Since its announcement last year, Phantom Blade Zero has generated a ton of excitement, in spite of the fact that its developer, Chinese studio S-Game, doesn’t have much of a track record to speak of when it comes to AAA console games. Of course, you only need to take a brief glance at what’s been shown off of the upcoming action RPG so far to understand why it has turned heads the way it has. From its setting to the flavour of combat that it’s promising, there’s plenty about Phantom Blade Zero that has caught the eye so far, and here, we’re going to go over some of those key details.
SETTING
One of the things about Phantom Blade Zero that catches attention almost instantly is its setting and its aesthetic. Promising a blend of steampunk and martial arts, Phantom Blade Zero is set in the Phantom World, which was previously also the setting of S-Game’s mobile title Phantom Blade: Executioners. Essentially built as an alternate version of Ming Dynasty era China, it makes heavy use of Wuxia themes, while also blending steampunk and fantasy aesthetics.
STORY
In Phantom Blade Zero, players will step into the shoes of Soul, an elite assassin in service to the organization known as the Order, which works in service of only one goal- maintaining the balance between good and evil. As the game kicks off, Soul is gravely injured, and though he is brought by a healer through mysterious means, there’s a catch- whatever means were used to bring him back, they will only last 66 days, which means that’s how long Soul has to catch his would-be assassin and exact his vengeance. Those who’ve played the aforementioned Phantom Blade; Executioners can probably expect some key characters to return and continue playing a role in the story as well, given the fact that Zero will be set after that game.
NOT A SOULSLIKE
When Phantom Blade Zero was first unveiled last year, there were many who assumed that it was another Soulslike, or at least a game with heavy similarities to the genre. That, however, is not the case. Developer S-Game has made it abundantly clear that though Phantom Blade Zero will have some basic Soulslike elements, all in all, it’s not going to have much in common with the genre. Instead, this is being billed as a character action game that will have more in common with the likes of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Devil May Cry, and the like. What exactly does that mean for its combat? Well…
COMBAT
Phantom Blade Zero’s combat is reflecting very plainly S-Game’s insistence that this isn’t a Soulslike. Rather than the genre’s traditionally slow and deliberate brand of combat, Phantom Blade Zero will feature much faster and more offensive combat. Attacks are mapped to face buttons rather than shoulder buttons, combos are heavily important, animations and attack movements are often over-the-top and explosive, and even parries and blocks look incredibly aggressive. In addition to a primary weapon (which will always be a sword), players will also have access to a variety of secondary weapons, from ranged options to heavy melee weapons, so it seems like the game will offer plenty of choices on the battlefield.
EXPLORATION
Phantom Blade Zero is being described as S-Game as a semi-open world game, which is to say that though it’s not a fully open world experience, it will often put players in large, open maps with full (or almost full) freedom to explore. The game is set to feature parkour mechanics, which should make traversal across environments interesting, depending on how well they’re designed. As per the developer, players can expect a variety of different areas, so hopefully exploration will remain engaging throughout the length of the experience. Speaking of which…
LENGTH
More often than not, developers tend to struggle with how long their game should be. How long is too long? How short is too short? With that in mind, how long is Phantom Blade Zero going to be? Well, on face value, it seems to be going for the right range. S-Game has said that the action RPG is going to be roughly 30-40 hours long- though there will still be plenty more to do beyond a regular playthrough to completion. That will include a robust endgame, a dungeon with roguelike elements, a boss rush option, multiple endings, and of course, plenty of side quests, hidden bosses, and other optional content. All in all, it looks like the game will have more than enough meat on its bones to keep you occupied for a long time, depending on how much you’re willing to engage with it.
MULTIPLAYER
Phantom Blade Zero is being billed primarily as a single player experience, and though that is the case, it won’t be an exclusively solo experience. S-Game has confirmed that the game will also feature multiplayer dungeons. Exactly how these will function remains to be seen. Will there be different co-op or PvP options? Will multiplayer dungeons have unique progression and rewards? All of that has yet to be detailed, but we do know that Phantom Blade Zero isn’t going to be exclusively single player.
NO MICROTRANSACTIONS
Multiplayer offerings often tend to go hand in hand with microtransactions, so is that something that we’ll have to be on the lookout for with Phantom Blade Zero as well? Thankfully, no. S-Game has confirmed that there will be no microtransactions in the game, which means all equipment, cosmetics, upgrades, and what have you will be unlocked through gameplay.
ENGINE AND PLATFORMS
Phantom Blade Zero is being developed on Unreal Engine 5, and while that isn’t a magical switch to make a game a technical marvel, it does look like the developer is using the engine’s toolset to great effect, based on what we’ve seen so far. A launch date is not yet known (we don’t even have a launch window yet, in act), though whenever it does release, Phantom Blade Zero will be available on PS5 and PC. Can Xbox players expect the game at some point down the line? That remains to be seen, but it doesn’t hurt to hope.
TECH DETAILS
As we get closer to Phantom Blade Zero’s launch, we’ll be learning a great deal more about the tech that is powering it, but S-Game has already revealed some tidbits, and there’s reason to be impressed based on what little has been confirmed so far. For instance, it’s been confirmed that on both PS5 and PC, the game will use hardware raytracing. Meanwhile, on PS5, it will have two graphics modes at launch- one targeting 2K and 60 FPS, and one targeting 4K at 30 FPS. The studio says it’s continuing to try and target 4K at 60 FPS or at least 45-40 FPS in the latter mode, so things aren’t quite set in stone there.
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