Sometimes a game just clicks with you. During my teenage years, it was Dragon Age: Origins, LA Noire, and Mirror’s Edge. For my adulthood, it was League of Legends, then smaller titles like the Plague Tale series or Ghostrunner. It was, however, never FromSoftware’s Souls games. While Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro are formative experiences for many, the difficulty curve just isn’t for me. Yet I’m obsessed with their aesthetics – Bloodborne whispers to my vampiric soul, and Elden Ring’s weird monstrosities unsettle and intrigue me. When I first saw Phantom Blade Zero, my heart sank; it looked so cool, but I figured I’d never be able to fully enjoy it.
That pit in my stomach continued to grow as I watched the final trailer roll at Summer Game Fest. The crowd around me was electric ahead of the show’s final reveal, and I immediately recognized Phantom Blade Zero from the slick combat and gorgeous gothic Chinese aesthetic. As the trailer concluded and a wave of excitement ensued, I felt somewhat bittersweet – sure, it’s got style in spades, but it’s still another soulslike game.
But that’s not the whole story of Phantom Blade Zero. As the sun set (literally and figuratively) on my time in LA, I headed across to S-Game’s booth, nervous about getting my ass handed to me in front of a crowd. I’m greeted by the developer’s head of publishing, Will Chen, who escorts me to a bright green chair and pairs me up with a member of the dev team. When I tell them that I suck at soulslikes, they give me an excited “I believe in you! You can do this!”
Our story begins in a ruined village, brought to life with stunning Unreal Engine 5-powered graphics. I scale rock faces with ease and cut off into a ruined house, which my newfound comrade in arms warns me contains a sneaky hidden enemy. Dispatching my foe, I leap towards the wall and thrust my katana into the stone, sliding down while looking awesome.
I’m confronted by the demo’s first boss, Tie Sha the Frenzy, who brandishes a mean-looking axe. This is my time to shine. Phantom Blade Zero’s parry system is intuitive; blue means the incoming ‘brutal attack’ is blockable and triggers a stylish combat animation, while red means you’d better get out of the way. I’m normally pretty bad at parrying, but the blue and red system makes things a lot easier, and the flashy Ghoststep animations that position you behind your foe make me want to do it over and over again.
By consistently parrying and dodging, I fill up my power gauge, which I unleash on Tie Sha as I whittle down his health. The result is an explosion of black and red smoke, and a flurry of blades. As he falls, my partner and I dissolve into a clamor of excited giggling – perhaps I can, in fact, do this.
Our second foe is a step up and, despite there being three bosses, he’s the one who causes me the most trouble. Commander Cleave is a hulking figure with a jagged, crystalline sword. He’s mastered the art of long-range, wind-like slashes, and he hits hard when he gets up close and personal. The plus is that you can normally push him off and earn yourself a swift backstab because his heavy attacks are relatively slow – something I take full advantage of.
It takes me five or six tries to defeat him as I get used to parrying his long-range slash attacks and learn his patterns. It’s a fun fight that tests not just my katana skills but also my ability to switch between the primary melee weapons and secondary bow.
The third fight terrified me, though – surely this is where things start to go wrong. With a pep talk from my new partner in crime, I take a deep breath and start towards the boss, only to have him throw a spiked iron maiden-style weapon at me that crushes my head in an instant. There’s a disgusting squelch, and I let out a soft ‘oh’ before erupting into laughter.
Now, I know for a fact that if this happened in any other soulslike, I’d throw the controller and stomp off. Yet Phantom Blade Zero enchanted me. I take a deep breath and dive back in, darting behind a load-bearing pillar to avoid having my brain smushed once again. It takes me three tries to defeat him, with game director Soulframe exclaiming “that was an epic battle” as I cut Huangxing down. A cheer erupts from those around me as the Sunken Pillar of Kunlun fades to black.
Despite my reservations about soulslikes, and my concerns over perfect parries, I absolutely loved my time with Phantom Blade Zero. It’s difficult but not overly punishing, vibrant yet moody, and incredibly stylish. Movement is fluid and flashy, the controls are responsive, and the vast array of interchangeable weapons opens up room for slick, devastating combos. Couple that with the game’s fast-paced yet methodical combat, and I can confirm that whatever Kung Fu punk is, I like it – and I want more of it.
But what made the entire thing even more special was the knowledge that the developers love this game. Soulframe was quick to ask for my feedback, and the joy of taking down those bosses was amplified by the dev team cheering me on.
While there’s no word on the Phantom Blade Zero release date, the team is showcasing the game at ChinaJoy, Gamescom, and Tokyo Game Show. So if you’re in the area, I suggest you go ahead and give it a try – I know I didn’t regret it.