Black Myth Wukong changed the Chinese video game industry. The best-selling game of 2024 moved over 25 million copies and opened the floodgates for a wave of Chinese AAA games. Everyone is now looking for the “next Black Myth Wukong,” and expectations have been high for Phantom Blade Zero ever since its dazzling reveal trailer at a 2023 PlayStation State of Play. The team at developer S-Game is well aware of the crushing expectations, but after finally getting some lengthy hands-on time with Phantom Blade Zero, I think it might just be up to the task.
Phantom Blade Zero pulls inspiration from a wealth of different sources, including Wuxia film, Devil May Cry, and Dark Souls, then fuses all of that into a unique and stylish package. As part of a multi-day trip, Inverse visited S-Game and played several hours of Phantom Blade Zero, and my time left me dying to see more of it.
The easiest way I can think to describe Phantom Blade is with a single question: it can’t play as good as it looks, right? Shockingly, it does. The caveat is that I’ve only played a single level, but if that level is anything like the full experience, Phantom Blade feels poised to be one of the most thrilling action games I’ve seen in the last decade.
What’s fascinating about Phantom Blade is how it fuses multiple genres into something distinct, then ties it all together with some of the most fluid combat in years. Phantom Blade isn’t a Soulslike, but it has elements of one. It isn’t Devil May Cry, but it has elements from it. You can see these inspirations clear as day, but the game doesn’t want to just follow trends, but innovate.
The Soulslike inspiration is what feels most important here. Phantom Blade straight-up has the level design of a Souls game, but grafts a high-intensity action combat system onto that experience. You won’t be concerned with resource management or methodical positioning; this is a nail-biting action experience where the focus is on split-second parries and elegant combos.
The game’s director, Soulframe, says the chapter I played was a “side area” from the full game. The massive canyon took roughly 90 minutes to finish as I moved through scaffolding and enemy camps while fending off dozens of foes.
I mean it when I say the level design is to a tee what you’d expect from a Soulslike, from branching pathways and bonfire-like checkpoints to narrative collectibles. It doesn’t feel fresh, but it comes together well. The canyon I ventured through had collectibles that drip-fed bits of story to flesh out the region’s multiple bosses, and I got a health bonus if I found them all.
There was a lot of room to poke around different areas and find secrets, supported by a Metroidvania-esque system that lets you use your sub-weapons to open up new areas. Halfway through the demo, I defeated a giant enemy and got his massive club. I could then use that to travel back, destroy weakened floors, and find potions and collectibles. In an interview, Soulframe says such elements will appear throughout the game.
But the glue that holds everything together is Phantom Blade’s fantastic combat system. I had access to eight different weapons and four sub-weapons, while the full game will apparently feature 32 main weapons. Broadly, your focus in combat is on pulling off different combos while fending off enemy attacks and executing two different kinds of parries. Holding L1 will let you block incoming attacks, but drain your Sha-Chi gauge. Swapping weapons instantly restores your gauge, but the swap is on a cooldown timer, meaning a huge part of combat is smartly timing your weapon swaps. Each weapon feels remarkably different: the dual Snake Blades focus on lightning-quick combos that pelt single enemies, while the massive claymore-like weapon is slower but can hit multiple enemies at once.
Phantom Blade has had a series of hands-on events in Asia, and will also have a playable demo at Gamescom 2025 in August.
Hayes Madsen
At the same time, there are two major enemy attacks to watch out for. When you see a blue flash, you need to press L1 at just the right time to execute a flashy parry. When an enemy briefly glows red, you need to time the dodge button (R1) instead. Combos, weapon swapping, parrying, and dodging all weave together, compounded by the different moves each enemy type has.
It’s genuinely remarkable how well everything fits together with practice. There’s a real ebb and flow to how you have to keep transitioning between offense and defense, and that’s intentional. It hearkens to the idea of balance in kung fu, and the concept of yin and yang, but Phantom Blade is also heavily inspired by Wuxia, which roughly translates into “martial heroes.” This genre is best known from the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and focuses on kung fu action tinged with a tantalizing edge of superhuman characters.
This is represented in the game’s rich portrayal of Chinese culture and mythology, blending it with a fantasy-esque aesthetic the studio has coined “kung-fu-punk.” It’s also seen in how Phantom Blade fully embraces Wuxia with its flashy action, and a huge part of why it feels so good comes down to the quality and fluidity of its animations. Every single weapon and move is completely mocapped by a team of kung fu professionals — we had a chance to see behind-the-scenes mocap work, and will dedicate an upcoming article to the process, but the effort that’s gone into the game’s animations is astounding.
One thing I consistently kept thinking during my demo is that so many of the combos and attacks I pulled off would be scripted events in any other action game. It feels like you’re doing trailer-worthy fights all the time, and simply feels good to play because of it. But what impressed me the most was a nifty little trick involving the final boss.
About halfway through the region, you stumble upon a miniboss called the Red Wraith. She’s tough, and the game makes it clear you can escape the battle by jumping off the roof you’re on. However, it turns out that if you do skip the Red Wraith, she’ll appear in the upcoming boss battle and make it drastically more difficult. If you’d been paying attention to the collectibles, you’d learn about the complex, romantic relationship between the two characters, making that final battle a representation of their will to stay together, even in the grave.
It’s a clever narrative detail, but the surprise of seeing that second boss pop in is incredible, and completely changes the battle. It’s such a smart touch, one I hope is emblematic of the broader Phantom Blade experience.
The Phantom Blade demo is among the most impressive I’ve played in years. There’s still work to be done; using healing potions feels way too finicky, and there was the occasional wonky animation. But what was there felt remarkable. In terms of sheer combat satisfaction, Phantom Blade already feels like it could rival the likes of Devil May Cry 5, one of my favorite action games of all time. Then there’s the game’s fascinating kung-fu-punk aesthetic, and the eclectic soundtrack that mixes traditional Chinese instrumentation alongside hard rock.
Every weapon has its own unique executions.
S-Game
There are still a lot of question marks — we don’t have any suggestion of a release date, and have learned very little about the story. The game’s director, Soulframe, has said that the release date will be announced before the end of 2025. But S-Game is being surprisingly transparent about the game’s development process, a rarity in modern AAA gaming, and there’ll be much more info hitting Inverse in the days ahead.
It’s still too early to say anything definitive, but Phantom Blade has ambition to spare and is drawing on a depth of inspiration. More than anything, it feels like Phantom Blade Zero wants to be a statement. Chinese developers aren’t just here to stay in the wake of Black Myth Wukong; they’re going to be major contenders.
