Phantom Blade Zero is an upcoming wuxia action role-playing game developed and published by the Chinese studio S-Game. The player assumes the role of Soul, an elite assassin serving an elusive and powerful organization known as The Order. However, he is framed for the murder of its patriarch and hunted by its members. Inflicted with a fatal wound to his heart and revived with a tainted heart, he is left with only a limited number of days to live. Set in the Phantom World, the story is centered on his mission to restore his heart and unravel the conspiracy that has condemned him. The game is an entry in the Phantom Blade series.
The game's action design was based on Chinese martial arts. It involved motion capture with martial artists such as Donnie Yen, collaboration with traditional martial arts schools, and inspiration drawn from classic martial arts cinema.
Phantom Blade Zero is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 29 October 2026.
Gameplay Phantom Blade Zero is an action role-playing game. It is played from a third-person perspective.
The player controls Soul, who is an elite assassin. He can carry two primary weapons and two secondary weapons. Blades are his primary weapons. Phantom edges are his secondary weapons. They comprise a range of diverse weapons, such as cannons, lances, axes, hammers, and more. Sha-chi is used as a combat resource for sha-chi attacks (heavy attacks) and blocks.
Defensive maneuvers consist of blocking, parrying, and dodging. However, some enemy attacks carry restrictions in the ways defenses can counter them, which are telegraphed by color cues. Specifically, enemies can do brutal moves that drain sha-chi heavily when blocked and killer moves that cannot be blocked or parried. A ghostep (a maneuver that repositions the character behind the enemy) is triggered when a brutal move is parried or a killer move is dodged right before it lands.
In terms of the character progression, there is a skill tree. In terms of the build, weapons can be upgraded and paired with accessories. Weapon upgrading requires materials, while weapon reforging recovers them.
The game takes place in a semi-open world. Its regions are seamlessly connected together and some may be inaccessible at first, but they can be reached through non-linear means and have multiple possible paths. For example, specific weapons can be acquired at later moments and be used to access areas that were previously unreachable. The main quests follow Soul's story, which constitutes the main story. The side quests explore the stories of other characters. Depending on the side quests, which have multiple possible outcomes, the main story culminates in one of eight distinct endings.
The game has multiple difficulty options, namely Wayfarer, Pathbreaker, Hellwalker, and 66 Days. In Hellwalker, the enemy artificial intelligence is more advanced and adaptive. In 66 Days, the experience is equivalent to Hellwalker but includes a counter starting at 66 that decreases with each death and imposes permadeath if it runs out. A New Game Plus mode becomes available following the completion of a playthrough. Video on YouTube.
Synopsis Setting Phantom Blade Zero is a game based on wuxia. Soulframe Liang commented that "Broadly speaking, it falls under the category of ARPGs. But more specifically – maybe it could create a new identity that is Wuxia Action Games?" It particularly introduces kungfupunk, as termed by Liang. This is a style that combines traditional Chinese kungfu with steampunk and cyberpunk. The aim behind the style was to move beyond the established framework of traditional wuxia and create different ways of transmitting wuxia culture. When asked about the difficulties of introducing culturally unfamiliar themes to Western audiences, Liang acknowledged that while these themes may initially pose challenges, games that deliver high quality and enjoyable experiences can transform these themes into strengths that attract players. Cited in
Phantom Blade Zero takes place in the Phantom World. This world is based on China during roughly the Ming dynasty, with elements of wuxia, steampunk, cyberpunk, dark fantasy, horror, and more. It incorporates the concept of the jianghu, a domain in which common folk exist beyond the sphere of the imperial court and official government. It also incorporates the concept of the wulin, which is a martial underworld comprising guardians, warriors, and others bound by codes.
The protagonist Soul represents a type of heroic figure known as a xiake. Liang described him as "[...] this kind of character is a very typical Eastern hero. He's not so talkative, doesn't use a lot of words, but he's badass, swift, and fast. Cold on the outside, but warm and hot inside, in the heart. He always wants to help the weak, although he himself only has limited days to live. We call this 'Xiake (侠客)', which means the Chinese version, the Kung Fu version, of heroes."
Plot Soul serves as elite assassin for an elusive and powerful organization known as The Order, but he is framed for the murder of its patriarch and hunted by its members. In a sword duel with Zuoshang, once his blood brother, Soul is inflicted with a fatal wound to his heart. The Flesh Sculptor, a mysterious healer, revives Soul with a tainted heart that leaves him with only 66 days to live. With time running out, Soul sets out to restore his heart and unravel the conspiracy that has condemned him.
Development Phantom Blade Zero is a game developed and published by S-Game. The studio is based in Beijing, with a motion capture and animator team in Shanghai, an art team in Hong Kong, and a global publishing team in Los Angeles.
Phantom Blade Zero is an entry in the Phantom Blade series. According to Soulframe Liang, the game represents a return to the story foundations of the first two Rainblood games, the series' origins, and introduces a substantial amount of new content. He presented it as "the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood". He elaborated that it follows a new story that departs significantly from what was established in earlier titles (including character relations, character motivations, and other elements), requires no knowledge of prior works, and contains the full content within itself. It was built using Unreal Engine 5.
S-Game started the full-scale development of Phantom Blade Zero in 2022 and had plans for the game since 2017. Throughout 2017, a few early concepts and other preliminary work were shared. This included, for example, concept art of four characters designed by Michael Chang, which was shown during ChinaJoy 2017. Around Chinese New Year in 2017, the decision was made to shift from the 2D graphics reminiscent of the previous games to 3D graphics. This led to the choice to use Unreal Engine 4. In 2018, the project was put on hold due to what was considered an unfavorable environment for developing this kind of game. In 2021, interest in the project was revived following an improvement in the conditions. In that same year, Tencent proposed and formalized a partnership deal, which offered financial backing and additional support, as the company had learned about and were interested in the studio's goals to develop large-scale PC and console games. At the time, the studio had plans for two projects using Unreal Engine 5 in this category, namely Phantom Blade Zero and Stellar Saga, the latter set in space and centered on humanity's struggle for survival amid the high-dimensional wars of advanced civilizations. Liang oversaw the development of Phantom Blade Zero and delegated decisions regarding Stellar Saga to trusted colleagues. Ultimately, the studio shifted its focus entirely to Phantom Blade Zero and suspended all other new projects.
S-Game originally envisioned Phantom Blade Zero as a smaller game, but the attention garnered at the PlayStation Showcase in May 2023 prompted the studio to increase the scale and fully commit to the project. The Inverse article mislabels the event as a PlayStation State of Play, but Sony officially labels it as a PlayStation Showcase at In an interview shortly after the showcase, Liang said that he felt nervous leading up to the event, but that the international reception boosted their confidence and that years earlier, Feng Ji, the producer of Black Myth: Wukong, encouraged him to create a single-player game that could captivate players worldwide. In the GamerSky interview, Liang refers to Feng Ji by the pseudonym Yocar. Another turning point came with the 2024 release of the highly successful Black Myth: Wukong, which increased interest in Phantom Blade Zero and led to additional funding for the game from investors. Liang commented that "It's not necessarily changed our [expectations], but maybe it's changed others' expectations and anticipation of us. We did receive more resources, but we also received more pressure from the success of Black Myth: Wukong."
The action design was based on Chinese martial arts, which included working with martial arts instructors and drawing inspiration from classic Hong Kong martial arts films. A nationwide search was conducted to trace the roots of Chinese martial arts and meet their inheritors. This included masters of the Shaolin Temple, Emei Mountain, and Guangdong's Southern Lion Troupes, among others. The developers wanted to create authentic martial arts action, so they emphasized the importance of immersing themselves by going to the communities, mountains, and temples to engage in discussions and train together in order to understand the essence of the martial arts. Motion capture of performances by martial artists was used for the movements of characters. The performances were done at the same intensity of the intended action, so post-production speed adjustments that may make the action appear artificial could be avoided. The performers were supported by a wire rig, operated via a pulley system by other crew members, during the execution of movements. Kenji Tanigaki served as the action director. Yang Liu served as the combat director. Video on YouTube. Masters and inheritors of traditional martial arts schools were consulted in order to capture the most authentic kungfu techniques. Donnie Yen served as a creative consultant, contributing his martial arts and action filmmaking expertise. His stunt team was also involved in the process.