Action sport aficionados have been well-fed within the latest previous with video games like Stellar Blade and Sekiro, however primarily based on a brand new hands-on gameplay demo at Summer Games Fest, it seems like Phantom Blade 0 will arise with the leaders within the style.
Aside from a brief tutorial, the demo doesn’t take a lot time setting issues up, preferring to leap proper into the motion. The essential character, Soul, is given two essential weapons to change between at first: a pair of quick swords and one longer katana. This switching mechanic doesn’t simply change playstyle and attain, however permits Soul to regain their stamina bar instantly to proceed their combo and scratch away on the enemy lifebar.
In addition to those offensive weapons, the protagonist is given defensive choices within the type of each parries and dodges. As per motion sport custom, parries break down the enemy’s wearwithal to open them up for a combo alternative. Dodges, in the meantime, aid you keep away from enemy assaults that both can’t be parried or may be too troublesome to strive.
Where this comes into play is PBZ’s playstyle. Approaching it extra like a Souls sport is absolute folly, as that patience-driven, opportunity-seizing gameplay will find yourself incomes a fast and pointless loss of life to enemies that can get to these alternatives first. Instead, Phantom Blade Zero rewards a hyper-aggressive playstyle as a way to make these defensive choices shine.
Meanwhile, enemies are largely made up of warriors of comparable dimension to Soul, struggling little or no in the way in which of knockback to particular person assaults. Combos with the pair of quick swords won’t cease an enemy intent on hurting Soul from finishing their assault, however continually hammering them with it is going to chip away as you turn weapons, dodge, and parry a path to victory. In this manner, Phantom Blade 0 has extra in frequent with one thing like Ninja Gaiden Black than video games on the From Software spectrum, placing an emphasis on relentless assaults to outclass Soul’s opponents.
The artwork model is described by the builders at S-Game as “China Punk,” taking classical Chinese mythos and environments and mixing them with fashionable sensibilities. The technical prowess on show thus far signifies that PBZ will have the ability to attain these lofty objectives with the ultimate model and impress on a visible stage.
The Summer Games Fest demo I performed featured three small sections with more and more troublesome bosses. In the primary, a cliffside fort that includes some warriors and archers wanted to be defeated as a way to transfer on. There are numerous choices for taking them out, together with utilizing one Soul’s projectile weapons like a bow or an enormous handheld dragon mouth laser. Footholds and paths may also lead as much as them, stopping Soul from being buffeted by arrows any additional.
Defeating the boss, Tie Sha the Frenzy, is the primary actual take a look at of talent within the demo and it calls for a level of understanding the parrying idea earlier than transferring on. Proper dodging and parrying can maintain Tie Sha rapidly, however slipping up would possibly make the battle tougher to regain the momentum.
After Tie Sha, the demo strikes Soul to a different stage the place he encounters the second boss struggle accessible: the alliteratively named Commander Cleave. This bigger boss unsurprisingly wields a cleaver sword that tears by Soul’s defenses, so correct timing is paramount. He additionally has a good bit of well being and defensive choices of his personal, making him really feel like the primary actual talent take a look at of the demo.
Upon defeating Commander Cleave, the ultimate problem is offered: a one-on-one struggle towards Huangxing, the Sunken Pillar of Kunlun. Huangxing presents the toughest battle of the demo by being aggressive, having wildly damaging assaults, and being exhausting to foretell. His one-hit kill, a transfer the place he swings a basket round and lands it on Soul’s head to decapitate him, can solely be prevented by staggering him with heavy weapons or leaping off a pillar within the room to dodge it.
The finest strategy to stagger him turned out to be utilizing a weapon acquired from Commander Cleave, his trademark cleaver, and begin comboing Huangxing with the knives and switching to the cleaver for an enormous transitional hit. Beating the hulking warrior shouldn’t be simple, however it’s positively satisfying.
What wasn’t within the demo, although, was any stage design. Dropping immediately into fight areas and managers meant there was no area to go searching and determine the construction between fights. While Phantom Blade Zero completely nails its controls and the preventing feels quick and frantic, the unknown questions nonetheless go away extra puzzle items to be crammed in. Based on what has been proven thus far, nevertheless, S-Game’s latest motion providing is swinging for the fences and has an excellent probability of succeeding.
