Phantom Blade Zero review round-up: spectacular sword fights, muddled story
S-GAME’s action RPG launches on 29 October for PS5 and PC. OpenCritic average of 91 – plenty of praise for the combat, criticism of the story.
Photo: Gary Todd / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
Trailer: YouTube · PlayStation · youtube.com
Critics' rating
Scores: OpenCritic 91 · Push Square 9/10 · GameSpot 8/10
- Platforms
- PS5, PC
- Studio
- S-GAME
- Release
- 29.10.2026
+ Pros
- Fast, precise combat built around parrying
- Varied boss fights
- Large arsenal of weapons and Phantom Edges
- Distinctive “kungfupunk” style with a strong soundtrack
– Cons
- Confusing, hard-to-follow story
- Regular enemies too easy and repetitive
- Frame-rate drops in some scenes
Critics' verdict
One of the best combat systems in the genre – critics are willing to forgive the muddled story for it.
Summary of published reviews – sources below.
Phantom Blade Zero from Chinese studio S-GAME launches on 29 October for PlayStation 5 and PC, with the first reviews published on 25 and 26 October. The action RPG blends wuxia-style swordplay with a dark world the developers call “kungfupunk”. According to Push Square it costs $59.99 in the US and £54.99 in the UK.
On OpenCritic the game averages 91 from 27 reviews, and every critic recommends it. Push Square and Insider Gaming give it 9 out of 10, GameSpot 8 out of 10. Reviewers mainly praise the fast, precise combat built around parrying, the many weapons and Phantom Edges, and varied boss fights. Insider Gaming also highlights the ink-painting-inspired visuals and a soundtrack featuring traditional Chinese instruments.
The main criticism is the story: Push Square and GameSpot find it hard to follow, and according to Push Square flashbacks jump between time periods without explanation. Insider Gaming calls the plot fairly simple. GameSpot finds regular enemies too easy, while Insider Gaming notes that enemy types start to repeat later on. Push Square and Insider Gaming also report frame-rate drops, for example in some boss fights and during heavy rain.