Phantom Blade Zero had the privilege of being the final game in The Summer Game Fest earlier this month. The Soulslike gameplay of the supernatural swordfighting game was mesmerizing.
I played it hands-on and found it was an accessible game, designed to enable even inept players like me to fight in a skillful way against the lightning fast attacks from foes in the game. But it could also require so much skill in parts that it could satisfy hardcore sword fighters. It’s reminiscent of Chinese Wuxia martial arts, where people move at superhuman speeds.
The title is the dream of Beijing-based Soulframe Liang and his team of 50 game developers at S-Game. Liang said in an interview that he thinks of the setting for the game as “kung fu punk,” a blend of a traditional Chinese aesthetic and cyberpunk. We talked about the origins of the game and what it takes to play Phantom Blade Zero. Liang thinks of the game as more like a cross of Ninja Gaiden and Souls games.
I was surprised I didn’t constantly die in this game, but I also found I had to outwit the large groups of enemies and take them out in the right order, starting with the archer first. Then I could take out the weaker swordfighters and then go after the boss-like character. When I got to actual bosses, it was realy satisfying to do damage — and almost stay alive.
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Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
GamesBeat: Where are you based?
Soulframe Liang: We’re in Beijing.
GamesBeat: How long have you been working on Phantom Blade Zero? Can you tell me about some of the history?
Liang: We’ve been officially working on it for about two years. Before this we mainly did mobile games. We’ve been developing mobile games in the Chinese market for more than 10 years. Our game is not what we’d precisely label as a Souls or “Soulslike” game. It’s dark. It has some vibes that might make people refer back to that style, but we’re not a Souls game.
Our game is more like an old-fashioned combo-driven action game. It’s a three-dimensional map like a Souls game, but it’s more like you put Ninja Gaiden combat into a Souls map. It’s a new combination. We wanted to create something new with that combination.
GamesBeat: Would you say it’s easier than that style of game?
Liang: It’s much easier. It’s accessible for most players. But it still has depth for pro players. For normal players, they can enjoy the story, enjoy the exploration without too much pressure in the combat. But for pro players there’s some very, very deep opportunities to explore the combos, the parry system, the perfect dodging system. There are tons of challenges for professional players.
GamesBeat: I noticed it was a little more difficult when there were multiple different kinds of enemies. I had to remember how to deal with each type. Maybe get rid of the archer first.
Liang: Yes, there are multiple ways to do that. The level you just experienced, there’s actually a simple way to get through it. You can assassinate the archer, using your bow to shoot them down from the other side. Then you can use the cannon to blow up the enemies around the bonfire. Then you’ll go into combat with less than half as many enemies. You have multiple ways to deal with the situations you face. That’s another way we adjust the difficulty. Players can try different ways of getting through.
Of course, some players will just go through the front door and straight into combat with all the enemies. That’s certainly one way you can play it.
GamesBeat: I noticed a difference between the first boss and the second. The first boss, I could block him every time. The second boss, it felt like I needed perfect timing.
Liang: The blocking system is super simple. You just need to hold the button. If you’re not trying to perfect parry the attack, you just need to hold that same button. It’ll consume the yellow meter under your HP gauge, though. If you see the blue eye attacks and red eye attacks, the blue eye attacks are something you can’t block normally. Those you need to parry. And the red eye attacks are something you can’t parry. You have to dodge those.
GamesBeat: With the second boss, if you hit a single R1, his ranged attack would still hit you.
Liang: If you time the parry right, it won’t. The wave might go through your body, but you won’t lose any HP. The major differences between the bosses, it’s the different rhythms of the blue eye and red eye attacks. That’s the key to defeating the enemies. You have to learn the pace and rhythm of the boss attacks. Then you just have to parry the blue eyes and dodge the red eyes. The difference is just the rhythm.
GamesBeat: There are a lot of sword fighting games now. Is there anything you’d compare this to, that’s closer to your level? Sekiro was very difficult for me. Ghost of Tsushima, much easier.
Liang: I wouldn’t compare it to anything specifically. We’re doing something new. But I would say the difficulty of our game is much easier than an average Souls game, the entry difficulty. We have difficulty options.
GamesBeat: You don’t have to beat everyone over and over again, right?
Liang: No, you don’t. For the main story, it’s about a 20 or 30 hour campaign. But there are also tons of side quests, collectibles, and challenges that might take another 20 or 30 hours.
GamesBeat: How big is your team?
Liang: We have 50 people in Beijing, and we’re trying to expand. But we don’t want to get as big as 100 people. It’s still a relatively small team. We don’t have a release window yet, but development is going smoothly.
GamesBeat: Were you happy with the reaction at Summer Game Fest?
Liang: Yes, absolutely. We were overwhelmed by all the shout-outs and positive feedback. It’s very encouraging. It’s also challenging for us. We have to make something even better for next time, and for the final product. Everyone’s expectations are rising to a high level. Many people anticipate our game. We don’t want to let them down. It’s encouraging, but it’s a lot of pressure. We’ll try to do better and better.
GamesBeat: You had good placement at the show, getting to go on at the end.
Liang: We had the same experience last year. When we first revealed the game at the PlayStation Showcase, people complained that the movements were too fluid. They said it was too good to be true. They thought we were just showing cinematics. That’s why we brought the demo we did this year, to show that everything is playable. We made some adjustments to the camera angles, but besides that, it’s all gameplay. That’s what we wanted to tell everyone this year with the demo. Later on we’ll show more level designs and more of the story.
GamesBeat: What can you say about the story and lore so far?
Liang: I don’t want to spoil too much. But we can talk about the world we’re creating. It’s based on an indie game I created about 15 years ago, when I was still a student. It was called Rainblood, something I made myself in RPG Maker. A very basic 2D turn-based game. But I felt like I created something special there, a combination of traditional Chinese aesthetic with contemporary steampunk and cyberpunk, modified humans, things like that. We called it “kung fu punk.” It’s a mix of something traditional and something new. Hopefully it feels unique.
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