Enjoyers of difficult combat and tough bosses got a double helping of fun this summer. First,Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreehit all its fans with some of the toughest encounters Fromsoft has ever made. After that, it wasBlack Myth: Wukong’sturn to not only skill check Elden Ring fans, but also show that there’s still a lot of unexplored territory in the soulslike genre. Now, with the releases ofPhantom Blade Zeroand others like itcoming in the next year or so, it looks like the genre is about to take more than a few steps forward.
Review: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Elden Ring wasn’t enough for the massive playerbase, as Shadow of the Erdtree offers an extension of what we’ve come to love.
One fear of those followingPhantom Blade Zerowas that it was going to be just like Dark Souls or something likeNiohwhen it came to gameplay. Having actually played the game at TGS 2024, however, it seems those fears are unfounded. While still providing a tough-as-nails combat experience,Phantom Blade Zerodoes in fact offer a unique experience that innovates on what came before.
ThePhantom Blade Zerodemo featured three different combat scenarios. The first was all about fighting against groups of enemies, and it made two things clear: enemies shownomercy and playersneedto think ahead before starting combat encounters. See, enemies follow the soulslike model in that they don’t wait for the player to engage them one at a time. Rather, if they’re close enough to land a hit, they’re going to go for it and will often do so together with at least two making an attack at any given time.
Players have a variety of means at their disposal for dealing with enemies.
Unlike, say,Black Myth: Wukong,Phantom Blade Zerohas a stealth mechanic as well as ranged weapons. Instead of rushing in, the player could instead sneakily eliminate enemies far from the main group and then blast said group with a summonable cannon before then running in and mopping up however many are left. The implication the demo gave was that there’s going to be a variety of weapons available to summon, so players will likely have tools to support many different strategies when it comes to dealing with groups.
The highlights of the demo, however, were its two proper boss encounters. Both demanded different approaches, but the fundamentals for fighting them were the same. InPhantom Blade Zero, players can dodge, parry and block incoming attacks just like inElden Ring, but the difference is that different attacksneedto be dealt with differently. Projectiles should be blocked or dodged, heavy attacks should be dodged, combos should be blocked and combo finishers should be parried as much as possible.
In Phantom Blade Zero, players can dodge, parry and block incoming attacks just like in Elden Ring, but the difference is that different attacks need to be dealt with in different ways.
It seemed as though healing always came with risks too, since its animation is slow, can be interrupted and it restores a relatively small amount of health. It’s not something to rely on inPhantom Blade Zero, which makes learning how to correctly deal with each kind of attack all the more important. Other differences are found in how the game uses stamina as well as in the amount of options available to the player.
Every action inPhantom Blade Zerocosts stamina, and so doing things carelessly can create problems. Running out doesn’t mean getting stunned for a long time or anything, but it does open you up to attack. This means that wasting stamina on a dodge when a block would have sufficed or vice versa will often ensure that it’s the player’s stamina bar that runs out first.
I found that disengaging and creating enough distance to rest for one or two seconds could really help when trying to outlast the boss' stamina reserves.
Indeed, bosses can run out of stamina too, but the window of opportunity shown in the demo was small. So, players will have to be ready to let their best attack fly the moment a boss’s stamina gets depleted. Whether it’s just a heavy sword swing, a blast from a summoned weapon or an environmental opportunity attack is up to them. There’s also the option to go for riskier parries and such in the hopes of interrupting combo strings and creating additional chances to attack, but they’re unlikely to be successful during the first couple of attempts.
Thankfully,Phantom Blade Zero’scontrols were fairly intuitive and easy to pick up, taking only a few minutes to get used to. Those unfamiliar with these sorts of games need more time to get up to speed, butfans of soulslikesshould feel right at home in no time. Also, there appeared to be several difficulty options available instead of only a single default, sothose who aren’t so great at other soulslikeswill possibly have an easier time here despite both normal enemies and bosses being aggressive on the whole.
Overall,Phantom Blade Zerolooked very good in this demo. Its fights were fast-paced and engaging; its controls were easy to pick up; its systems were easy to understand; its characters looked cool; and it ran at what appeared to be a solid sixty frames per second. IsPhantom Blade Zerogoing to be another slam dunk likeBlack Myth: Wukong? Possibly. It’s still too early to tell, but this first hands-on experience was impressive, so it’s probably safe to say that soulslike enjoyers should at least keep this on their wishlists.
Phantom Blade Zerowill see an eventual release on PC and PlayStation 5.
Phantom Blade Zero
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