During Summer Game Fest 2024, I got hands-on with S-Game’s Phantom Blade Zero. After facing off against various bosses and being shown how to play, I can confidently say that this is the perfect gateway to getting people you may know into soul-like games.
A Gateway to Soul-Like Games
For those unaware of Phantom Blade Zero, you play as someone known as “Soul,” who essentially worked as a hitman for a powerful organization called “The Order.” Thanks to a series of events, he was brought back to life but only had a handful of days to live. The game primarily focuses on how he gets revenge before he dies again.
Like many Soul-like games, the main story doesn’t necessarily keep you engaged. But that’s not to say it wasn’t engaging. Whenever you find yourself fighting a hulking menace, their looks and presence often speak louder than the words they’re saying.
Even though many of the trailers showed off some open-world gameplay, the demo that I had was extremely linear, but despite that, it didn’t take away from what the game has to offer. The main lure of the game is how action-packed the combat could be, which was the demo’s main focus. From what I could see, the world looked stunning, leaving me wanting to see more of it.
Phantom Blade Zero’s Combat and Mechanics
What separates this from other soul-like games is how forgiving it is for players. In games such as Elden Ring or even Jedi Survivor, once the enemy lands a few attacks on you, it’s usually going to do a lot of damage to you. That wasn’t necessarily the case with Phantom Blade Zero, but in multiple instances, I was able to jump out of the way quickly, and I’d be just fine. But what was unique was if I didn’t want to avoid or parry an attack, we could often go blow-for-blow, and the fights would feel like a recreation of a Shonen anime.
Because of that, I felt encouraged to play more aggressively than I usually would in games like this. Instead of dancing out of the way, I would build up power and use my super moves to inflict as much damage as possible within the shortest time.
Even though the game is heavily focused on melee, that isn’t the only way to kill an enemy; throughout the demo, I was able to use various weapons in various ranges. One was a simple Bow and Arrow. Although it wasn’t anything fancy, it got the job done, and that’s all that mattered. However, that’s not to say that there weren’t big-range weapons you could use. I have a fond memory of pulling out a bazooka-like weapon and using it to knock one of the bosses right on their butts while inflicting a lot of damage. Although it was a great weapon, it took a good amount of time to charge up, so using it requires some thought before fully committing to it.
Phantom Blade Zero is the perfect game to introduce someone to soul-like games. The combat is intense but a lot more forgiving than most games in its genre. The world is beautiful, and there are plenty of weapons to keep combat engaging and fun. Phantom Blade Zero is expected to launch sometime next year in 2025, and it’ll launch on PlayStation 5 and PC.
