It has been almost a year since we last got our hands on S-GAME’s Phantom Blade Zero at Tokyo Game Show 2024. Earlier this year, the developer released a lengthy 6-minute “Year of the Snake” trailer, and now, we get to play one hour’s worth of the game at Gamescom 2025, which includes pretty much everything showcased in that latest trailer, and a whole lot more.
But before that, let’s dive a little into the story. The game follows an elite assassin named Soul, who is framed for murder. With only 66 days to live after a mystic healer’s cure, he must uncover the truth and defeat powerful enemies using every skill in his kung fu arsenal, before time runs out.
Phantom Blade Zero is a high-octane action RPG rooted in Chinese kung fu, set within a haunting Wuxia-inspired world that fuses traditional martial arts with a gritty, stylised kung fu-punk aesthetic. Drawing influence from classic kungfu films of the ’80s and ’90s, the game delivers meticulously choreographed, fast-paced combat where each strike and weapon movement is grounded in authentic physics, capturing the weight, speed, and momentum of battle.
Here’s the full PlayStation 5 Pro footage captured in 4K @ 60fps for your viewing pleasure. This Gamescom 2025 PS5 demo offers a self-contained, one-hour portion taken from a chapter of the full game.
And here’s a bonus 15-minute speedrun of the same demo, except we deliberately skipped past the Red Wraith boss fight, only to have her show up later on during the second phase of the Chief Disciple’s Fallen Hope boss fight. This creates a tougher fight for players looking to challenge themselves.
More casual action game fans will also be pleased to know that the game will feature three difficulty settings: Wayfarer (Easy), Gamechanger (Medium), and Hellwalker (Extreme), with the hardest mode being unlocked only after the game is beaten on its normal difficulty. This further emphasises the title’s focus on accessibility and how it’s not being positioned as a Soulslike, or rather, as a more approachable Soulslike compared to other recent entries to the genre.
Phantom Blade Zero doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will launch on the PC and PlayStation 5, with support for enhanced visuals on the PS5 Pro.
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
Kevin Low
