Developer S-Game has released 22 minutes of new gameplay for Phantom Blade Zero. However, the PBZ walkthrough also revealed that the RPG is bringing back one of Elden Ring’s best combat feature but with a unique twist!
In a July 28 post on X, developer S-Game surprised players by dropping 22 minutes of never-before-seen Phantom Blade Zero gameplay. The most interesting feature shown off in the walkthrough is an Elden Ring-influenced mechanic that lets you steal weapons from major boss battles. In the clip, the main character is seen battling a boss named Wan Jun, also known as “Coppermaul.” After defeating the giant enemy, players are then able to steal his massive Bashpole weapon.
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What’s interesting, though, is that you can now equip the boss weapon as a “special” that can be used against other enemies. The walkthrough demonstrates the feature by having the main character trigger the exact weapon attack Wan Jun used during his battle against low-level enemy mobs. Based on the new preview, we will be able to collect each boss enemy’s weapon in the story.
The boss weapon-stealing feature doesn’t seem to be a one-off attack either. For example, the new gameplay footage shows the Bashpole special having multiple uses. You can hold R2 to swing the sledgehammer and finish with a ground slam for AOE damage.
Or you can also just tap R2 to smack the ground to create lighter shockwaves toward enemies quickly. Either way, this is a pretty cool reward to give players after.
How PBZ Innovates on Elden Ring Boss Weapon Feature
In Elden Ring, one of the game’s best features was the ability to unlock boss weapons after defeating them. This not only created a rewarding gameplay loop, but it also made you want to seek out bosses to get stronger. I mean, the biggest reason I spent over 500 hours in the FromSoftware RPG was because of all the broken builds you could make with these weapons.
However, the S-Game RPG is innovating on the Elden Ring combat feature in a few ways. For starters, you automatically unlock the PBZ boss weapon as soon as you defeat them. So you don’t need to spend currency to purchase them. More importantly, though, it appears that the Phantom Blade Zero boss weapons are actually integrated into the game’s level design.
In the 22-minute PBZ demo, we can see that the Bashpole weapon can be used to smash through weak walls. It can also be used to break through hidden areas in the floor. Assuming the rest of the game is like this, it appears that Phantom Blade Zero will have many unique boss weapons that will open up exploration the further the player progresses. While not the first to let you steal boss weapons, this is a really cool spin on the mechanic.
