In case you didn’t notice, Phantom Blade Zero recently debuted on the Steam Top 100 Sellers chart…and is now the number one best-selling game. That’s after reports that it was the most wishlisted game on the platform for the year, beating The Blood of Dawnwalker, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Control Resonant, and so many other titles.
Obviously, pre-orders going live is one thing – further reassurance that S-Game’s martial arts odyssey is well and truly set for release in October. But could something else have happened that spurred fans to buy it ASAP?
Well, there’s that new trailer that’s been doing the rounds. At just over 11 minutes, it’s perhaps the biggest selling point for a title that hasn’t pursued your average marketing blitzkrieg…or really any kind of marketing campaign beyond simply providing social media updates and dropping new trailers. To say it’s impressive would be an understatement – if anything, Phantom Blade Zero is taking all the expectations fans have had till now and seemingly attempting to one-up them.
Several new bosses are showcased, each with intricate combat patterns and attention to detail that are mind-boggling with each rewatch. New weapons, ranging from the obvious to the over-the-top brutal, are revealed. Further dimensions of protagonist Soul’s character and the sickness weighing him down are revealed. There’s a quick look at all the characters you’ll meet on the journey, aside from Mu Xiaokui, whom we’ve seen in previous trailers. And it all kicks off with perhaps one of the most unconventional yet visually impressive moving action sequences we’ve ever seen in a video game, setting the mood for the journey to come.
But perhaps the biggest reveal is that Donnie Yen, the martial arts film actor best known for Ip Man, Hero and many other classics, portrays Mó Yuan. You’ve probably noticed the character in previous trailers as Soul’s father, or at least the one who found and adopted him, slaying all those who seemingly tried to stop him. For some reason, he’s at odds with his son, and we can see Yen’s motion capture, complete with the rapid-fire fists on a grounded Soul, in action.
It’s a spectacle like few others, but only the latest from Phantom Blade Zero. And that’s far from hyperbole, because Yen has been working as a creative consultant on the project since 2023, bringing, in the studio’s own words, “his martial arts and action filmmaking expertise to the game’s combat design.”
Alas, it would be unfair to credit him for everything martial arts-related. Inaccurate, too, because over 20 martial artists provided the game’s motion capture, while masters from various schools were consulted. From Mount Emei’s swordmasters to Guangdong’s lion dancer, S-Game has spared no effort to accurately portray its brand of Wuxia through its special lens of kungfu punk. That’s not even getting into the task of scanning the cast, recreating historical locations in painstaking detail, hand-crafting the in-game maps, or ensuring that it all runs as smoothly as it does.
And I know, I know. It’s easy to get excited for a title with great graphics that ultimately doesn’t deliver on the gameplay. A cynical way of looking at it is that Phantom Blade Zero isn’t doing anything new that we haven’t seen in other hack-and-slash action RPGs. It’s a valid concern, and with how busy the coming months will be, I won’t begrudge those who want to carefully curate their entertainment before the black hole of free time that’s Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives.
However, Iteration is just as important, or at least I believe it is, and there’s no rule on delivering an ultra-polished experience with sleek action that also looks like a blast to play. Besides, one of my favorite things – not just from this trailer but several others – is that even with the over-the-top nature of combat, there is a weight to everything. To the sword strikes and movement, even the eruptions that bosses seemingly conjure out of the ground like it’s nothing.
Even when Soul is deflecting projectiles and effortlessly battling assassins on a fast-moving horse-drawn wagon, you can almost feel the shakiness – as if it could derail at any moment, or that our would-be hero could fall off. Say what you will about other action titles and how they push even crazier scenarios, very few have been able to balance this style of fantastical combat while still feeling so grounded and human (which, in turn, is one of the calling cards of Wuxia).
Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it or admire all the cool things showcased in the trailer. Because, as promised, a dedicated State of Play will air on August 17th, and everything we’ve seen thus far is apparently “only the beginning.” The deep dive seeks to “introduce never-before-seen characters” and how “expressive players can be with their individual builds.”
Yes, in case it wasn’t clear already, Phantom Blade Zero is an action RPG, and if that doesn’t translate to creating all kinds of sick ways to punish your opponents, I don’t know what does. And if reports (read: the listing apparently going live early before being pulled) are true, that may also be the day that S-Game shadow-drops the long-awaited demo, allowing us to finally go hands-on.
Sure, there are multiple ways that it could falter – I wasn’t particularly impressed by the English voice acting, but given that alternatives exist, it’s not the biggest obstacle in the world. The story may not quite deliver, though I can’t deny how intriguing the individual pieces have been thus far. As it stands, the overall narrative and setting feel much less esoteric than, say, Where Winds Meet.
But the real appeal of Phantom Blade Zero is its unique identity, which is at the heart of its action and presentation. It’s a different kind of execution on the ARPG formula – one that’s not looking to copy the Souls-like formula yet isn’t shying away from deflection or challenging combat. This isn’t Ninja Gaiden, but it’s also not quite Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or even Nioh. If you had asked me several years ago when the gameplay was first discussed, I would have dismissed it as a flashy hack-and-slash title. An admittedly cool-looking one, but still. At this point, there’s clearly a lot more going on than anyone expected. But will that be enough to upend expectations all around?
Phantom Blade Zero launches on October 29th, and if nothing else, you have to respect the team for making it the best it can. The delay from September 9th was meant to address bugs and ensure players wouldn’t have to download a massive day-one patch. Yet, there were concerns above all about launching so close to Grand Theft Auto 6. Who would possibly dare, especially when all these other publishers and developers have gotten out of the way?
Director Qiwei Liang’s response to PC Gamer? “We don’t think about any of this. We only think of the quality of the product itself. I don’t think competition can influence much the success of a work. Only the product itself matters. So I would say 99% of the decision [was about] development.”
Whether it ends up overshadowed or falling by the wayside next to one of the biggest media events in the past several years, S-Game is committed to overdelivering with Phantom Blade Zero. And at this point, it probably doesn’t need any luck manifesting its success.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
