"It's very important for us to feel like we are defining our game": Phantom Blade Zero devs want their kung-fu action game to shake up the genre, and I'm already spellbound by its stylish grace

The Game Awards 2025 revealed the latest trailer for developer S-Game's Phantom Blade Zero, which has been steadily climbing the ladder of the most anticipated new games coming in 2026. Channeling the same style of the likes of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the Ninja Gaiden series, the upcoming action-adventure game balances Wuxia-inspired spectacle with fast, tight combat to offer a high-octane twist on an action-RPG with influences from the best FromSoftware games.

The latest trailer showed off the game's impressive scale, and it looks to offer more than just a gauntlet of enemies and bosses to take down. Shortly after The Game Awards, I had the opportunity to play an hour of Phantom Blade Zero and speak to game director and studio founder Soulframe Liang about the game. While it seeks to capture the same highs as other greats in the pantheon of action games, the developers have a larger ambition: creating their own lane within the broader action genre.

Wuxia-pen your blades

The main plot of Phantom Blade Zero draws on the spectacle of Wuxia fiction, which leans into martial-arts action in period settings.

However, Phantom Blade Zero is also a reimagining of the director's previous efforts in the cult-classic Rainblood series, including Rainblood Chronicles: Mirage and Rainblood: Tower of Death. For Phantom Blade Zero, S-Game is aiming to capture the dark fantasy and steampunk influences of the earlier games in its fully realized 3D character-action gameplay.

Focusing on the fugitive assassin Soul, he finds himself marked for death – in more ways than one – after being framed for the murder of a clan leader. Hunted by powerful warlords and rivals looking to claim his bounty, Soul is mortally injured as he tries to evade capture, but given a second chance by a mysterious shaman who gives him a limited amount of days to live.

To clear his name, Soul treks through the treacherous lands to amass power and a larger arsenal of weapons to help him defeat dangerous foes and uncover the conspiracy that framed him and led to the clan leader's death.

The core story of Phantom Blade Zero hits on a familiar revenge plot from classic martial arts films.

Still, with its dark-fantasy and steampunk-inspired setting, it shows off a broader scope that gradually transitions into a world to explore. For the game director, building the style and look of Phantom Blade Zero's world and story was about capturing elements of Chinese mythology and presenting them in an intriguing new way for global audiences.

"While our game has a lot of action and gives people the impression of a soulslike, I would say our game is actually a story-rich game as well," said Liang. "After the response to the trailer at The Game Awards, I'm happy to see people are beginning to recognize the various characters we have.

"We have a story with many characters, and we are also sharing some cultural elements from our Chinese and Kung Fu cultures. But we are also combining it with modern elements like cyberpunk and steampunk, and wrapping that up into a complete game that not only has much combat to it, but also opportunities to explore this world."

Enter the phantom

Much like the Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry games, Phantom Blade Zero is a character-action game that showcases the protagonist as a capable and versatile fighter –– and there's a wide variety of weapons to pick up and unleash on foes.

During my hands-on, I was able to utilize a bending snake sword that curved and warped around enemies, and a set of twin swords that can be kicked to nearby enemies.

The pace and flow of the Phantom Blade Zero really do well to tap into the kung-fu action spectacle of films, capturing a gracefulness and a highly choreographed feel that look clean and visually stunning as they unfold. I really came to enjoy just how fun it was to dish out combos against weaker enemies, but the difficulty certainly kicks in when the more elite enemies and mini-bosses show up. That's where Soul's other abilities come in.

Along with focused blocking, which allows him to deflect attacks, he can also execute slick dodges ahead of enemy strikes to teleport to their blind spot. It took me some time to get a feel for it, but I really took to the pace of the action.

I was so impressed with the flow of the action in Phantom Blade Zero. It captures the spirit of a martial arts action movie – there's even a secret boss fight atop a pagoda that felt especially cinematic.

Closing out the demo was a boss fight against the Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars, who uses blood magic to puppeteer different enemies on the field. His minions all act in unison, and executing a perfect dodge will show Soul leap into the air and gracefully land on top of the enemy weapons that came close to piercing him. It's a boss battle filled with slick moments like these to pull off, and it does a good job of capturing the style PBZ goes for.

According to Liang, Phantom Blade Zero is all about capturing those stylish moments that are fun to execute, showcasing Soul as a graceful and fierce fighter, and reflecting the type of world he inhabits.

"It's very important for us to feel like we are defining our game and showing it as its own thing," the director said. "It's been a long discussion from fans about what inspired this game – and we have certainly taken inspiration from the Souls games, Devil May Cry, and Ninja Gaiden. We even feel inspired by horror games like Resident Evil and Alan Wake, but we want to combine all these influences to make our own type of game."

"The ultimate source of inspiration for us is actually the kung fu film genre," he continued. "It's not always about just the fighting in those movies, it's about showing kung fu cinema is not only about fighting, it's also about character, particularly the Chinese version of heroes, how they think, how they act, how they respond to the to the world, and how they deal with revenge and love and hatred.

"I think it's very important for us to incorporate these elements to create a different type of experience within the scope of the action RPG subgenre. I don't think Phantom Blade Zero is either a souls game or even like a horror action game, I think it may be something different."

Action, reborn

For the S-Game founder, Phantom Blade Zero aims to showcase Chinese developers pursuing the same spectacle, action, and scale as Western developers.

With the focus on the spectacle of Kung-fu-inspired action and the scope of a sprawling action-RPG, Phantom Blade Zero has so far caught the attention of many. For Liang, one major source of inspiration for the team in reaching this goal is martial arts icon Bruce Lee and how he broke through to global audiences.

"We would love to create our own sub-genres in the realm of action games, inspired by the Chinese Kung Fu movement [in entertainment]," said Liang. "I see it as something similar to what Bruce Lee did half a century ago, when he came back to Hollywood and brought this trend of kung fu movies. It comes with a whole set of elements, including the movement style, the philosophy, and the way narratives and characters are presented."

"I think we're simply doing the same thing Bruce Lee was doing in Hollywood half a century ago," he continues, creating "something in an existing industry, but bring something from the Chinese culture and combine it with modern elements."

"I see Phantom Blade Zero finding its place within the larger action genre to really stand on its own," he continued. "I feel the only game I've seen very recently that helps show Chinese culture in a big way is Sifu, which a French studio made with some Chinese developers. We feel that's also our duty to bring up more of the Chinese Kung Fu elements to the industry."

It was very satisfying to see more of Phantom Blade Zero in action. I would have liked to have seen more of the world in the demo, but it still offered a nice tease of an intriguing dark-fantasy twist on Wuxia action. Delivering satisfying action can be challenging, but so far, I'm intrigued and thrilled by the style PBZ is going for, balancing a soulslike structure with fast, character-driven action. Here's hoping the larger story and scope come together in a way that shows where this stylish action game is headed next.

Check out the litany of other upcoming PS5 games heading our way in 2026