by Game of Review Team · published 2026-11-10 · updated 2026-11-10
Phantom Blade Zero
$59.99 · Our score: 8.6/10
Phantom Blade Zero price and system requirements Read our reviewPhantom Blade Zero came out on October 28 for PC, PS5, and Epic Games Store, and within 24 hours it had pulled over 700,000 concurrent players on Steam alone — the biggest single-player launch on the platform this year. That's a serious number for a game that isn't live-service, isn't free, and costs $59.99.
What it actually is
You play Soul, a warrior framed for murdering his own master, left with a fatal wound and sixty-six days to live. He spends that time hunting down the conspiracy that ruined him, which is as good an excuse as any for a few hundred boss fights.
S-GAME built it on Unreal Engine 5 and leaned hard into "kungfupunk" — golden-age Hong Kong wuxia cinema mixed with mechanical prosthetics and crumbling industrial ruins. The combat is the real pitch here: over 30 primary weapons, 20+ Phantom Edges taken from fallen enemies, and choreography worked out with actual wuxia-film fight choreographers rather than just mocap actors doing their best impression.
The reviews aren't just hype-cycle noise
- IGN gave it a 9/10, calling out "memorable boss fights, compelling combat, and limitless swagger"
- Wccftech went as far as 10/10, naming it a real Game of the Year 2026 contender
- It's sitting at 88 on Metacritic and "Very Positive" on Steam, with 92% of its 8,333 English-language reviews positive
It's also not a cheap imitation of Black Myth: Wukong, even though the comparisons were inevitable the second a Chinese-developed wuxia action RPG with a six-figure launch showed up. Phantom Blade Zero's combat system is faster and more combo-focused, closer to a souls-like with a fighting-game brain than an open-world adventure.
Worth knowing before you buy
- It ships with Denuvo DRM, which has already put off some PC players on principle
- It's single-player only — no co-op, no PvP, no Steam Workshop support
- 145GB of storage and an SSD install are required, so budget accordingly
Who it's for: anyone who wants Soulslike-tier combat with a real story and a wuxia skin, and doesn't mind Denuvo being along for the ride.
Our take
This is the second big Chinese-developed action RPG this year to land with Black Myth: Wukong-sized numbers, and it's a pattern worth watching rather than a one-off. What's notable isn't just the player count, it's that the review consensus actually backs up the hype instead of cratering a week after launch like a lot of big debuts do. The Denuvo decision is the one real blemish on an otherwise clean launch, and it'll be worth checking back on whether S-GAME drops it down the line.
Phantom Blade Zero
$59.99 · Our score: 8.6/10
Phantom Blade Zero price and system requirements Read our review