With potential to be the next Black Myth: Wukong breakout, Phantom Blade Zero gets September 2026 release date

Phantom Blade Zero now has a release date, announced at The Game Awards 2025. The hardcore Wuxia game – a stunning Chinese fantasy like 2024 breakout hit Black Myth: Wukong – will launch September 9, 2026.

Its release date trailer is also one of its most darkly beautiful, showing off rainy mountainsides and bloody samurai in four minutes of moody adventure. Welcome to what a PlayStation listing of the trailer describes as a "kungfupunk world shaped by conspiracy, intrigue, and cinematic martial action."

"Phew thank goodness no stamina bar! Pre ordering now," says one happy comment on YouTube.

Game protagonist and unflappable warrior Soul simply has no time to worry about stamina regeneration – he's a man on an ungodly mission. Phantom Blade Zero's Steam description explains Soul has only 66 days to live after being "framed for the death of his master and left with a ruined heart." He patches up what he can and ventures out into a world of "shifting realities, echoes of memories long since passed, augmentation, and beings of higher power."

Ancient weaponry helps him keep it together – Phantom Blade's release date trailer shows off fights with what might be a Qiang spear, which Soul uses to battering ram his enemies away, and just a reliable little dagger, which he plunges into a multi-faced beast's neck. Blood everywhere.

"A fighter's worth lies in their weapons," commands Phantom Blade's Steam page. "Over thirty weapons are yours to wield, with more than twenty unique 'Phantom Edges' to mix and match to suit your playstyle.

"Defeat powerful foes to obtain their weapons, and with it, their signature techniques. Grow your arsenal and defeat all who stand in your path."

Every time we've played Phantom Blade Zero, we've come away impressed. Our May 2025 preview hammered home the PS2 Golden Age vibe the devs are targeting. This could be something special, folks.

"Nowadays there are too many Souls games," says Phantom Blade Zero director, and you probably won't know the difference in this "kung fu action game" until you play it.