Summary

  • Phantom Blade Zero initially didn't interest me since it looked so much like a Soulslike.
  • That isn't the case at all, though, as it's actually more of a character action game with some Sekiro parrying for good measure.
  • My demo was only 10 minutes long, but that was enough for it to be a highlight of Gamescom.

2024 marked my second Gamescom in a row and even though I was nowhere near as nervous or starstruck as last year, it was still a great experience that I learned a lot from, including some things I’d forgotten from 2023’s event. One thing that I had to re-learn particularly fast is how strange it is to preview so many different games over a few days, and how different the experience is depending on what you see.

Sometimes you only get a hands-off demo that gives you a glimpse into what’s being worked on, while occasionally you’re lucky enough to play anywhere between 30 minutes and a full hour. I’m usually of the opinion that the more time you get with a preview, the better, since it means you can form a more concrete opinion, but that went out of the window after just 10 minutes with Phantom Blade Zero.

On very rare occasions, you see stuff that you’re not allowed to talk about for a whole year, which was Harry Alston’s experience with Crimson Desert in 2023.

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When Phantom Blade Zero was first revealed during last year’s PlayStation Showcase, I assumed that it was taking cues from Dark Souls and I wasn’t all that interested in smacking my head once more against the brick wall that is the Soulslike genre. That feeling didn’t last long, though, as positive impressions and interviews revealed it was much more in line with games like Devil May Cry.

Smokin' Sexy Soul

That meant I was very excited to finally give it a go for myself after missing out at Summer Game Fest. My preview threw me straight into the action with a brief tutorial that ran me through the basics of combat, which indeed was much more akin to DMC and other similar character action games than it was FromSoft’s work.

Rather than slowly dodging around and waiting for a moment to strike while fearing for my life, Phantom Blade Zero gives the player a bunch of different combos, weapons to swap between, projectiles, environmental interactions, and special attacks that make you more than qualified to deal with whatever comes your way.

Although Soul (PBZ’s protagonist) is far more powerful than I expected him to be, that isn’t to say that he’s in for an easy adventure. Even with so many different moves at his disposal, being careless against enemies will result in a quick death. Not that I ever died in my preview, but there were a few close calls that were narrowly evaded with twitchy fingers and a healthy helping of dodge spamming.

Sekiro, Is That You?

As much as I enjoyed whaling on enemies and feeling like a powerhouse, what really made Phantom Blade Zero click with me was its emphasis on parrying and timed evasion, which made me incredibly nostalgic for Sekiro. It’s nowhere near as precise as it was there and felt satisfyingly simple to pull off, but it encouraged an aggressive playstyle that works incredibly well with the fast-paced, combo-focused gameplay.

Once I’d mastered countering and the ballet-esque feeling of swapping between weapons and decimating enemies without breaking a sweat, I sped through the first few combat arenas against basic grunts. My preview quickly turned into an intense boss rush against several more powerful enemies, who were thrown my way without much context.

Even if I had no idea why I was fighting, this section of Phantom Blade Zero was an absolute blast and showed off how advanced the combat mechanics could get and how well they work in tandem with one another. The final boss of my preview was against a warrior named Huangxing who wielded a unique heavy weapon attached to a chain.

Huangxing was the closest Phantom Blade Zero ever got to a FromSoft game during my preview, as he had an insta-kill move that nearly spelt my doom a few times.

Huangxing Hell

This battle was the toughest section of the whole demo and easily the highlight of my brief time with Phantom Blade Zero. Huangxing wasn’t messing around and had several moves that kept me on my toes while he swapped between parryable slashes and heavy attacks that had to be evaded at the right time.

Although he put up a good fight, I eventually defeated Huangxing and brought my preview to a sudden stop. In the end, I only played just over ten minutes of Phantom Blade Zero (which was apparently an impressive clear time), something I’d usually consider far too short for such a big game that pulls from so many different games.

As it turns out, ten minutes with Phantom Blade Zero was all I needed to be certain that it's going to be an absolute banger whenever it launches. If it can end up being one of the best things I saw at Gamescom with such a minuscule amount of time, then I can only imagine what’s in store with the final game.

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