Phantom Blade Zero lead knows "a profound technological revolution is unfolding" with AI, but doesn't really care: "Human artistry is not merely a means for creating value"

As Phantom Blade Zero inches ever closer to its release later this year, S-Game CEO and director Soulframe Liang stresses that everything in the long-awaited game was entirely made by human hands, not by generative AI.

"Phantom Blade Zero is currently in the intense, final stages of development," Soulframe writes in a recent social media post ahead of the game's launch on September 9, 2026. "With the time we have left, we are pouring every available resource into pushing every aspect of the game to the absolute limit of our capabilities."

He then basically says he knows AI is everywhere, but he doesn't really care: "We are fully aware that a profound technological revolution is unfolding around us. However, to this day, every single piece of content in our game has been crafted by the hands of real artists. We will not use AI visual tech that could alter our artists' original creative intent."

Soulframe goes on to double down on the point, explaining that Phantom Blade Zero's characters were modelled by humans based on 3D scans captured by humans of the mocap performers who – you guessed it – are also humans. English and Chinese voiceovers were "refined by our dedicated actors and directors," and both were fully lip-synced by the devs.

Then there's the combat. "The prototypes for our weapons are drawn from the vast arsenal of traditional Chinese weaponry," Soulframe explains. "Sometimes, to better understand how a weapon's weight and length impact movement, we have master swordsmiths forge real replicas." Not to mention the kung-fu masters and sword experts from Mount Emei who consulted on the game.

"The game also features a series of guiding maps," he adds. "These are not AI-generated, nor are they digital paintings at all. They were hand-drawn using Chinese brushes and Xuan paper (rice paper) by young artists from the Chinese Painting department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)."

"We firmly believe that human artistry is not merely a means for creating value; it is the value itself. S-GAME didn't just hire a group of developers to make a game; rather, in our pursuit of continuously building an exceptional, passionate team, we decided to make a game that everyone here could be deeply proud of. We can't wait for you all to experience that difference in Phantom Blade Zero in just a few months. Thank you!"

Generative AI and its application in game development has obviously been a hot topic lately as high-profile games, such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Larian Studios' Divinity, dip their toes in those waters (Larian boss Swen Vincke more recently confirmed that the new RPG won't include any GenAI art, and the devs won't use "genAI tools during concept art development"). I'm glad the Phantom Blade Zero devs realize that efficiency and convenience isn't the be-all and end-all, at least.

I can't get enough of Phantom Blade Zero's stylish shakeup of action RPG staples: "It's very important for us to feel like we are defining our game.