Since its initial reveal, Phantom Blade Zero has carried the heavy burden of looking a little too good to be true. Developed by S Game, this dark, steampunk infused martial arts action game immediately caught the attention of players with its lightning fast combat and stunning animations. Now that the final release is in our hands, the biggest question is whether the actual gameplay lives up to the visual spectacle.
The short answer Yes, but you need to leave your expectations at the door. If you are looking for a grueling, punishing Soulslike that will force you to memorize every single frame of a boss's attack pattern, you are in the wrong place. Phantom Blade Zero is an old school, pure action title think more along the lines of Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry designed entirely around making you feel like an unstoppable martial arts master.
The narrative setup is simple but effective. You play as Soul, an elite assassin who is betrayed, framed for the murder of his master, and stabbed through the heart. Saved by a mysterious entity, Soul is given a makeshift, venomous heart that will keep him alive for exactly 66 days. You have that much time to clear your name, uncover a sprawling conspiracy involving masked factions, and ideally, find a permanent cure.
While the premise is strong, the actual delivery of the story leaves a bit to be desired. The plot is heavily reliant on jargon, and a lot of the world building is buried in text logs and memory flowers
scattered across the map. It is easy to lose track of who is who, and you will likely find yourself caring less about the political betrayal and more about just getting to the next fight. The story is a serviceable vehicle for the action, but it won't be winning any awards for narrative depth.
Combat is the undisputed star of the show. It is incredibly fast, flashy, and satisfying. The developers clearly did their homework, heavily pulling from traditional Wuxia films (reportedly with input from martial arts legend Donnie Yen) to create animations that transition seamlessly into one another.
The core system revolves around light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks, and parries. Enemies will flash specific colors to telegraph their moves: blue flashes require a perfect parry, while red flashes demand a complete dodge. Successfully countering these leaves the enemy's guard broken, allowing you to go on the offensive.
At first, the combat can feel a little chaotic, almost bordering on button mashing. The animations are so rapid that landing a perfect parry early on feels more like luck than skill. However, as you unlock more of the game's 30+ base weapons, the rhythm clicks. Swapping weapons mid combo to manage cooldowns and string together massive chains of damage becomes second nature.
Adding to your arsenal are Phantom Edges
heavy, limited use secondary weapons like massive axes, bow and arrows, or cannons. Not only do these offer devastating combat finishers, but they also act as exploration tools, allowing you to break through chains or hit out of reach switches to open new paths in the game's massive hub areas.
Phantom Blade Zero is incredibly forgiving, which is bound to divide players. Unlike the games it frequently gets compared to, death here is barely a slap on the wrist. If you die, you lose nothing. You simply respawn at the nearest checkpoint (a bell). Furthermore, enemies do not respawn when you rest, meaning you can easily clear a camp piecemeal.
Most notably, boss fights feature phase checkpoints. If a boss has two forms and you die during the second form, you will respawn right back at the start of phase two. You never have to grind through the first half of a boss fight again.
For casual players, this keeps the pacing brisk and completely removes frustration. For hardcore action veterans, this drastically lowers the stakes. By the second half of the game, as your build becomes overpowered through weapon upgrades, accessories, and medicines, the difficulty curve takes a steep nosedive. You will likely beat the final dozen bosses on your first attempt, even on the hardest default difficulty setting. There is an unlockable 66 Days Mode
that gives you a finite number of lives before your save file is deleted, which sounds brilliant, but locking it behind a first playthrough feels like a missed opportunity to provide immediate tension.
Visually, the game is a triumph. The dark, rainy, steampunk meets feudal Asia aesthetic is gorgeous, supported by a heavy, adrenaline pumping soundtrack that kicks into high gear during major encounters. The maps are surprisingly massive, featuring a light Metroidvania approach where you backtrack with new tools to open previously locked doors.
However, the sheer size of the game works against it in two ways. First, enemy variety starts to wear thin. To fill these massive zones, the game recycles early game enemies far too often in the late game. Second, the exploration suffers from loot bloat. You will constantly stop to pick up shiny objects, only to realize it is redundant upgrade materials you don't need, which bogs down the pacing.
On the technical side, running on Unreal Engine 5, the game looks incredible but requires patience. The initial shader compilation on PC is notoriously long sometimes taking up to 20 minutes before you even hit the main menu. During gameplay, performance is largely stable, though heavy water areas and complex towers can cause noticeable stuttering, especially if you have ray tracing turned on. You will also occasionally get stuck on ankle high geometry during fights, which is a minor but annoying lack of polish.
- Incredibly fluid, visually stunning combat animations.
- Massive variety of weapons and Phantom Edges to customize your playstyle.
- Boss designs are spectacular and highly memorable.
- Excellent, adrenaline fueled soundtrack.
- Highly accessible, focusing purely on fun and power fantasy over punishment.
- Severe lack of challenge; generous checkpoints remove all tension.
- Story is bogged down by jargon and generic delivery.
- Massive maps lead to recycled enemies and tedious, meaningless loot collection.
- Excessively long shader compilation times and occasional performance stutters.
- Locking the high stakes "66 Days Mode" behind New Game Plus.
"Phantom Blade Zero is a wildly entertaining action game that succeeds entirely on the back of its phenomenal combat and striking art direction. While it trips over its own feet regarding narrative delivery, repetitive loot, and a lacking difficulty curve, the sheer joy of chaining together impossible martial arts combos makes it incredibly hard to put down. It isn't perfect, but it is undeniably fun."
