ARPG fans are liable to perk up their ears when the name Phantom Blade Zero comes up. The fast-paced action-adventure game looks like a blend of the brutal combat of a FromSoftware game and the fluid, expressive gameplay of something like Devil May Cry—a simple but winning combination, if ever there was one.
But there's still a lot to be revealed about Phantom Blade Zero, which is actually being folded into the Rainblood Chronicles franchise. The Rainblood Chronicles games are far more rudimentary than the flashy third-person action of Phantom Blade Zero, with the first two entries being designed in the free-to-use game engine RPGMaker, but their relationship is notable nonetheless. Also worth noting is Phantom Blade Zero's classification (by its own creators) within the wuxia genre, a category of media focused primarily on the adventures and chivalrous deeds of martial artists in ancient China. No doubt this wuxia influence will impact the game's story and gameplay, both of which are being teased more and more as it inches closer to a possible release date.
Phantom Blade Zero Director Soulframe Liang has big dreams for the game, suggesting that it could create a new sub-genre of "Wuxia Action Games."
Phantom Blade Zero Could Be 2026’s Black Myth: Wukong
Phantom Blade Zero blends Chinese culture and steampunk amazingly, making it the next potential blockbuster after Black Myth: Wukong.
Phantom Blade Zero's Gameplay and Story
Phantom Blade Zero Looks More Like Dynasty Warriors and Ninja Gaiden Than Dark Souls
Something that's important to note, especially since the genre is seemingly getting more ubiquitous with each passing year, is that Phantom Blade Zero isn't a soulslike. It's fair to say that it takes a modicum of inspiration from FromSoftware's catalog, as most modern action games do, but the slow, position-focused, stamina-managing combat of the so-called Soulsborne games is nowhere to be seen. Rather, Phantom Blade Zero is designed more around speed, aggression, and the execution of special skills.
Players can carry up to four weapons at a time:
- Two primary blades.
- Two Phantom Edge weapons, a category that encompasses everything from lances to canons.
Primary weapons have an ultimate attack known as a Power Surge that requires a resource called Sha-Chi to activate. Sha-Chi is also used to block and execute special moves, and is drained when taking damage: it is essentially Phantom Blade Zero's replacement for stamina, and has a lot of parallels with Sekiro's posture mechanic. Certain enemy moves can also be parried or blocked at the perfect moment to teleport behind them—a maneuver called Ghostep. Combined, these mechanics promise to make Phantom Blade Zero's combat fast, aggressive, and dynamic.
Developer S-GAME plans to implement a roguelike mode and a dedicated multiplayer mode as part of Phantom Blade Zero's endgame.
Phantom Blade Zero's Story Is a Big Question Mark
Naturally, S-GAME has only drawn back the curtain slightly on Phantom Blade Zero's narrative. Knowing that it's part of the wuxia genre goes a long way toward illuminating its genre tropes and setting, but the game will also reportedly incorporate elements of the cyberpunk, steampunk, and horror genres as well. These disparate elements, both in terms of tone and historical accuracy, could either make Phantom Blade Zero's story exceptional or nonsensical.
The story will follow Soul, a highly skilled assassin for a shadowy organization known as The Order. The game kicks off with Soul being framed for the murder of The Order's leader, and subsequently being killed before getting revived by a mystic healer. But as it turns out, this cure will only last for 66 days, giving Soul just a few weeks to find out the truth behind the mysterious murder and to seek revenge on those who wronged him. Again, this could be a bog-standard tale of vengeance, or something more interesting. Only a full playthrough of Phantom Blade Zero will reveal its ultimate narrative weight.
- Released
- September 9, 2026
- ESRB
- Unreal Engine 5
- Developer(s)
- S-Game
- Publisher(s)
- S-Game
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
- Phantom Blade
- PC Release Date
- September 9, 2026
- PS5 Release Date
- September 9, 2026
WHERE TO PLAY
Phantom Blade Zero is a new character action game from developer S-Game that features the type of fast-paced combo-based gameplay popularized by series like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry. Its art style combines traditional Japanese iconography with the fantastical and horrific.
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5
