Phantom Blade Zero review: Soulful swordplay...

I’ve had several chances to play early versions of Phantom Blade Zero at events in its long road to release, and I found myself impressed with it just about every time. When I got it for review, I wondered how it would surprise me next. It wasted no time. The game sets players off on a quest to save themselves, take revenge, and fix a broken world heaped in corruption. Phantom Blade Zero isn’t a Soulslike the way we usually see it. Instead, it uses a few Soulslike mechanics and puts far more of an emphasis on painting a brilliant world that captivates at every turn while throwing you into intense battles that almost always feel like poetry in motion. 66 days to change your fate Phantom Blade Zero tells the story of Soul, once one of the most feared warriors of a group known as The Order that fights against corrupted individuals who have traded their sanity (and faces) for greater power, known throughout the game as Maskwalkers. When Soul is framed for the murder of his master by his own brother, he is cut down with a fatal stab to the heart. He is found and revived by a mysterious healer and set loose with a condition: Soul has 66 days to live or the toxic heart he was given will rot him from the inside out for good. With that condition hanging overhead, Soul ventures forth, threatening to discover and dismantle the secrets of the conspiracy and betrayal that originally killed him. Phantom Blade Zero might easily be the most breathtaking looker I’ve played this year. The world S-Game built around this story is a gorgeous tapestry of natural mountains and forests, smoldering battlefields, and towering castle factories that herald fast-paced and beautiful duels to the death. I found myself stopping all-too-regularly to take screenshots of the eye-catching environmental design. I think one of the few issues I found myself bothered by was that Phantom Blade Zero has an issue with walls and terrain behind the camera at times. If I was fighting and ended up too close to either, the camera had a chance of slipping behind obstacles, causing all sorts of panic when I was in the middle of a tough fight. Between boss fights, the batles with regular enemies can feel kind of same-y, but that beauty extends to the big duels as well where you face all sorts of weapon masters, monsters, and amalgams of corrupted power and martial prowess set on testing Soul’s resolve and ending his quest. I was giddy every time I knew a boss was coming because they’re not just fun to fight, but the animation and feel of these fights dazzled me even as I kept my composure just enough to survive them. There are also pockets of civilization, small villages, hideouts, and havens of uncorrupted people that give Soul quests and advice along the way, or let him buy resources from them. I was impressed by the quality of side characters I found along the journey, including the sweet and innocent Yu’er, who aids Soul with medicine, the ethereal Lady Inanis, who acts as a mysterious guide and benefactor, the weaponsmith Forge, who is a sturdy and blunt goddess of the anvil, and the mischievous thief, Quick Hand Zhang. This game has a great cast of characters that help move the story along, which is great because Soul often plays the role of the quiet and brooding hero. They even work to bring a little extra humanity out of him. I played Phantom Blade Zero in Chinese with subtitles. It just felt right that way, but it also sounded very good. The studio told me Soul’s voiceover and some of the localization was still being improved and finalized during the review process, but for what I played in the way I played it, the dialogue and narrative were quite enjoyable. Music is another fascinating aspect of Phantom Blade Zero. When I got in there (and based on my experience with early versions), I mostly expected a mix of traditional Chinese melody and sweeping orchestrals which, don’t get me wrong, it has plenty of. But I was surprised to find some electronic, techno, and other modern musical elements in there at some of the more dramatic fights. Ultimately, it makes the soundtrack more interesting because you never know what you’re going to get, but the quality remains high whether you’re listening to the gentle strings of a village or mountain path, the dramatic orchestra of one fight, or the pulse-pounding beats of another. Soulful, but not quite Soulslike On the surface, Phantom Blade Zero might look like a Soulslike game, and it shares a lot of similarities. However, as Senior Editor Ozzie Mejia wrote in his preview, Phantom Blade Zero is still a third-person action-melee game. You wander through the world chasing after main and side quests, discovering bells that act as checkpoints and fast-travel points along the way. Those bells also let you buy items and upgrade equipment based on the vendors you’ve discovered. As you venture through, you’ll wield different gear with vastly different properties and playstyles, but as you kill enemies, they also seem to stay dead forever (a very big difference from the farming you do in Soulslike games where enemies reappear whenever you interact with a checkpoint). You also have the opportunity to rework your gear frequently in the game, taking resources back from one weapon and dumping them into another with little penalty. I like that because it lets you play and experiment frequently with Phantom Blade Zero’s arsenal without fear that you’ll miss out on something by dedicating heavily to one or two armaments. In fact, sometimes it’s good to respec and use different weapons that work more effectively against certain bosses or enemies you’re facing or you could make progress difficult for yourself. And discovering, growing, and exploring Phantom Blade Zero’s arsenal is one of the greatest treats the game has to offer. This game has 30 main weapons and 20 side weapons (known as Phantom Edges) and each new addition to your collection provides satisfyingly different ways to play. You’ll get a greatsword that’s simply good for long reach, breaking guards, and hitting with big, sweeping attacks, but another greatsword later will cast red spider lilies wherever you swing, sapping stamina and health from foes before exploding for burst damage. Yet another greatsword down the line will drain your health to unleash huge attacks and then absorb health from your foes to restore it. And that’s just a sniff of one branch of weapons among several categories with each operating differently from the rest. That’s not even accounting for the special Phantom Edges that open up otherwise blocked parts of the map and can also be used in combat, like the great axe that breaks shields, the hook blades that can pull enemies close or pull Soul to them, and the bow for hitting distant targets. Add a skill tree that allows you to unlock new abilities and bonuses as you progress and accessories that provide numerous perks, and Phantom Blade Zero has an collection of weapons and gear that provides almost never-ending experimentation. The bosses you face will certainly push you to indulge in exploring your options. Phantom Blade Zero’s combat has a parry and dodge system alongside normal and heavy attacks, limited heal use, and a stamina system that lets you dish out damage on an exhausted foe and vice versa. Bosses demand patience and strategy as many of them will dodge raw attacks outright or counter with something devastating if you try to brute force it. By watching them carefully and parrying some moves and dodging others, players will engage in a dance of blood and steel as they navigate these intense battles to their conclusion. Being brash or failing to defend or attack appropriately leads to quick death, but learning a foe and overcoming their onslaught feels glorious, and often leads to a new toy for your overall arsenal. Fight with all of your Soul Phantom Blade Zero has been a long time coming, and feels like the wait was worth it. This is a gorgeous game, and the story that guides it, the characters that support it, and the adversaries that provide intense duels throughout serve to make every step forward an exciting one. Its branching paths are satisfying and full of secrets for the intrepid explorer, and it’s all accompanied by a soundtrack that takes unexpected turns, but remains high in quality alongside every scene it augments. I’ve played Phantom Blade twice in previews and I still never could have expected the highs it delivered. Count this among one of the most stylish and visceral action-RPG offerings of 2026. This review is based on an early PlayStation 5 copy provided by the publisher. Phantom Blade Zero comes out PS5 and PC on October 25, 2026.