Hero image: Phantom Blade Zero. Image: S-GAME
How Phantom Blade Zero Wants To Be Fought
Phantom Blade Zero is out, and the PlayStation Blog has published a guide to how its combat and exploration fit together. The systems below are as that post describes them, with its PS5 button names. Gamers Classified has not played the game.
The post describes a blend of Soulslike bosses, combo-focused hack-and-slash, RPG stories and the unlockable exploration of “search action games”. It says the combat evokes Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bloodborne, but channels Wuxia stories and kung-fu films.
Sha-Chi Is The Meter That Matters
R1 dodges, holding L1 blocks and tapping L1 parries. Square is the basic attack and Triangle the more powerful one.
Blocking drains Sha-Chi. Run out and the player can be staggered and left open. Perfect parries, dodges and landed blows drain the opponent’s Sha-Chi instead.
Sha-Chi refills quickly by pressing Left on the D-Pad to swap between the two equipped main weapons. The post says the system pushes players to chain attacks from both weapons, or to swap at the end of a string so they are ready to parry.
Landed attacks also build Sha-Chi Essence. When it is full, L2 unleashes a Power Surge that interrupts the opponent’s attacks and deals massive damage.
Most Weapons Come From Bosses
Weapons are not found in chests or bought from merchants. Most are claimed from defeated bosses, so a weapon’s abilities are seen from the receiving end first.
Beating Hua, Deadly Betrothed earns the Scarlet Wraithblade, which summons spider lilies that slow enemies as combos land. The White Serpent and Crimson Viper are dual swords with separate combos that can be mixed.
Each weapon has its own fighting style, special combos and status effects, such as bleed damage or life siphon.
Phantom Edge Weapons Open The Map
Phantom Edge weapons have specific but limited uses in a fight. Some also unlock paths, smashing a barrier or grappling up to a distant ledge, so areas that cannot be reached at first reward backtracking later.
Blue Memory Flowers unlock the stories of places in the Wulin. Finding every flower for a story raises Soul’s health.
Hua is an early optional boss, according to the post, whose story is tied to the massacre of her own wedding party.
The game is A$84.95 on the Australian Steam store, and it was second on Australia’s top sellers list early this morning. Its launch details and origin story are covered separately.
Source: PlayStation Blog – Phantom Blade Zero: How boss weapons transform combat and exploration, Steam (Australia) – Phantom Blade Zero