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Our Verdict
Phantom Blade Zero is a stunning action RPG that gives the best of all time a run for their money. Phenomenal combat, a beautiful world, and a confidently original story wrapped up in a package that’s an intricately designed Metroidvania at heart. It’s a special game.
Ever since my first time seeing Phantom Blade Zero in person at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, I knew to expect the spectacular. Halfway through my demo, the PR team ushered me behind a curtain to see a video of a boss fight that Soulframe, the game’s director, had just been sent. I wasn’t allowed to talk about it at the time, but it blew me away. The fluidity of the action, the beauty of the arena, and the epic three-stage music were incredible. I expected it to be a highlight of the game, though, rather than just one of countless incredible moments the full game boasts.
The question of what exactly Phantom Blade Zero is has been floating around for years. S-Game insists that it’s not a Soulslike, while the checkpoint system and general aesthetic say otherwise, and that it’s primarily an action RPG. What I believe it is more than anything else, however, is a Metroidvania. Exploration, backtracking, finding keys, secret bosses, and blocked paths are core to Phantom Blade Zero. In that sense, it’s a remarkably well-designed game.
The action RPG identity of S-Game’s adventure is phenomenal, too. Its vision for kung-fu punk has well and truly been realized. Fighting enemies big and small feels incredible. The martial arts animations flow beautifully, slashing away at enemies as you try to figure out their attack patterns.
You have your trusty block, although you need to parry attacks that flash blue, and perfect dodge those that flash red. Each time you nail the timing, the action slows and Soul, your protagonist, flips and twists in a puff of smoke to turn the tide of the fight. Every success, from the moment you wake in the Weeping Creek Valley until the spectacular final fight, is so satisfying.
A lot of the fights require the same tactic: parry attacks until you ‘guard-break’ the enemy, then unload your arsenal on them while it regenerates. Rinse and repeat until they’re dead… or their second phase begins. While that may sound simple and repetitive, the variety in foes and their attacks keeps it from being so. You’ll engage in standard hand-to-hand combat, sword vs sword, but will also have to dodge the likes of huge laser beams, hundreds of blades raining from the sky, leaps across arenas, and countless other unique attacks.
This is where Phantom Blade Zero’s suite of weapons comes in, too. While you start with a pretty standard sword, you eventually get access to a huge hammer, a mask that spits fire, chains with blades on the end, and even a sword that makes you drunk, and you must think about which is the best option for each fight.
One boss might be agile and disappear without a moment’s notice, so you need something quick to get those attacks in while the opportunity presents itself, while another might lumber about swinging a giant golden hammer, meaning something with a bit more weight makes sense. Some weapons break shields more easily, others inflict elemental damage, and yet more attack from all angles at once. Combine all that with a plethora of accessories to add little buffs, new effects that are unlocked as you level up weapons, and special weapons called Phantom Edges whose uses are replenished at each checkpoint bell, and there’s a huge amount to think about build wise, too.
Of course, boss fights come thick and fast, and they’re regularly the absolute highlights of the game. More than a few times, I sat in awe at the scale, spectacle, and cinematic style of a fight. Bosses move with a grace and speed that you often cannot match, flying around between attacks. You’ll battle everything from majestic puppets with wobbly swords on mountaintops to seven guys connected by red string in an encampment courtyard. Such encounters often don’t end at one phase, either. Two, or sometimes three phases are regular occurrences, making you panic after you celebrated emptying the boss’s first health bar. The fights often change drastically from one form to another, both in terms of the attacks you’ll face and the design of the boss, keeping you on your toes. S-Game helpfully allows you to restart a boss fight on whatever stage you died on, so you can pick up from the start of phase two when a death sends you running back from the bell.
Some of the showdowns are incredible both visually and in terms of gameplay. They’re breathless attempts to engineer that one moment to strike, building up enough damage for that final brutal finisher. The animations that S-Game has created, through meticulous motion-capture, are incredible. A handful of the boss fights are among the best I’ve played in any action RPG. I found myself getting excited for the next one, not only to see what they were, but to uncover what weapon I’d get access to in turn.
They can come out of nowhere, too. While you have the classic ‘guy waiting for you in the center of an obvious boss arena,’ you’ll also just be exploring a rooftop when an enemy will swing in unexpectedly and a boss fight will begin. One time, I wandered into a boggy part of a lakeside encampment, when suddenly a water creature sprang up from the depths and a boss fight began. It keeps you on edge and makes for some really fun and unique bouts.
The real genius of Phantom Blade Zero comes in the level design. Split into five main open areas, with a few additional, smaller ones, the environments are gorgeous. Even without a photo mode, I took some stunning screenshots just running around the world.
My screenshot folder showcases the incredible variety in locations across Phantom Blade Zero’s map. You’ve got a lush valley, a crimson forest (that’s literally the name of one area), snowy mountains, and a dense, decaying city. Even though a lot of the architecture is consistent, the tone and atmosphere of each locale is wildly different.
Each individual map, which all take about five hours to fully explore, follows the same progression structure. The adventure is told through semi-linear open-world exploration; the kind that’s synonymous with Metroidvania games. There are interesting side quests and hidden collectibles aplenty, but the way forward for the main quest is obvious. You’re introduced to new areas by the story, each location split up into lots of smaller ones you can only get to if you continue down the main path.
Bramble is cleared by a boss’s flame mask, a secret Phantom Edge removes dense fog, and the first big foe’s dual-wield chain blade allows you to grapple to certain points. There’ll be plenty of times in which you’ll stumble across a blockade, only able to get past when you beat the relevant boss and grab their weapon some ten or 20 hours later. Exploration is kept fresh by the various weapon and tool hybrids, as well. Different Phantom Edges have differing uses depending on the location, so traversal maintains a level of surprise. Drastically different traversal mechanics are even introduced to help you get around one of the more expansive locations later in the game.
It’s pretty standard Metroidvania stuff, but it works wonderfully in Phantom Blade’s dense and beautiful world. It’s not something I expect from my action RPGs. I found myself combing every inch of the game’s explorable area to find every document and every chest full of upgrade materials, just in case there was a surprise hidden away. There are plenty of surprises, too. Fun hidden bosses and challenges can be uncovered on every map, with themes running through each of them. Some frame rate issues and stuttering in one of the game’s maps, which S-Game tells me will be fixed by the game’s launch, were the only stumbling blocks to exploring to my heart’s content.
Elsewhere, Phantom Blade Zero is immaculately polished. While the cinematic cutscenes draw the eye, there are playful touches throughout. A handful of hand-drawn animation flashbacks are particular highlights, and I’d love to see more of the world in that style. There are welcome other touches too, such as the world maps being hand-drawn rice paper versions to match the game’s background and style.
While full of words and phrases that seem like nonsense on their own (transcension, maskwalkers, and various others), Phantom Blade Zero’s story feels confident in its originality. The tale of Soul can be a little tricky to follow at times, asking you to work out a small puzzle of who’s who and what they’ve done, but it has an emotional payoff that turns the flair up to the max. Whatever you do, try your best to get the perfect ending; it’s well worth the effort and time commitment.
Phantom Blade Zero sets up an IP and gaming series we’ll see a lot more from. Of course, it borrows aspects from some of the best games ever, but S-Game has created a truly original experience that feels incredible to play, looks stunning, and leaves you with a huge grin. It’s a new gold standard for action RPGs. Once it was over, I just wanted to keep exploring Wulin, fighting more incredible bosses along the way. Hopefully I get that chance sooner rather than later.
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