Beijing-based developer S-GAME will release the dark kung-fu action RPG Phantom Blade Zero on September 9 for PC and PS5. After hitting more than 1 million Wishlists on December 29, only fifteen days after listing, the developers have released an update on the game as it enters the final stages of development.
Addressing fans on Weibo in a January 23 post (spotted by Daniel Camilo), S-GAME’s CEO Liang “Soulframe” Qiwei says Phantom Blade Zero’s Wishlists continue to grow steadily across Steam and PlayStation. While its popularity in China comes as no surprise, Liang notes that over 50% of Wishlists currently come from overseas markets. Outside of China, the game is seeing the most interest in Europe and North America, followed by regions like Brazil, Turkey, and the Middle East.
Liang also addressed the discussion that’s been going on about where Phantom Blade Zero lies in terms of subgenres (Is it a soulslike? Is it a hack-and-slash?). While the game was supposed to get another gameplay showcase focusing on combat during the Chinese New Year (like last year’s Year of the Snake video), S-GAME has decided to cancel the new trailer. The main reason is that the developers want to dedicate all their remaining time and resources to completing and polishing the game itself, but also because, as Liang explains, the team has been reflecting on whether marketing the game with intense combat highlights could potentially mislead players about the game’s overall direction.
While reiterating that even his team isn’t sure exactly how it would define Phantom Blade Zero in terms of specific subgenre, Liang explains that it’s a layered, semi-open world sandbox game, and not a Soulslike. While the action is designed to feel satisfying and hard-hitting, it’s not pure hack-and-slash either, he says. Difficulty settings make it more accessible to casual players, and the action is distinguished by a combat system that draws heavily from Chinese martial arts.
Liang says that past previews of Phantom Blade Zero may have caused some misunderstandings about its genre and difficulty, so from now on, S-GAME will be focusing on sharing information about its systems and story through formats that will give consumers a good idea about the game, but won’t eat up too much of the developers’ resources.
Phantom Blade Zero releases on September 9 for PC (Steam/Epic Games Store) and PS5.
