I acquired to take a seat down and play Phantom Blade Zero at Gamescom final week and—after muddling a bit to seek out my sales space within the chaos of a bustling ground—got here away fairly impressed. Judging by the reactions of my fellow demo-triers, considered one of whom managed to beat it a complete 7 minutes earlier than me (I am not upset), it is seeking to be a sleeper hit.
Phantom Blade Zero comes from S-Sport, and it is the studio’s first main effort and, as PC Gamer’s personal Wealthy Stanton famous final yr, it is also impressed by an RPG maker sport the group made again in 2010 named Rainblood: City of Dying. S-Sport has since been fairly keen to attract a line between Phantom Blade Zero and soulslikes—revealing that whereas it is definitely drawn inspiration, it is undoubtedly its personal factor.
Having acquired my mitts on it, I am in full settlement. Phantom Blade Zero feels, in spirit, much more like Crew Ninja’s Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty—taking the trimmings of FromSoftware‘s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and reinventing the style right into a wuxia motion romp, like a hefty sprint of Godhand or Ninja Gaiden thrown within the soulslike soup. It is a style diversion that I am gleeful—downright kicking my toes and guffawing—to see flourish.
Phantom Blade Zero is a sport that is not too involved about rugged exploration crammed with a billion threats. It is not solely disinterested in it, thoughts, however enemies do not respawn after you’ve got killed them as soon as—and from what I’ve performed, the main focus is extra on the boss fights.
What separates it from Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty, nevertheless, is that it is not afraid to let issues get complicated. For starters, you’ve two forms of assault that require both an ideal parry or an ideal spot dodge—that’s, a dodge the place you decide to the ability of iframes and keep rooted because the swing is available in. You even have entry to timed blocks, that are nice for stance-breaking (Sha-Chi depleting) your foes.
Within the combine you’ve got acquired ranged weapons—similar to a bow and arrow or, extra stylishly, an enormous tiger head that spits hearth—and particular strikes which can be fueled by Sha-Chi essence named Energy Surges.
It is all feeling very excessive in a scrumptious means, unshackled from the earthly must be grounded and smart. It, like Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty, trades out deliberate and cautious motion for cool flips and tips. In contrast to that sport, nevertheless, it offers its gamers each a wider toolbox and enemies which can be extra inclined to combine you up such as you stumbled into EVO earlier than studying methods to dragon punch.
Certainly one of my favourites was a boss who threw a weighted chain at me—flashing a pink gentle to inform me that the incoming assault wanted to be perfect-dodged. Nonetheless, mentioned mook then proceeded to hurl his weapon upwards, forcing me to intuit (by the flex of his arm) when it was coming again down. A number of occasions, although, I might be additional punished by a hitbox as he yanked the offending bludgeon away if my positioning was dangerous.
It is all a scrumptious baseline for talent expression, unafraid to imagine its gamers are expert sufficient to get spicy with its mechanics, and I can not wait to play some extra—my consideration (previously my curiosity) has now was full-blown pleasure.
