Of 25 trailers proven throughout Wednesday’s PlayStation Showcase, the one most followers appear to be speaking concerning the subsequent morning additionally was the one most out-of-the-blue. It’s Phantom Blade Zero, from S-Recreation, and its style/fashion/options are additionally kitchen-sink tough to explain.
We’ll do our greatest to convey you on top of things on this intriguing journey, which on the very least seems to current gamers with fashionable, sword-and-melee fight set in a world primarily based on feudal China.
What’s Phantom Blade Zero all about?
It’s an motion role-playing recreation that ought to delight followers of current motion role-playing video games like Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty, particularly as they share themes from Asian tradition.
However Phantom Blade Zero layers on plenty of its personal lore with a putting mix of martial arts and steampunk. “Be the Darkish Raider exiled by ‘The Order,’ embark on the trail of vengeance, and uncover the darkest secrets and techniques of Wulin!” says its official YouTube listing.
A PlayStation Blog post from S-Recreation founder Soulframe Liang after the Showcase mentioned, “‘Phantom World’, the universe that the sport is about in, is a universe the place many sorts of powers converge. You’ll discover Chinese language Kungfu, intricate machines paying homage to steampunk, arts of the occult, and intriguing stuff that doesn’t fairly match into any of those classes.”
The player-protagonist, known as Soul, is an murderer who’s framed for the homicide of the chief of The Order. After being mortally wounded, Soul’s life was saved by a magic healer, however just for 66 days. So, there’s a race in opposition to time by the sport’s narrative to defeat the enemies of The Order and convey justice to these accountable.
As for the sport’s visible presentation, Liang mentioned, “The darkish/bleak visible fashion that you just’ll see so much within the recreation is a deliberate resolution. A bleak world makes characters with hearts of gold actually stand out.”
In any other case, S-Recreation’s web site is mum, leaving issues to teasers and screenshots. place to search for extra is a newly created subreddit, the place followers have pulled out elements of the trailer and highlighted what they assume Phantom Blade Zero will ship each time it launches.
Is Phantom Blade Zero a Soulslike recreation?
That’s a query plenty of followers are asking, given its comparisons to Sekiro and Wo Lengthy, however Liang says Phantom Blade Zero isn’t essentially a Soulslike recreation.
“We’re enormous followers of the hack and slash style,” Liang mentioned. “What’s extra standard right now is ‘strategic motion recreation’, resembling Soulslikes and Monster Hunter. They select to sluggish issues down a notch or two, giving gamers extra time for strategic considering.
“However that method doesn’t convey the type of motion fest we take into consideration,” Liang added, “particularly, the modern, breathtaking strikes in Kungfu motion pictures again within the Nineties.”
Who’s S-Recreation, the developer of Phantom Blade Zero?
S-Recreation is a studio primarily based in Beijing. Phantom Blade Zero (and Executioners) appears to be its first Western launch.
If that is Phantom Blade Zero, is there one other Phantom Blade recreation, too?
S-Recreation additionally the developer of Phantom Blade: Executioners, a side-scrolling “darkish Kungfupunk motion recreation” for Android, iOS, and Home windows PC. That recreation has been playable in a number of closed beta assessments and is listed as “coming soon” on Steam.
You may watch gameplay of Phantom Blade: Executioners under for a style of S-Recreation’s 2D motion chops.
Liang mentioned that the Phantom Blade canon his studio created consisted largely of video games launched on cellular units in China, not the West. The Phantom Blade sequence advanced out of one other recreation known as Rainblood: Town of Death, an indie recreation developed by Liang in RPG Maker and launched in 2010.
When is Phantom Blade Zero’s launch date?
The sport doesn’t have one but. Wednesday’s trailer was the primary anybody ever heard of Phantom Blade Zero, and the trailer didn’t give a launch date or window.
Is Phantom Blade Zero a PlayStation unique?
The sport’s official website lists PlayStation 5, Steam, and the Epic Video games Retailer as platforms, so sure, it seems to be a console-exclusive title for PlayStation.