Key Preview Takeaways:
- There are a ton of boss fights, they usually’re unbelievable up to now.
- In case you like type, PBZ is oozing it.
- Framerate hitches on a beefy PC are a yellow flag this near launch.
I play so many sweaty motion video games that pit me in opposition to insanely troublesome bosses and require essentially the most tight response occasions conceivable that it really takes quite a bit to get me to concentrate nowadays. I’ll admit that once I first noticed the Phantom Blade Zero gameplay trailers, I didn’t instantly get the hype. In any case, this sword-wielding parry-happy motion sport exists in an period the place we get at the very least a dozen of those a yr. It solely took about 5 minutes with developer S-GAME’s Phantom Blade Zero to see the way it units itself aside, although, with essentially the most easy and satisfying motion since Sekiro, a shocking variety of issues to do and secrets and techniques to seek out whereas exploring every stage, and a narrative that looks as if it’ll go tougher than I anticipated it to. After over six hours bum-rushing my method by way of the primary leg of the journey, I left totally champing on the bit to play extra, and have now joined the ranks of those that rely this amongst their most anticipated video games of 2026.
The factor that instantly jumped out at me about this finely honed motion sport is simply how a lot it effortlessly oozes type. One cutscene has a personality performed by Donny Yen balancing a child on the sting of his blade whereas he fights off quite a few attackers, one boss encounter concerned me preventing (and ultimately taking up the type of) a type of superior dancing lions you see in Chinatown on Chinese language New 12 months – even the primary jiffy have your character selecting which coronary heart he desires to obtain from a creepy ghost monster man simply to ensure you know that the sport you’re enjoying is metallic as hell. It’s actually fairly onerous to make your motion sport with a cool swordmaster protagonist preventing off hordes of monsters stand other than all of the others given how frequent this trope is at this level, and but I don’t assume there was any level in my time enjoying the place I went greater than half an hour with out operating into one thing I hadn’t seen earlier than. It’s extremely spectacular stuff!
That’s all with out attending to the fight itself, which is with out query the star of the present right here. I don’t assume there was even one second of Phantom Blade Zero the place I didn’t really feel like an entire badass. A few of the many examples I encountered embody: using atop a horse-drawn wagon whereas preventing off armed pursuers and blocking their gunfire along with your sword, killing off enemies with completely brutal finishers after you’ve damaged their guard meter with repeated parries, and conserving two enemies at bay on both facet of you by executing an absurdly cool double kick on the identical time.
This sport has an unimaginable knack for making you are feeling such as you’re the one individual on this planet who may have pulled one thing like that off, and a number of that’s in how easy the parry mechanics and assault combos are. I shocked myself by how usually I used to be capable of do loopy issues like parry three thrown daggers in fast succession, then comply with it up with a sequence of assaults that despatched me flipping by way of the air and spinning gracefully as I smacked round enemies prefer it was nothing, though most had been no slouches themselves. I’m a little bit of a snob on the subject of motion video games, so if the parry home windows aren’t excellent, or the assaults don’t really feel fairly satisfying in some imperceptible method, I are likely to grow to be disenchanted actually rapidly. However Phantom Blade Zero will get so lots of these tiny particulars excellent, making it extremely onerous to place down.
Instruments of the Commerce
And if the core methods through which the fight feels satisfying are what pulled me in, then the truth that I used to be capable of expertise it over again from a brand new framing because of the bevy of melee weapons was what held my curiosity. I don’t know what number of weapons this factor has or if all of them are as distinctive as what I obtained my palms on on this part of the journey, however nearly each weapon of destruction I attempted out felt extraordinarily bespoke. I obtained one huge, two-handed blade by defeating an non-obligatory secret boss that carried me to victory by way of a ton of encounters because of its capability to deal an insane quantity of harm, whereas one other boss who was a drunken preventing grasp awarded me together with his drunken preventing type after his defeat, which allowed me to bob and weave like a champ, shifting unpredictably as I guided my blade telekinetically in entrance of me, even capable of ship it flying on the enemy as a ranged weapon. The variations between these sorts of weapons had been so stark that it took a ton of time to regulate to every one, studying the combos accessible to me alongside the professionals and cons of utilizing every one as I went, and that went an extremely great distance to assist maintain my consideration as I sliced by way of the one hundredth minion enemy in half an hour.
There’s additionally a shocking quantity to improve as you grasp your kung fu expertise, whether or not it’s enhancing weapons by investing supplies in them to enhance their stats and capabilities, or by investing within the numerous paths of the talent tree, which supply all the pieces from lively skills like one which permits you to interrupt your personal assaults to execute a fast dodge out of the best way, to passive perks like one which restores your Sha-Chi (used to carry out sure particular actions) sooner than regular. For an motion sport that’s largely targeted on pulling off sick kills, there’s a shocking quantity of RPG that’s snuck its method into the combination right here, and I’m all for it. It’s good to have breaks from fight to do some good quaint buildcrafting, even when it didn’t appear to go all that deep from what I noticed.
Who’s the Boss?
Boss fights could make or break a sport like Phantom Blade Zero, so it’s an excellent factor that almost each one I performed was an absolute banger. Whereas many of the early fights had been fairly lavatory commonplace stuff, like a hooded man throwing chained blades at me, or an enormous burly monstrosity swinging an ax the scale of a grown man, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than some extra fascinating and authentic concepts took heart stage. In a single combat I perfected a dance of loss of life in opposition to a snake girl who swooped by way of the air in a barrage of hilariously convoluted strikes, which put my quick response occasions and skill to learn enemy actions to the take a look at. Alternatively, the duel in opposition to the lion dancers wasn’t as chaotic, since many of the assaults had been slower and pretty telegraphed, however the issue lied in having to provide you with inventive methods to get across the lion masks’s nigh-impenetrable armor, which I finally realized the trick to throwing this fiery foe off its steadiness that I gained’t spoil right here. I’d actually like to provide extra particular examples right here, besides developer S-GAME has requested me to not point out among the cool bosses I fought in order to not spoil too lots of them, so that you’ll simply must take my phrase that there’s some fairly neat stuff in there.
Talking of boss fights, a lot has been product of Donnie Yen’s function in Phantom Blade Zero because the mysterious Mó Yuan, and with good motive – this man is freaking Ip Man, in any case! The dude one way or the other managed to be the best man in a Star Wars film for crying out loud!. Whereas I positively gained’t go into particulars on the best way his character weaves his method into the story or the character of those fights, I’ll say that I used to be fairly shocked by how this part of the journey takes form. Going through this clearly formidable foe didn’t go down the best way I believed it will, and operating into him a number of occasions over the course of my playtime was positively a spotlight, and featured among the downright coolest animations I’ve seen in an motion sport in a really very long time.
Densely Packed
Whenever you’re not laying the smack down along with your fists of fury in opposition to beefy bosses, you’ll be preventing throughout ranges which have a shocking quantity of secrets and techniques to find, facet quests to finish, and fully missable areas to discover. In the midst of my demo, I discovered weapons and devices that others on the preview occasion reported not encountering in any respect, found one of many coolest bosses from my session that was solely non-obligatory, and bumped into hidden areas full of loot to say, like a creepy underground fortress that I’d missed till I did a bunch of backtracking. Phantom Blade Zero’s fascinating aesthetic, which mixes industrial design with conventional wuxia components, makes for some fairly fascinating and distinctive areas, like one which featured an enormous manufacturing facility of some sort nestled into the middle of a quiet village within the mountains. The sidequests I accomplished had been largely quick errands to journey to totally different elements of the map and kill issues or acquire objects, so largely busywork that fleshed out a little bit of story with a facet character whereas exposing you to some extra fight encounters with some scrub minions. However it additionally gave me extra causes to cease and odor the roses, discover areas I might need in any other case missed, and usually give me extra stuff to do in a world I used to be having fun with being in.
One space I didn’t get sufficient publicity to for me to kind an opinion on simply but is the story. The premise is fairly simple, with the protagonist solely having 66 days to dwell who units out on a quest to treatment himself earlier than it’s too late and get revenge in opposition to his enemies – fairly regular stuff for this style. And whereas I noticed the opening cutscenes and some bits and items of the story within the early hours, it was largely setup stuff that I’d describe as adequate however not particularly fascinating. I didn’t actually get to see most of the huge story beats develop past the primary act’s setup, although, so it stays to be seen if there can be payoff. I can at the very least say that every one the stuff I realized about Donnie Yen’s character and his relationship to the protagonist made me assume that possibly the story may ship, nevertheless it’s nonetheless anybody’s guess.
Final Hurdle
Clearly, my time with Phantom Blade Zero was overwhelmingly constructive, they usually definitely gained me over as somebody who will certainly be enjoying this sport, but when there’s one space I’m a bit nervous about it’s technical efficiency. Clearly the construct I performed wasn’t remaining, and S-GAME instructed me that almost all of their focus within the remaining weeks main as much as launch is generally round optimization, nevertheless it’s value shouting out that I skilled rare however pretty extreme framerate drops all through the course of my demo. I used to be enjoying on a decently highly effective PC, so am notably curious how this one will look and run on PS5, which is the one console PBZ is debuting on on the finish of this month. In any case, it’s one thing I’ll be maintaining a tally of nearer to launch, as a result of superior video games popping out the gates with unlucky technical hiccups is disappointingly frequent nowadays.c
After half a day enjoying Phantom Blade Zero, it’s gone from largely not on my radar to to the highest of my wishlist this fall, and I actually can not wait to dive again in later this month to see if it might ship past these first handful of hours. A minimum of for now, although, nearly all the pieces I’ve seen and performed has made me extra satisfied that that is going to be one of many coolest motion video games of 2026.
Whilst you’re right here, take a look at these current previews of different huge upcoming video games we have checked out lately!
Travis Northup is a author for IGN. You may comply with him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and browse his video games protection right here.