Action game aficionados have been well-fed in the recent past with games like Stellar Blade and Sekiro, but based on a new hands-on gameplay demo at Summer Games Fest, it looks like Phantom Blade 0 will stand up with the leaders in the genre.
Aside from a short tutorial, the demo does not take much time setting things up, preferring to leap right into the action. The main character, Soul, is given two main weapons to switch between at first: a pair of short swords and one longer katana. This switching mechanic does not just change playstyle and reach, but allows Soul to regain their stamina bar immediately to continue their combo and scratch away at the enemy lifebar.
In addition to these offensive weapons, the protagonist is given defensive options in the form of both parries and dodges. As per action game tradition, parries break down the enemy’s wearwithal to open them up for a combo opportunity. Dodges, meanwhile, help you avoid enemy attacks that either cannot be parried or might be too difficult to try.
Where this comes into play is PBZ’s playstyle. Approaching it more like a Souls game is absolute folly, as that patience-driven, opportunity-seizing gameplay will end up earning a quick and unnecessary death to enemies that will get to those opportunities first. Instead, Phantom Blade Zero rewards a hyper-aggressive playstyle in order to make those defensive options shine.
Meanwhile, enemies are largely made up of warriors of similar size to Soul, suffering very little in the way of knockback to individual attacks. Combos with the pair of short swords will not stop an enemy intent on hurting Soul from completing their attack, but constantly hammering them with it will chip away as you switch weapons, dodge, and parry a path to victory. In this way, Phantom Blade 0 has more in common with something like Ninja Gaiden Black than games on the From Software spectrum, putting an emphasis on relentless attacks to outclass Soul’s opponents.
The art style is described by the developers at S-Game as “China Punk,” taking classical Chinese mythos and environments and combining them with modern sensibilities. The technical prowess on display so far indicates that PBZ will be able to reach those lofty goals with the final version and impress on a visual level.
The Summer Games Fest demo I played featured three small sections with increasingly difficult bosses. In the first, a cliffside fort featuring some warriors and archers needed to be defeated in order to move on. There are a number of options for taking them out, including using one Soul’s projectile weapons like a bow or a big handheld dragon mouth laser. Footholds and paths can also lead up to them, preventing Soul from being buffeted by arrows any further.
Defeating the boss, Tie Sha the Frenzy, is the first real test of skill in the demo and it demands a degree of understanding the parrying concept before moving on. Proper dodging and parrying can take care of Tie Sha quickly, but slipping up might make the battle more difficult to regain the momentum.
After Tie Sha, the demo moves Soul to another level where he encounters the second boss fight available: the alliteratively named Commander Cleave. This larger boss unsurprisingly wields a cleaver sword that tears through Soul’s defenses, so proper timing is paramount. He also has a fair bit of health and defensive options of his own, making him feel like the first real skill test of the demo.
Upon defeating Commander Cleave, the final challenge is presented: a one-on-one fight against Huangxing, the Sunken Pillar of Kunlun. Huangxing presents the hardest battle of the demo by being aggressive, having wildly damaging attacks, and being hard to predict. His one-hit kill, a move where he swings a basket around and lands it on Soul’s head to decapitate him, can only be avoided by staggering him with heavy weapons or leaping off a pillar in the room to dodge it.
The best way to stagger him turned out to be using a weapon received from Commander Cleave, his trademark cleaver, and start comboing Huangxing with the knives and switching to the cleaver for a big transitional hit. Beating the hulking warrior is not easy, but it is definitely satisfying.
What wasn’t in the demo, though, was any level design. Dropping directly into combat areas and bosses meant there was no space to look around and figure out the structure between fights. While Phantom Blade Zero absolutely nails its controls and the fighting feels fast and frantic, the unknown questions still leave more puzzle pieces to be filled in. Based on what has been shown so far, however, S-Game’s newest action offering is swinging for the fences and has a good chance of succeeding.
