Phantom Blade Zero Review: A Martial Arts Feast for the Eyes and Ears

              While its story relies too much on abundant scraps of lore, this distinctly Chinese fantasy drama pairs well with gameplay.



              Gracefully balletic combat comes to life after your armory fills out, with dozens of fun bosses to take down.



              Exquisitely detailed environments and go-for-broke set pieces , with excellent performance on PC that barely ever skips a frame.



              Superb voice-acting and a year's-best soundtrack contender offers everything from heavy metal to classical Chinese opera.

Master Soul messed up. Once a high-ranking swordsman in an influential cabal known as The Order, he slayed founder Mu Tianmiao and incited the wrath of his skillful former comrades. By the start of S-Game Studio’s action-RPG Wuxia epic Phantom Blade Zero, Soul’s pierced heart has been replaced by a contaminated substitute, granting him 66 days to clear his name, take down his would-be killers, and resolve the conflict brewing in and around the Wulin.

Technically part of a series of mobile games, Phantom Blade Zero is the first entry positioned for Western audiences. Its third-person perspective, set-piece bosses, bonfire stand-ins, replenishing heals, and protagonist’s name notwithstanding, the game isn’t a soulslike, but more of a martial arts adventure with a focus on operatic storytelling and parry-happy swordplay. It’s also a feast for the eyes and ears with accessible, satisfying combat that only gets better with each new weapon.

Soul’s Journey Through A Devastated World

Narrowly escaping chain-and-sickle sadist The Hunt, Soul lands in Weeping Creek Valley, a hamlet surrounded by picturesque waterfalls and massive smoke-spewing industrial plants. Built to concentrate the life-essence that is their namesake, these Sha-Chi Towers dotting the land aren’t entirely to blame for the pallor cast upon Weeping Creek, where every footpath is choked with spidery red cords, dismembered puppet limbs, monstrous madmen in masks, and corpses.

Phantom Blade Zero‘s lore fragments and audio-log-like memory flowers illustrate the game’s wider and more intricate drama over time, but suffice to say, the lands of the Wulin are trapped in an endless conflict invoking class war, religious zealotry, transhumanism, and blood feuds. With a burning candle for a heart, Soul navigates this powder keg while tracking down Zuo Shang, a fellow orphan who rose through the ranks of The Order alongside him who now stands in opposition.

The micro and macro of Phantom Blade Zero‘s narrative is initially daunting, but it’s eloquently told in either Chinese or English; as a bonus, the game lets you swap between audio tracks with consistent lip-sync via the pause menu. Skip over its copious lore, and you’re left with some big-ticket cinematics and snazzy boss intros to move things along, but you’ll miss at least 75% of what’s really going on.

Magnificent Combat and Glorious Boss Fights Aplenty

At the end of the day, we’re here to hit things, and there’s a lot here to hit and a whole lot more to hit with. Phantom Blade Zero‘s early hours are somewhat limited by the scarce weapons at hand—a basic sword, dual-wielded blades, and a kind of zweihänder—but you’ll soon amass new options and Phantom Edge sidearms to enliven the swordplay.

Combat is heavily reliant on parry-timing, with color-coded enemy attacks instructing you to either perfect-parry a blue or outright dodge a red to avoid heavy damage. Like other parry-focused actioners, you’ll internalize these cues and get a feel for shoulder twitches and other body language tells, with most bosses requiring some trial and error to get down pat.

Interestingly, Phantom Blade Zero never demands elaborate inputs, with most weapon combos utilizing light and strong chain attack variations or charge maneuvers. The fun part is learning each new weapon’s rhythmic language, revealing their eventual potential with forged upgrades and, to be perfectly honest, just vibing out with them in your hands, aspects which are all masterfully invoked here.

I’m particularly impressed with how the game handles group combat, a struggle for even the best soulslikes and comparable action-RPGs. Perhaps it’s to do with Donnie Yen’s involvement, something which resonates in the game’s beautifully animated dual attacks when you’re surrounded. These reactions require no special input and are another thing you’ll just get a feel for the more you play. I’m accustomed to groaning when I spot a group fight up ahead in an action-RPG, but here I just turn off lock-on and let ‘er rip.

Fall In Love With A New Weapon Every Hour

The many weapons and Phantom Edges join a set of estus-like replenishing healing items and dozens of accessory relics, all of which are found in chests or won from bosses; boss kills often reward you with their own weapon a la Mega Man, and they’re just as effective in your own hands. Upgrade materials are technically limited, but respec items drop by the boatload, which encourages you to experiment and fall in love with a brand-new weapon every hour.

Unfortunately, Phantom Blade Zero‘s other systems and mechanics don’t all stand up to scrutiny. The skill tree is mostly underwhelming; all of it is useful, but most unlocks seem like basic tweaks that should have been in the game to begin with, like improving parry or weapon swapping. Speaking of the latter, you cannot swap blades without automatically attacking, so get used to dashing a split second after a swap when a boss has a parry primed, and limited sha-chi—which functions as a kind of all-purpose stamina reserve—requires that you regularly switch between primaries.

There’s been much talk of secrets, but very little in the game is outright hidden, aside from a few confusing side quests. Run speed feels slow—again, a skill tree node makes this thankfully faster—and contextual prompts automatically whisk you up certain surfaces, resulting in a spinning flourish that halts your parkour flow. Traversal is generally uninteresting or serviceable at the best of times, and the Phantom Edges granting you access to new areas proc canned animations that are fidgety to activate.

Enemies never respawn, so returning to areas to track down loose ends can feel strangely uneventful, possibly even lonely, and I do wish there was an endless arena mode or some kind of zone with replenishing combat. Phantom Blade Zero is at its best during battle, and there are plenty of battles to be had… But please, sir, can I have some more?

A Feast For The Eyes And Ears

Quibbles like these would drag down a lesser project, but Phantom Blade Zero came with the goods. This isn’t your standard action-RPG padding its runtime with palette-swapped bosses, and its armaments aren’t functional clones only distinguished by cosmetics and increased DPS. There are thirty primary weapons to collect (and 25 Phantom Edges, which are simpler by design), and every single one has its own nuanced feel, function, timing, and style.

One sword lets you chug booze, telekinetically toss it around the screen, and drunkenly dodge attacks. A bladed fan activates combinable spells and a sidearm fan creates healing AOEs for you and any summons. Weapons can channel weather effects or magical projectiles, integrate with executions or parries, and certain Phantom Edges allow you to interrupt enemy combos or punish them when they’re dazed. The list goes on.

And yes, a few bosses are decent if unremarkable, but those are in the minority. Most exhibit oversized flair and personality, play along to the terrific soundtrack, goad you with insults, humiliate you with unblockable trickery, or muster unique one-off gameplay sequences.

The soundtrack deserves special mention as well, with some of my favorite Phantom Blade Zero moments directly incorporating the arts in general and music in specific. I wouldn’t dare spoil its best sequences, but the game leverages Bian Lian transforming masks, Nuo theatre, Lion dancing, shadow puppetry, Chinese opera, and more. There are moments of intimately plucked Pipas cutting the silence, orchestral excess, raucous heavy metal. This is one of the year’s best soundtracks full stop, and worthy of a separate physical release.

50 Hours Later, Let’s Do It All Again

I’m wary of making excuses for Phantom Blade Zero‘s lesser qualities, specifically its traversal mechanics, confusing map, and limited quest tracking. But the striking depth of its visual detail (with excellent performance and optimization on PC), its superb and uncomplicated combat feel, marvelous soundtrack, and even the detailed lore-heavy worldbuilding all elevate the experience well beyond the norm.

Fifty hours later and my first playthrough of Phantom Blade Zero was complete on Hellwalker, it’s slightly-tough-but-fair highest difficulty mode. Completing a playthrough unlocks a special “66 Days” challenge, limiting retries and restricting you to a single save file. The fact that I’m already hours into my NG+ run says it all: Phantom Blade Zero is impressive, worthy of your time and, incidentally, the perfect cure for soulslike fatigue.

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  Hefty and diverse armory offers something for everyone and encourages experimentation.
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  Excellent voice performances with full lip-sync in English and Chinese (!) on top of a year?s best OST.
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  Great PC performance and snappy load times.
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  Lots of fun bosses with many memorable standouts among them, and plenty of optional and secret boss battles to look out for.

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  Challenge level offers severe peaks and valleys, rendering entire sections of the game either frustrating or superficially easy, even on the hardest difficulty mode.
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  Narrative is reliant on lore and mostly incoherent unless you carefully pore over every available document and memory flower.
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  Unhelpful map and abysmal quest tracking will anger completionists.