Hero image: Phantom Blade Zero. Image: S-GAME
S-GAME has a new patch out for Phantom Blade Zero, and PC players get the biggest changes. Start-up should be quicker, and one foe grabs you less often on two difficulty settings.
Version 1.0302256 of Phantom Blade Zero went up on Steam at 9:20 UTC on 4 November, which is 8:20pm AEDT on Wednesday by our conversion, and it adds new audio and control options, tweaks combat and fixes a list of bugs.
Start with the PC change, because it affects your next launch: S-GAME has reworked shader compiling to cut start-up times, so ray tracing shaders are no longer compiled by default when the game starts. If you had Ray Tracing off, you’ll need to recompile shaders once on your first launch after the patch. If you had it on, you can go straight in.
Turning Ray Tracing on later works differently now, because the ray tracing shaders are compiled separately the next time you restart the game. Bluetooth controllers should stutter less on PC, and NVIDIA Reflex now works when set to Auto with V-Sync on. You can also remap Interact / Talk on keyboard and controller.
On combat, Hua, Deadly Betrothed now uses grab attacks less often on Wayfarer and Pathbreaker difficulties. The notes say other difficulty settings are unaffected, and some bosses, enemies and environmental mechanisms also behave differently, though the notes don’t list which. If you’re still learning the system, our combat explainer covers the basics of Sha-Chi.
The audio settings gain two sliders, Hit Sound Intensity and Hit Impact Sound Intensity. Weapon hit feedback has been improved, and some sound effects and dialogue have new volume levels. Weapon descriptions, some skill descriptions and the controller button icons are updated too.
The fixes cover progression blockers under certain conditions, spots where you could get stuck and some cutscene and visual problems. There’s also a fix for hair rendering incorrectly on certain AMD graphics cards with specific drivers.
One warning before you update: the notes say “some third-party mods are not compatible with this update”, so remove any mods if the game misbehaves afterwards. Problems go to S-GAME’s official support page.
The game was fourth on Steam’s most-played chart early this morning, and it’s A$84.95 on the Australian Steam store. Our launch report has the SSD requirement and the launch price.
Source: S-GAME – Phantom Blade Zero Patch Notes, Version 1.0302256 (Steam), S-GAME – Phantom Blade Zero support, Steam – Phantom Blade Zero