Phantom Blade Zero

Phantom Blade Zero is an unbelievably smooth action game filled with memorable boss fights, compelling combat, and limitless swagger.

It’s this misstep that holds Phantom Blade Zero back, but it’s still a fantastic game that any action aficionado should lap up.

Phantom Blade Zero achieves its goal of creating wonderfully fluid and cinematic kung fu-style combat - but balance and quality issues ultimately dim its shine.

Even so, as dazzling as Phantom Blade Zero’s aesthetics are, it ultimately lacks putting trust in the player to act out these abilities, minimizing the active nature of the game.

The boat hasn’t been rocked and the genre hasn’t been overturned, but Phantom Blade Zero is a damn good action game that shouldn’t be ignored. This is undoubtedly stronger than genre stablemates like Black Myth: Wukong, and S-Game has also managed to craft one of the best looking Unreal Engine games. It could use a bit more polish, but Phantom Blade Zero has ensured that I will be eagerly paying attention to whatever S-Game makes next.

S-GAME has been building to Phantom Blade Zero for almost a decade, and its craft has spawned one of the PS5's very best action games. An intense and fast-paced combat system is the star, with so much variety backing it and incredible enemies to test it. Fun exploration, beautiful visuals, and a unique style then help it reach the heights of the genre's elite, as Phantom Blade Zero deserves to hang with the best of the best.

Phantom Blade Zero has been a long time coming, and feels like the wait was worth it.

Phantom Blade Zero is a genre-defining game that stands as one of the best current-generation titles to date. Effortlessly marrying the fluidity of a combat system that masterfully balances offense and defense with tight world design, staggering weapon variety, and some of the most memorable boss fights in recent memory, S-Game has delivered a masterpiece with its first major PC and console release that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the absolute peak of the genre.

Phantom Blade Zero is a triumph, managing to deliver a fantastic story and intriguing world to explore, while also building out a deep and rewarding gameplay systems that encourage experimentation with unique and exotic weapons.

Phantom Blade Zero is simply fantastic, punching far above its weight graphically and mechanically while landing action-RPG fundamentals.