I acquired to sit down down and play Phantom Blade Zero at Gamescom final week and—after muddling a bit to search out my sales space within the chaos of a bustling flooring—got here away fairly impressed. Judging by the reactions of my fellow demo-triers, considered one of whom managed to beat it an entire 7 minutes earlier than me (I’m not upset), it is trying to be a sleeper hit.
Phantom Blade Zero comes from S-Game, and it is the studio’s first main effort and, as PC Gamer’s personal Rich Stanton famous final yr, it is also impressed by an RPG maker recreation the crew made again in 2010 named Rainblood: Town of Death. S-Game has since been fairly keen to attract a line between Phantom Blade Zero and soulslikes—revealing that whereas it is actually drawn inspiration, it is positively its personal factor.
Having acquired my mitts on it, I’m in full settlement. Phantom Blade Zero feels, in spirit, much more like Team Ninja’s Wo Long: 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’s a style diversion that I’m gleeful—downright kicking my ft and laughing—to see flourish.
Phantom Blade Zero is a recreation that is not too involved about rugged exploration full of a billion threats. It’s not totally 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 Long: Fallen Dynasty, nevertheless, is that it is not afraid to let issues get advanced. 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.
In the combination you’ve got acquired ranged weapons—corresponding 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 Power Surges.
It’s all feeling very excessive in a scrumptious method, unshackled from the earthly must be grounded and wise. It, like Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, trades out deliberate and cautious motion for cool flips and methods. Unlike that recreation, nevertheless, it provides 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 find out how to dragon punch.
One of my favourites was a boss who threw a weighted chain at me—flashing a purple gentle to inform me that the incoming assault wanted to be perfect-dodged. However, 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. Multiple occasions, although, I’d be additional punished by a hitbox as he yanked the offending bludgeon away if my positioning was dangerous.
It’s all a scrumptious baseline for ability expression, unafraid to imagine its gamers are expert sufficient to get spicy with its mechanics, and I can’t wait to play some extra—my consideration (previously my curiosity) has now became full-blown pleasure.
