As one of the hardest demo appointments to get into at Summer Game Fest's Play Days, we were excited to get hands-on with a quick thirty-minute demonstration of Phantom Blade Zero. Hardcore action titles such as this can have such a different vibe between watching someone else play the game during an online stream versus being able to pick up a controller and play for yourself. It was during Summer Game Fest 2024 that we finally got a brief taste of the Wuxia action players can look forward to in Phantom Blade Zero, a title that needs no introduction nor experience with the studio's prior titles as this is intended to be a prequel to the other Phantom Blade titles.
Draped in a bleak and muted aesthetic, the villages and temples of Phantom Blade Zero are secondary to the player character and the multi-faceted combat. The demo opens with a quick tutorial, running through the basics of traversal from jumping, crouching through narrow openings, and sprints before stumbling across a lone enemy that’s the perfect punching bag to serve as a tutorial to the combat. S-Games reiterated that they don’t want to be considered a Soulslike title. Instead, one of the developers mentioned that they’re bringing back the classic “combo-driven traditional action into a Souls map” and how it’s a fusion of the two archetypes. There’s a cinematic Wuxia style to the combat that will leave players quite surprised as they learn how to take off their Souls blinders and approach Phantom Blade Zero with new eyes.
Rather than the simplified swordplay of your typical Soulsborne title, where R1 might only have a couple of standard hits before repeating the cycle, Phantom Blade Zero instead leans into its roots as a character action title. Combos are driven through strings of Square and Triangle presses, chaining together in 'Sha-Chi' combos meant to whittle down the enemy’s defenses and break their guard. For defensive mechanics, there is a standard block stance that can block both standard and blue-tinted Brutal Moves (these drain a significant chunk of stamina and are better off parried) as the main tool, but players can also tap the same block button to initiate a parry. By parrying an attack by tapping the L1 button, players will perform a 'Ghostep' and get behind the target for a quick counter. Red-tinted Killer Moves, on the other hand, cannot be blocked or parried and must either be sidestepped or tap the R1 button to counter with the same Ghostep ability. Jumping and dodging with sidesteps are the tried-and-true defensive abilities, but the delicate dance with parrying and counters will turn S-Games’ inaugural console title into something very different from what players are used to.
Weapons discovered throughout Phantom Blade Zero might share some similarities in their basic combos, but the intended effect can be quite different between them. During an earlier preview at IGN Live, the developers mentioned that there will be thirty different weapons available in the full release. The common Dao sword provides the highest average of speed and power, while a pair of Sanguine twinblades might trade off a lower amount of damage per hit in exchange for higher pressure and burning through the stamina of a blocking enemy. Beating an enemy boss in the second segment rewarded me with his oversized dadao for use in the third. Sometimes, the best approach is to begin a combo with a faster striking weapon, swap mid-combo to the secondary weapon, throw in a Phantom Edge like the lion’s head flamethrower, and continue the pressure until the boss is staggered. There’s a massive variety in how to approach the combat and dodge-cancels to shift out of attack animations or reset the combo giving players some insanely stylish ways to best their foes. It’s because of the high skill ceiling to the melee combat that I don’t want to liken Phantom Blade Zero to a Soulslike, but rather Team Ninja's Nioh and Ninja Gaiden Black.
Phantom Blade Zero features large combat arenas that are multi-layered by design, featuring paths for players to explore that will yield hidden treasure chests or the occasional enemy hiding just out of sight around a corner. In the gameplay demo, all the interactive objects and chests were disabled, preventing players from getting an early look at the loot and collectibles. By doing so, they force the player to focus on the action and moment-to-moment gameplay rather than seeking out something that would only be useful in the full game. Many of the higher elevated sections of the environment allow players to sneak attack enemies from above or even snipe them from out of harm's way using one of their iconic Phantom Edges: the longbow. In one of the live showcases shown off elsewhere, the developers talked about some of the contextual movement options, such as slowly sliding down walls and jumping off to find secret areas.
Thirty minutes wasn’t nearly enough time to satisfy my craving to finally get hands-on with Phantom Blade Zero. If nothing else, my time with the Summer Game Fest demo was like a small appetizer meant to increase my appetite for the full game. Once assumed to be a PlayStation 5 exclusive, Phantom Blade Zero will also be available on PC, although a release year hasn’t yet been confirmed by Soulframe Liang, Founder and CEO at S-Game.
