# Phantom Blade Zero

Phantom Blade Zero (影之刃零) is an upcoming wuxia action role-playing game developed and published by S-GAME. The player takes on the role of Soul, an elite assassin in the service of a mysterious and powerful organization known as The Order, as he embarks on a mission to uncover the truth behind the murder of its patriarch.
The game is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5 and Windows. The release date has not been announced yet.

## Gameplay

Phantom Blade Zero is an action role-playing game. It is played from a third-person perspective. The story campaign is strictly a single-player experience, while certain endgame content is available as multiplayer experiences.
The player controls Soul, an elite assassin serving a mysterious and powerful organization known as The Order. He carries two primary weapons and two secondary weapons. The primary weapons comprise a variety of blades. The secondary weapons are more diverse, featuring canons, lances, axes, hammers, and other types of weapons.
Soulframe Liang described the action as "In Phantom Blade Zero, combat happens at an extremely fast pace. Movement is rapid, attack frequency is high, and you can perform maneuvers like running along walls, teleporting behind enemies, and executing sudden cinematic finishers that dynamically shift the camera to wide or close-up angles, making it feel like you’re in a Kung Fu movie."
The game is set in a semi-open world, consisting of interconnected regions. Some areas may initially be inaccessible but can eventually be reached through non-linear processes with multiple paths.
The game has difficulty options.

## Synopsis
### Setting

Phantom Blade Zero adapts wuxia. It introduces specifically kungfupunk, as Soulframe Liang terms it, to create a distinctive identity. He described it as a subgenre that blends Chinese kungfu with steampunk and cyberpunk. In response to questions by 4Gamer about the challenges of introducing unfamiliar cultural themes to the West, Liang shared his thoughts, citing the success of Black Myth: Wukong, that players are open to exploring such themes when games offer both high quality and fun experiences at their core.
The game takes place in the Phantom World. It is a universe based on China during the Ming dynasty, with elements of wuxia, steampunk, cyberpunk, dark fantasy, horror, and more.

### Plot

The assassin Soul is framed for the murder of The Order's patriarch. He is fatally wounded in the manhunt that ensued, but a mystic healer manages to keep him alive with a cure that lasts for 66 days. With time running out, he must uncover the truth behind the conspiracy.

## Development

Phantom Blade Zero is a game developed and published by S-GAME. It serves as a spiritual successor to Rainblood: Town of Death (2010), an indie game made by Soulframe Liang. It is built on Unreal Engine 5.
Soulframe Liang, during an interview in June 2024, stated that the team has officially been working on the game for about two years. Prior to this official development phase, they revealed a few early concepts and other preliminary work. This included, for example, concept art featuring four characters, designed by Michael Chang, which was shown during ChinaJoy 2017. In May 2017, they revealed that the game would be developed using Unreal Engine. Liang explained that, around Chinese New Year in 2017, with the support from the core team, he decided to shift from using the 2D graphics reminiscent of their previous games to adopting 3D graphics.
The developers aimed to design the game's combat based on Chinese martial arts, drawing inspiration from classic Hong Kong martial arts films and working closely with martial arts instructors. For the action design process, the team embarked on a nationwide search to trace the roots of Chinese martial arts and visited their inheritors throughout the country. This included, for example, places dedicated to Shaolin in Henan, Emei in Sichuan, and Nanshi in Guangdong. Liang commented that they wanted to create authentic martial arts action, emphasizing the importance of immersing themselves by going to the communities, mountains, and temples to train and discuss together in order to understand the essence of the martial arts. Each of the game's weapons was designed with unique action mechanics to ensure they remained novel to use rather than limited by common weapon types. The team took this approach, because they believed that shared basic action mechanics would diminish the distinctiveness of each weapon. Motion capture of performances by several martial artists was used for the movements of different characters. Kenji Tanigaki serves as the action director for the game.
In addition to the martial arts, the team incorporated Chinese traditions such as southern China's ancestor worship rituals, Guangdong's lion dances, Zhejiang's puppetry, Fujian's deity processions, Jiangxi's Nuo masks, Sichuan's Bianlian, Beijing opera, and more. Liang commented that he hopes to inherit and pass on folk culture and intangible cultural heritage.
In January 2025, S-GAME released a trailer celebrating the upcoming Year of the Snake, which showcased gameplay of a boss battle to highlight the combat system. This particular boss consists of seven swordsmen, each controlled by an individual AI and a shared group AI, allowing them to act independently, work in formations, and interact with each other. The demonstrated martial arts is based on Emei swordsmanship. In the second phase of the boss battle, with one of the swordsmen suspended by strings, their fighting style draws inspiration from Chinese puppetry but in an exaggerated form.

## Release

Phantom Blade Zero is scheduled to release for PC and PlayStation 5.
During an anniversary concert for the Rainblood series on 22 November 2016, S-GAME revealed that the series would be remade with an extended plot in a new game codenamed Phantom Blade Zero (影之刃Zero).
During the PlayStation Showcase on 24 May 2023, S-GAME released a trailer announcing Phantom Blade Zero. Liang, during an interview in June 2023, shared that many years ago, Feng Ji, the producer of Black Myth: Wukong, encouraged him to create a single-player game that could captivate players around the world, but that he (Liang) still felt concerned about it until he saw the overwhelming response received at the showcase. In January 2025, the studio released a trailer celebrating the upcoming Year of the Snake which revealed that a release date would be announced in 2025.

## Reception
### Accolades

Phantom Blade Zero won the Most Anticipated Game and was nominated for Phenomenon of the Year at the UCG Game Awards 2024.