At gamescom, we were able to try out the action role-playing game from Chinese developer S-Game for the first time. Fans of soulslikes and Far Eastern mythology should definitely enjoy Phantom Blade Zero – although the game doesn’t want to be souls-like at all
If you think of Black Myth: Wukong when you think of action role-playing games and China, you’re not wrong. However, the Monkey King is likely to soon have powerful competition in this niche, as the next hot action title from the Middle Kingdom is already warming up with Phantom Blade Zero.
With Zero, the Beijing studio S-Game wants to bring its successful mobile series to PC and consoles for the first time. We were able to let off steam for half an hour in the PS5 version at gamescom and can tell you:The new Phantom Blade is great fun.
The game aims to appeal to all those who appreciate crisp, well-staged boss battles– but don’t want to be constantly reduced to small wood by their opponents. To achieve this balancing act, the game makes a few well-dosed changes to the traditional Souls-like formula and even borrows a pinch of Devil May Cry for the combat system. But let’s start from the beginning
Beautiful assassin action
The premise of Phantom Blade Zero is quickly told:We play Soul, a former Assassin who is framed for the murder of a Master of the Order. As an outcast, we are outlawed and condemned to live for only 66 days. Equipped with powerful martial arts skills, we set out in search of the real murderer and must prove Soul’s innocence before his remaining lifetime is up.
On his quest, Soul wanders through the so-called Phantom World, which is based on ancient China.The individual linear level sections with their bamboo forests, karst mountains and Buddhist cemeteries make a wonderfully coherent impression and look almost lifelike thanks to the Unreal Engine 5.
Due to the lack of official screenshots from the developers, we had to cut the images for this article from the available video material. We apologize for the reduced image quality, it does not correspond to the actual game graphics.
Soulslight instead of Soulslike
With its cleverly choreographed battles, Phantom Blade is deliberately inspired by old kung fu films and is strongly reminiscent of action titles such as Ninja Gaiden or the aforementioned Devil May Cry with itsfocus on the fluid chaining of combos. According to the developers, the stylish combo strikes are intended to motivate genre newcomers in particular
However, the combat system also has something to offer Soulslike veterans, as the basic moves of Phantom Blade Zero are easy to learn, butit can take a while to achieve true mastery
In principle, Phantom Blade Zero should be far more forgiving of mistakes than titles from FromSoftware, for example. In contrast to these, defeated enemies in Phantom Blade do not spawn if we bite the dust in the meantime –so it’s more Soulslight than Soulslike.
The great unknowns
At least when it comes to the battle system, Phantom Blade Zero already clearly shows where the journey is heading. However, some other questions remain unanswered. For example, the skill system of the action role-playing game was not yet implemented in the demo version shown. However, developer S-Game emphasizes that we can customize the character Soul according to our needs
According to initial information, the finished game should offer around 30 to 40 hours of gameplay However, the developers are not yet willing to commit themselves precisely. The team is also keeping quiet about the rest of the plot. So far, only a few enemy types have been shown in the trailers and the demo. As is typical for the series, however, there is likely to be at least one encounter with Soul’s childhood friend Zuo Shang, who has now become an arch-enemy
The last word has apparently not been spoken on the supported platforms either. A PC and PS5 version have been officially confirmed,but there are contradictory statements about a possible Xbox version Microsoft’s console is much less well represented on the Chinese market than here in the West.
The developers have also so far refused to commit to a specific release date However, at least the sections shown at gamescom already looked very polished
Editor’s verdict
hantom Blade Zero was my highlight of this year’s gamescom. With its fast, stylish battles in the Chinese Wuxia style, the action role-playing game captivated me from the very first minute. The combat system is wonderfully catchy, the combos powerful, the level of difficulty challenging but never too high.
Thanks to the latest version of the Unreal Engine, Phantom Blade Zero also looks outrageously beautiful. The rainy bamboo forests and candlelit, musty temples of the demo convey a wonderfully atmospheric impression.
Of course, some things are still unclear about Phantom Blade. The developers have not yet shown us anything about the promised skill system. It also remains to be seen whether the story will last the entire length of the game at release
If developer S-Game can maintain the quality of the demo in the finished game, Soulslight fans will have every reason to celebrate. After Wukong, they could be in for the next action hit from the Far East.
