S-Game has impressed with its attention to detail and mocap animations in Phantom Blade Zero, with actor Donnie Yen helping bring the latter to life. It all feeds back into the combat, an essential part of Wuxia, and you’ll find no shortage of weapons to master. In a group interview with 4Gamer, director Qiwei “Soulframe” Liang reaffirmed that the player can wield 30 main weapons.
However, he also teased at least 50 bosses to conquer. Why “at least?” Well, because there may be more. “There are 30 main weapons and about 20 secondary weapons, all of which you can obtain by defeating the boss. There are bosses as many as there are weapons, so there are at least 50 of them, and in reality, there might be even more.”
As for the regular enemies, Liang noted their unique strategies and how much more varied the roster becomes as you get deeper into the game. “The sense of unity comes from the style of kung fu punk. As you played today, there are large and small enemies, as well as enemies with shields and those riding horses. However, each one starts from traditional Chinese martial arts and adds our own unique new elements. There’s one of those lines running through.
“On top of that, they create differences in their strategies and physique. The more you progress into the latter half, when you haven’t played yet, the variety will keep increasing.”
Of course, that variety stands out all the more because any defeated enemies won’t respawn. While other titles (including Souls-likes) use this as an excuse for players to garner XP and materials, the team wants players to “experience something new.” And though it could help in lengthening the experience, he also has “considerable confidence in the volume and quality of this work.”
Phantom Blade Zero launches on October 29th for PS5 and PC. Pre-orders have been quite strong, per Liang, and the hack-and-slash action RPG is estimated to have sold 300,000 units on Steam alone ahead of its highly-anticipated launch. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay until then.
