Phantom Blade Zero devs say cultural differences are not a barrier in games but a plus, which is why they don’t tone down themes for the West  

Phantom Blade Zero is the next major action RPG to come out of China after the record-breaking launch of Game Science’s Black Myth Wukong. The upcoming “kung fu-punk” soulslike title comes from S-Game, and it’s their first large-scale effort aimed at global audiences. The developer’s CEO Liang Qiwei (Soulframe), who doubles as Phantom Blade Zero’s producer, recently gave insights into how the studio is handling themes players from the West are less familiar with. 

Speaking to 4Gamer at TGS2024, Qiwei talks about his team’s endeavors to explore the philosophy behind real Hong Kong-style kung-fu offensive and defensive tactics in Phantom Blade Zero’s gameplay. This includes going beyond what past kung-fu-themed video games have accomplished and incorporating techniques that are much less familiar to gamers. 

As the title is being developed with global audiences in mind, the team decided to go for the theme of “kung-fu punk” to bridge any cultural gaps between the game and Phantom Blood Zero’s players. Qiwei explains this term as “using authentic kung fu and martial arts as the core and clothing it in popular culture.” 

But when asked about why S-Game went for cultural themes that could be potentially hard for global audiences to fully understand in the first place, Qiwei suggests that presenting something obscure is part of the appeal. 

“If we look at recent titles, Black Myth: Wukong had a much higher hurdle to overcome than our game does in terms of culture as its completely based on a classic Chinese work of literature. So [Game Science] may encounter this problem of players not understanding the cultural background. But in my opinion, the quality and playing experience of a game are its core. If you can achieve high quality and an entertaining playing experience, I think that a difficult theme can actually be an advantage, not a disadvantage. If your game is entertaining, players will perceive unfamiliar themes as something fresh,” S-Game’s head explains. 

Qiwei considers that Black Myth: Wukong’s success has already “verified” his opinion that unfamiliar themes can only heighten player immersion and interest. He goes on to further explain, “The reason we Chinese players know about Western and Japanese culture is because we had very entertaining Western and Japanese games as an entry point. We gradually became accustomed to them. I doubt Chinese players knew much about Japanese samurai at first, and I don’t think they were especially interested in them. But because there were so many good games about them, they’re now basically recognized as a pop theme. So, to repeat, if the game itself is interesting, the sense of its themes being foreign can be an advantage, rather than a barrier. I think it’s a very strong plus that draws in more players.” 

Phantom Blade Zero is currently in development for the PC and PS5.