Phantom Blade Zero was first revealed back at Sony’s 2023 gaming showcase. At the time, the Chinese-made PlayStation 5 exclusive looked like another project heavily inspired by FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games. But playable demos last year revealed it’s much closer to a Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry-style action game. A new six-minute trailer shows exactly why, and gives the vibe that Phantom Blade 0 could be the next Black Myth: Wukong.
The new footage released in preparation for the Chinese New Year next week shows the game’s protagonist facing off in a boss fight against the “Seven Judgements,” a formation of warriors constantly trading attacks and healing one another. We also get a look at new snake-shaped swords, a venomous softblade, and savage ax and ink cut abilities,
The second phase of the boss fight shows one of the Seven Judgements resurrected as a puppet on a string swinging through the battlefield as death metal rock plays in the background. Again, while it all has the look and presentation of a Dark Souls game at first glance, the speed of combat and the array of abilities locates it much closer to a traditional action-game genre. The trailer ends with the puppet unleashing one final ultimate attack before being defeated.
Made by Bejing-based developer S-Game, Phantom Blade Zero is another blockbuster breakout from a studio that previously worked on much smaller games. It follows a warrior named Soul who is framed for a murder and has only 66 days to find the true killer, before a magic spell keeping him alive ends. Designer Soulframe Liang has called it a semi-open world game and likened its presentation to “kung fu punk.”
After Black Myth: Wukong—another debut AAA action game from a Chinese studio—became one of 2024’s breakout hits, Phantom Blade Zero so far looks like it has the potential to follow a similar trajectory. Gaming consultant Daniel Camilo claims Black Myth’s success was actually crucial to getting extra funding for Phantom Blade Zero, suggesting the game might end up being even more ambitious than its developers initially planned.
We won’t know for sure until it actually comes out, and a release date has been conspicuously missing from the last year of gameplay reveals. Maybe S-Game is waiting for the next PlayStation showcase to reveal it.
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