Who is Soulframe Liang (梁其伟)? He made Rainblood on his own at university and lost his guaranteed place in Tsinghua’s master’s programme over it. He made phone games for ten years to pay for the game he really wanted, and now he directs Phantom Blade Zero. And when the studio behind Warframe announced a game called Soulframe, as he tells it, they tried to buy his name. He said no.
This profile is told in his own words, from his Chinese essays, posts, radio shows and a podcast, from Japanese and English interviews, and in his own voice on official video. In 2023 he pictured his career as the swords at Dugu Qiubai’s grave in Jin Yong’s The Return of the Condor Heroes. Linking that answer to the game’s wooden sword is my reading, not his, and the film says so. Chinese and Japanese quotes are our own translations, and every translated card says so.
More on Phantom Blade Zero
The man who wrote its music https://youtu.be/u-KaPE5Z7qY
Whether to play it in Chinese or English https://youtu.be/Ka9TVT-lkfY
Why you take your weapons from bosses https://youtu.be/Vj1wTGAD4Xw
The launch trailer’s hidden message https://youtu.be/GCbx9Tlcbso
The Chinese words the English version keeps https://youtu.be/yJo0_Ky_iLQ
The real places hidden inside it https://youtu.be/_Euc8NytEcQ
How the fights were made https://youtu.be/cvOtyGDLJHo
The films and books behind it https://youtu.be/YZ1MVkYAPbY
What China really thinks of it https://youtu.be/yETSYtdDHLo
How it compares with its closest rivals https://youtu.be/QqVnModZFP0
How its combat actually works https://youtu.be/BJT8RY5O-O0
The lore, the story behind Soul across 18 years https://youtu.be/td8_J0qXPzs
The previews are in https://youtu.be/tLIQbQi_LRc
Everything we know before launch https://youtu.be/NTlEp3r-dvI
Chapters
0:00 Who is Soulframe Liang
1:19 The name
2:54 Fifty notebooks
4:17 The sharp sword, Rainblood
8:24 Home, and the jianghu
9:37 The soft sword, the phone years
11:21 The heavy sword, Zero
14:08 The warning
15:39 The wooden sword
Phantom Blade Zero launches 29 October 2026 on PS5 and PC (28 October in North America).
If you could ask Soulframe one question, what would it be? Tell me in the comments.
Sources
Liang’s own writing, his essays on Chuapp (2014, 2015, 2016), his posts on Bilibili (2023, 2024, 2026), his 2021 letter via GameLook and his comment under S-GAME’s Chinese launch trailer (October 2026). Interviews in Chinese with 游戏陀螺 (June 2023), NetEase (2013), Popular Software (2010), BGC Jinjin Youwei (2021), Jiefang Daily (2025) and the Shougang interview by 编剧雷神 (2025), the GCORES radio show GADIO (2013) and the 核电波 podcast (December 2025). The 《人物》 profile (2016). In English, PC Gamer (March, July and August 2025), Inverse (2025), RPG Site (December 2025), GamesBeat (2024), Wccftech, RPGamer and PCGamesN (October 2026), and in Japanese 4Gamer (2024). The Yale School of Architecture bulletins (2009 and 2010). TMview with CNIPA data for the SOULFRAME trademark (read 25 October 2026). Our translations are marked as ours on screen.
Footage
Official S-GAME and PlayStation trailers and footage including the State of Play, NVIDIA’s RTX Inside the Game, the Xinhua and S-GAME documentaries, S-GAME’s What exactly is Wuxia, the S-Party films, S-GAME’s ChinaJoy 2024 panel, Phantom Blade Executioners trailers and gameplay from S-GAME’s channel, S-GAME’s English press footage as Geek Culture posted it, Return to Pangzhen (S-GAME and NVIDIA), Rain and Blood, and Steam’s trailer and screenshots for Rain Blood Chronicles Mirage.
#PhantomBladeZero #影之刃零 #PS5
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i wanna watch all these pb0 videos, but the ai voiceover is so grating 😬
Like a Dragon: The Man who didn't sell his name.
I wish he would reboot his older side scroller gacha games like PB2 into traditional single player offline games, that art style and music were banger.
Thats what i call " aggressive promoting" of their products
Btw give your dog a name WARFRAME or something and make another video
edit: because of this video i decided not to buy Phantom Blade Zero
i hate aggressive promoting
Omg, I love your vdo and Mr.Liang is great. Glad Ive wished list for years and pre-ordered it. can't wait.
The question I want to ask is iit true that they abandon their sci-fi game to work on this game. Any chances they are going back to the sci-fi game they were working on?
Dude you are probably going to be THE GUY to go to for PB0 and future S GAME stuff.. Keep it up.
I swear i wish maybe just do this as a passion project myself… But gota work regular job to afford PB0 to play 🤣 and to pay bills 😂
I thought his name being Soulframe was entirely a coincidence. It's interesting to know that they're related in some way, even it's another coincidence in a bigger way
I have 2 questions I would ask, 1: what's the story of Donnie Yen getting involved?, and 2: Would S-game consider doing the hand to hand combat equivalent of PB0?
His name is Soulframe?! 😭😭😭
Holyy AI slop 😭😭
Soulframe is tough as shit
10:15 Liangborghini has me dead, I love Chinese social media
Hope he make a whole unarmed kungfu based game similar to kungfu hustle that is if pbz a success
if I could ask him any question I'd ask him if we can have more fist weapons in the game
but why the game still is called soulframe?
Your phantom blade 0 series is one of the most fun to watch!!! Especially while waiting for the game's imminent release.
No agenda to push, no political motivations, no restriction to his hearts expression.
This is what gaming was supposed to be.
That a game like Phantom Blade Zero could come out in 2026, a time where games are only industry, its nearly a miracle.
Seems like there is hope after all.
Someone stepped up in the worst time of gaming and made an actual game.
I wouldn't know what to ask Soulframe. I would thank him and his team for never giving up on making great games.
He looks much younger than his age, even for an East Asian.
Tomorrow at 10 am in Singapore phantom blade pre load starts, how about you? 😊
重劍無鋒，大巧不工。