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Particulars
Writer: S-Sport
Developer: S-Sport
Launch date: 29 October 2026
Platform: PS5 [PS5 Pro reviewed], PC
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Phantom Blade Zero desires you to really feel like a kung fu grasp from the opening moments, and it’s best to, because you play as Soul, an elite murderer for the Order. Even after a fateful duel leaves him with 66 days to reside, there’s no low-cost Metroid-style reset, and his martial arts prowess retains rising.
Whether or not taking up one other fearsome warrior one-on-one or a gaggle of enemies, there’s a fluid confidence to his moveset that captures the spirit of the traditional martial arts movies which have impressed studio S-Sport’s formidable debut, itself primarily based on the indie RPG Rainblood: City of Dying that director Soulframe Liang made greater than 15 years in the past.
Whereas China’s first AAA hits like Black Myth: Wukong and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers have leveraged each Unreal Engine 5 and the overwhelming affect of Soulslikes, S-Sport tries to carve out its personal identification, which it has coined as ‘kungfupunk’. Aesthetically, which means a curious mix of conventional Chinese language tradition with the trendy: steel-factory structure clashing with bamboo forests and temples from a extra traditional wuxia setting, and music the place elegant pipa strings give method to electric-guitar rock riffs. Extra actually, it’s about how Sha-Chi, the vitality that powers your kung fu (in-game, it’s mainly your stamina gauge used for heavy combos and guarding assaults), additionally powers different applied sciences.
Phantom Blade Zero fight: martial-arts mocap and 50+ weapons
However it’s undoubtedly the kung fu that is centre-stage right here, with all the combating kinds and actions in-game captured by actual martial artists, notably with the involvement of Hong Kong martial arts legend Donnie Yen (he additionally performs a personality, albeit one you do not strictly encounter on the primary story path, whereas spending most of it behind a masks) and his stunt group.
Regardless that your combos are primarily simply spamming gentle or heavy assaults, your combating type adjustments relying on the weapon you utilize, such because the one-handed Jagged Metal, which inflicts bleed injury, or the weighty two-handed Scarlet Wraithblade, which leaves energy-draining pink spider lilies on the bottom. The motion can typically really feel too quick for its personal good, so that you’re normally centered in your flurry of assaults earlier than ready to react to an enemy’s blue or pink assaults to parry or dodge, however hitting the immediate to unleash a ending transfer is fairly satisfying.
Since most bosses drop new weapons, there is a thrill in getting a brand new toy to play with, and the sport has greater than 50 to seek out and grasp. It could possibly really feel just a little overwhelming, and a few might really feel extra gimmicky than helpful, like a sword that provides you unpredictable drunken-martial-arts actions, so I naturally caught to some favourites, particularly since I wanted to prioritise upgrading them with my restricted sources.
Nonetheless, there’s an incentive to grasp a couple of weapon, as switching robotically provides you a full Sha-Chi gauge. I typically used up a gauge with one weapon, then shortly swapped to a different to maintain my offensive momentum going (a cooldown interval does forestall you from simply exploiting this).
Exploration and stage design
Particular weapons referred to as Phantom Edges have restricted makes use of however, used on the proper time, can flip the tide in encounters, like a big axe that smashes by enemy shields or a sequence sickle that tears by a number of surrounding enemies. Some even serve Metroidvania-style exploration, letting you entry areas you could not attain earlier than.
However regardless of some fascinating designs, it is laborious to not see these as glorified keycards, with most resulting in little greater than a small room and a chest to your hassle. Regardless that the chain doubles as a grappling hook, it is a bit disappointing when you realise that, like different traversal choices akin to working up cliffs or wall-running, it is restricted to a button immediate at prescribed factors within the setting.
This is among the irritating elements of Phantom Blade Zero’s wealthy, dense Wulin, even because it takes you from the underside of a valley to mountain peaks, plus an enormous lake you possibly can discover by boat. It could all look pleasing to the attention, however it suffers from environments the place you commonly bump up towards invisible obstacles as you attempt to parse the artistically rendered map (albeit elegantly emulating a Chinese language ink wash portray that fills up the extra checkpoints you come throughout).
That is particularly annoying when a quest marker is supposedly shut by, however you continue to should wander aimlessly till you notice an interplay immediate, or uncover there’s really a long-winded detour you are imagined to take as an alternative. Doorways that require particular keys are one factor, however I catch myself sighing after I method a ledge you’ll anticipate to mantle in the same sport, just for Soul’s kung fu abilities to be arbitrarily eluded.
Boss fights and issue
One other query you may need about Phantom Blade Zero is whether or not it is a Soulslike. In some ways, it is not. For example, its checkpoints do not revive defeated enemies once you relaxation at them, and also you additionally do not lose any sources completely in case you do not get better them. It nonetheless has some similarities, akin to some labyrinthine stage design the place you will encounter your share of doorways inconveniently locked out of your facet, however it nearly appears to show right into a Soulslike in problem the second you encounter bosses with hard-hitting assaults and the place you may have very restricted heals (which you will not even be capable of improve meaningfully till the sport’s midpoint).
On the one hand, some issue spikes are mitigated by bosses with a second section, which even have a checkpoint so you are not compelled to undergo the primary section with fewer sources, and there are additionally issue choices. The equipment you discover and equip may make a distinction, particularly ones that widen the parry and dodge home windows, however my main gripe stays how spongy these boss fights really feel, even for those who come again with a second section.
This is not distinctive to Phantom Blade Zero (see additionally Control Resonant, till Treatment patched it at launch), however it makes you query the purpose of staggering your opponent when, on this state, all of your heaviest assaults nonetheless solely chip away at their well being. In lots of fights, it additionally makes your aggressive momentum push the enemy again till you inevitably get caught on geometry. When it hits the digicam, some cool-looking ending strikes get framed awkwardly, with components of the setting obscuring the shot.
Phantom Blade Zero efficiency on PS5 Professional
Regardless that I used to be testing on PS5 Professional, I nonetheless bumped into some fairly obvious technical points throughout my playthrough, principally within the latter half of the sport, which I feel got here all the way down to optimisation and bugs, since they continued even after I turned off ray tracing and set the graphics to Efficiency mode. Generally the audio acquired knocked approach out of steadiness between the voice performing and music, and in a few instances the large puddles I got here throughout did not present reflections a lot as they seemed extra like an enormous mirror or a gap within the floor.
Most egregious, nevertheless, have been framerate drops throughout fight that devolved right into a slideshow, spoiling a number of main boss fights. I needs to be relieved they did not kill me, since most of those occurred after I was already locked into my (seemingly very VFX-laden) assault animations towards a staggered opponent.
Which will make it look like I’ve so much to be down about Phantom Blade Zero, however there’s nonetheless loads to admire, together with cultural and inventive thrives I am unable to share on this overview. The Wulin’s centrepiece, Pangzhen, is the sort of labyrinthine city that deserves to be talked about in the identical breath as Bloodborne’s Yharnam, so wealthy and dense with secrets and techniques and lore, and residential to a few of the sport’s greatest bosses, whereas there’s clearly been quite a lot of thought that has gone into the intriguing characters and deep questlines that provide significant rewards, together with having an influence on the ending you will get. It is only a disgrace that the model I acquired to play nonetheless wanted a bit extra time within the oven.
A remaining notice: S-Sport launched a patch that supposedly resolves a lot of the above points, however it got here after I completed my playthrough, so I did not have an opportunity to undergo it once more to ensure each situation I encountered was fastened.