This recreation is fucking superb.” He smiled and thanked me for saying that. No, Soulframe, thanks.
Phantom Blade Zero releases on October 29, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and PC.