Phantom Blade Zero Review

An unforgettable action adventure held back by a forgettable story.

Some games sound so big and thrilling that, when they arrive, it’s hard to trust the end product will live up to those hopes. One such project was S-Game's Phantom Blade Zero. Early gameplay samples featured martial arts maneuvers that flowed very well, spectacular boss fights, and a fighting system that looked almost too good to be real.

As more footage was released, fans' hopes rose, especially those hoping for something different from the standard Souls-like concept. Phantom Blade Zero is a spiritual successor and reworking of the Rain Blood series from Chinese studio S-Game, which began as a series of RPG Maker games released in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

The franchise includes Phantom Blade: Executioners, a free-to-play 2D RPG set in the same universe, released in 2023. But everyone can enjoy this trip; you don't need to know the other games. Phantom Blade Zero has a protagonist and his problems. Developed in Unreal Engine 5, the project is far bigger than anything the firm has ever attempted and lets many more people see its unique environment.

Traditional Chinese martial arts, steampunk machinery, supernatural elements, and current pop culture combine in a very intriguing way.

S-Game calls this style “Kung Fu Punk”, and it gives the game a distinct character that sets it apart from other action-adventure games from the start. The developers don't just use real historical settings or famous fantasy settings; they combine classical architecture with industrial buildings, bizarre monsters, mechanical inventions, and supernatural imagery. 

This is what you get: An action game that knows what it wants to do. Even if the tale doesn’t always live up to the world’s ambitions, this adventure is worth going on for its terrific combat, gratifying growth, and unforgettable interactions. Phantom Blade Zero stars Soul, a master fighter and ex-assassin who worked for a gang known as the Order.

His life becomes a disaster when he is blamed for the death of the group's leader. Soul is terribly injured and very near death after what transpired. Some unknown intervention saves him, but his broken heart is replaced with a polluted one. But there is a grim catch: he has only 66 days to live. Soul sets off on a journey to discover what happened and to find a permanent cure.

He does this while being hunted by nefarious elements within the martial arts underground, called the Wulin, and old pals chasing him. His condition is an interesting starting point for the voyage, because the main character isn't just roaming a foreign environment for no reason. He is fighting to meet a deadline, restore his reputation, and find the people hurting him.

But it’s a shame the plot isn’t quite as amazing as the premise suggests. The game throws a lot of different characters, groups, supernatural concepts, and historical events at you, but it doesn't always give you enough information to understand what they signify. Several major relationships seem to be in place for quite a while before the adventure begins. This implies characters will often talk about personal issues and past incidents as if you should already know everything.

The plot's flow suffers from all the flashbacks.

Some scenes bounce from days ago to years ago. These transitions are difficult to follow without adequate lead-ins and explanations. You may not feel personally involved with the characters or their issues, but you may find yourself trying to figure out who everyone is and what happened before this issue. Soul’s personality and history might make him an interesting lead at times.

His calm manner makes it feel like he's been through a lot, and it is wonderful to read about characters with a definite past. But the game doesn't always do enough to describe the relationships that should be vital to his quest. Optional storytelling doesn’t really remedy it either. Each area has tons of collected books, lore notes, and Memory Flowers that reveal more information about the world.

Some of these finds are interesting, but having to keep returning to additional facts makes the main story feel like a separate chore. Memory Flowers also features little voiceovers that interrupt your progress until they’re over, though you may avoid them if you like. Thankfully, the shorter storylines accompanying optional tasks are far more fascinating.

Recurring characters portray ordinary people in the Wulin, affected by the developing violence and corruption. These meetings show how the world’s problems affect people and occasionally give the characters more crucial moments than the main story does.

Overall, the plot has a fantastic premise but has problems with presentation, introducing people and making things more convoluted than they need to be. It's not the point of getting into it, but it doesn't spoil the journey either.

One of the first things to know about Phantom Blade Zero is that it’s not your average Souls-style game or open-world adventure. It borrows elements from the genre, but the core experience is a semi-linear action-adventure with well-thought-out locales, optional goals, tough enemies, and plenty of room to test different weapons.

Each campaign location has a main goal and a couple of smaller exploration goals, so you get to see different areas. You can follow the main path, check out side paths, find secret treasures, complete optional objectives, and sometimes even face bosses that you don't have to battle. As you progress, the landscape opens up, prompting you to explore regions that may not be the focus of your objectives.

Exploration is basic enough, but that doesn't mean it's pointless.

You need to go past a multitude of closed corridors, hidden routes, bypasses, and environmental obstacles with various Phantom Edges. These customized weapons can help in scenarios beyond combat. Some items, for example, let you pass through walls, while others keep Soul safe from hazards like arrow traps. This adds some light Metroidvania characteristics, since returning to places you've been to before with new gear can uncover new paths and rewards.

The maps give you enough to get a basic idea of the layout, but they don't reveal all the mysteries. Be mindful of your surroundings and scope out questionable spots. Checkpoint bells let you save your progress, heal, and manage your gear. They also let you travel quickly between discovered locations, though you will need a consumable when traveling between locations that aren't near a checkpoint.

One weird design choice is that foes generally don’t respawn after you defeat them. This makes it much easier to return to areas, especially when you're looking for items you missed the first time. It also reduces the worry of returning to risky regions.

The overall exploration concept is good, as it doesn't give you too many nonessential things to accomplish. S-Game doesn't set repetitive goals across enormous landscapes; instead, it focuses on small areas with intriguing items to find and rewards worth earning. Fighting is undoubtedly Phantom Blade Zero's most essential feature.

The animations, varied weaponry, and way strikes connect make fighting adversaries highly rewarding. It draws on many action games, but its gameplay is far more versatile than a typical stamina-based Souls-like. Combat centers on light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, and parrying. Soul can equip two major weapons and switch between them in battle.

This lets you build combos that keep pressure on the enemy. But the coolest thing about the game is the Shachi meter, which works like stamina. Normal strikes, dodges, and well-timed parries don't consume this resource, unlike many other titles in the genre. Heavy attacks and blocking slowly drain it, and special powers make you more mindful about how you utilize it.

This gives you much more freedom to attack and defend without worrying about getting fatigued after only a few moves. The technique also helps you recognize the many ways enemies try to strike you. Blue lights represent an assault you need to defend against in time, while red flashes mean you need to dodge them carefully.

Some hits are darker and more harmful, so you should avoid them. If you respond to right assaults appropriately, you can induce a Ghoststep, which lets Soul wander and creates chances to counterattack.

Another key part of fighting is controlling the enemy's shachi. If you attack and defend properly, you can steadily drain your opponent's resources and create openings for harsher punishments. This makes combat feel more like a constant back-and-forth of offense and defense. Not just attacking till the opposing health bar is gone.

The weapon system provides an extremely intriguing additional layer of depth. Soul finds a wide variety of weapons throughout the trip, including one-handed and two-handed swords, as well as heavier two-handed weapons. Each category has different characteristics, attack speeds, ranges, and abilities. Some weapons are meant for fast combos, while others deliver heavy assaults that can stop adversaries in their tracks or set up follow-up damage.

Phantom Edges offer even more variations. These include specialized weapons like throwing knives, axes, heavy firearms, gauntlets, and other unusual items. Some are meant to break down defenses. Some allow you to attack from afar. Some give you entirely different ways to deal with certain foes. They are useful only in particular conditions, so don't rely on them all the time; think about when they will perform best.

What’s so wonderful about this is how easily you can blend skills. You can start with a flurry of light attacks, then move to heavier ones, switch weapons mid-combo, and finish with a strong Phantom Edge move. When everything works together perfectly, fighting feels less like pressing buttons one at a time and more like directing an intricate martial arts show.

Another significant plus is meeting the boss. S-Game understands that simply making an enemy stronger or weaker isn't enough to make combat engaging. Many of the main foes have their own attack patterns, movement styles, phases, and other game elements that demand a specific approach.

Some bosses want you to watch your surroundings and time your defenses just right, while others want you to stay aggressive and exploit openings.

Even optional encounters add something unique and intriguing to the game instead of just feeding you more information on a standard enemy. When you beat bosses, you also get new weapons, giving you a quick chance to try out your new arsenal. It’s easy to pick up, but it offers multiple difficulty levels, so it stays challenging.

You can choose an easier path or make each encounter harder by modifying the settings. Fighting Hellwalker gets much less predictable as the difficulty ramps up, with foes acting in more complex ways. After the campaign, you can also play the optional 66 Days mode, which is considerably harder and adds a restriction based on Soul's remaining life.

The game can be versatile, but not always easy. Some bosses take a few tries to beat, and the first few hours are tough as you get to grips with defense. Overall, the job feels fair, as enemy patterns give you chances to learn and improve. Some things need to be brought up. Lock-on is occasionally wonky, especially when enemies surround Soul.

Another frustrating camera issue is that when you're shoved into corners, you can't see what's going on. Sometimes Soul gets snagged on minor things, interrupting its normally smooth movement. But these issues don't actually spoil the experience. The action is so much fun and one of the game's best elements, with a huge selection of weapons, intuitive controls, and amazing choreography.

The main ways to level up in Phantom Blade Zero include collecting materials, earning money, discovering new weapons, and upgrading the ones you already have. Instead of making you grind XP, the game encourages you to explore the area and fight monsters to gather resources you can use to upgrade your weapons.

You can upgrade weapons to make them more powerful, but the process offers more than a simple damage bump. At certain upgrade levels, you can learn new talents, special attacks, and other methods that greatly change how a weapon functions. The skill tree also gradually empowers the Soul. Early upgrades help in practical ways, and later unlocks offer more interesting options that let you keep your combos going and pull off more sophisticated attacks.

This evolution makes Soul feel much more powerful as you travel through the game. What’s especially great is the ability to try new things. If you spend money and materials on a weapon and then find something better, you can recover your money and materials and use them elsewhere. This takes away much of the tension of committing to the wrong gear early in a journey.

The system also makes you attempt weaponry you might not otherwise utilize in the style you want to play. Once you get good at using heavier gear and have access to more powers, it's amazing how much fun it can be. This way, combat progression and exploration are well coupled. Optional locations offer useful upgrade materials, and bosses unlock more equipment. Exploring side routes always has a purpose, since the rewards can directly help you in future scenarios.

Phantom Blade Zero looks excellent and shows how far S-Game has come artistically.

Kung Fu Punk combines traditional Chinese surroundings with futuristic technology, mysticism, and weird architectural ideas. One minute you could be exploring a forest, and the next you could find a large steampunk-style edifice full of pipes, furnaces, and other mechanical elements. The changing environments prevent the experience from feeling like it’s treading water.

Each region has its own settings, structures, enemies, and graphic elements. Boss designs are easy to recall. Many are inventive animals or terrifying characters that don't look like conventional enemies. But some could argue that the animations are even better than the scenery. A lot of work clearly went into making the martial arts motions feel natural and believable. Attacks flow seamlessly into one another, and weapon changes give the conflict a fantastic feeling of rhythm.

The action gets increasingly ridiculous, yet motion capture and martial arts choreography keep Soul’s moves feeling real. The studio’s commitment to preserving the visual language of martial arts films is also evident in Donnie Yen’s presence as a kung fu consultant.

Performance is typically good on the tested versions. Performance is mostly 60 fps in performance mode on the PS5 Pro, but it dips slightly against certain bosses. The graphics were likewise extremely impressive on PC, but if you cranked up ray tracing and path tracing to the most demanding levels, your frame rate could dip.

But regular gameplay doesn't look as good as the movie cutscenes, though overall the presentation is still quite good. The soundtrack is excellent and fits the game's unique style well. Discovery is accompanied by traditional Chinese music; however, as you face certain bosses, rock and heavy metal come in and totally change the vibe.

This contrast works well, enhancing the Kung Fu Punk atmosphere instead of distancing the music from the scenery. Whatever is happening on screen, the music can shift from calm and somber to loud and energetic.

The sound effects also add to the satisfaction of every combat.

Weapon impacts, defensive movements, and powerful finishing assaults give the action more weight. These effects and animations really heighten the intensity of combat. However, the audio presentation has some issues. Sometimes the mixing is an issue, with sound effects too loud and dialogue hard to hear over the background music. Also, the English voice directing isn't always right, and some lines don't make me feel the way they should.

The game is set in China and includes cultural elements, so if you know Chinese, the voiceovers may improve the experience for you. Overall, the soundtrack and fighting audio are fantastic, but the voiceover presentation could have been better.

Phantom Blade Zero is a superb example of a game that knows what it does well, and constructs nearly everything else around it. Its tale may be plagued by unclear memories, underdeveloped relationships, and too much unnecessary backstory, but once the battle starts, those faults are easier to overlook.

It offers tons of weapons, awesome boss fights, satisfying growth, and beautiful martial arts choreography, and the adventure is always fun. Exploration was also carefully planned. It has just enough mystery and side-quests to keep you engaged, but not so many that you get swamped. Certain technical and mechanical problems (primarily with the camera, collisions, and performance in tough battles) are annoying. But these rarely detract from the overall experience.

S-Game has delivered a memorable action-adventure that does a great job of translating the splendor of martial arts movies into enjoyable, interactive gameplay. If you love fast-paced combat, experimenting with new weapons, and fighting unique enemies, Phantom Blade Zero is a terrific game. The story isn't the most intriguing, but this action game really makes you feel like a great warrior, and few games can do that.