Although we got some fresh looks into new entrees in existing franchises along with remakes and re-releases in today’s PlayStation Showcase, one surprise new IP announcement came by way of Phantom Blade Zero.
The trailer immediately grabbed us with its dark, striking visual style and slick-looking combat, all rendered in Unreal Engine 5. Now that the dust of the showcase has blown over and we can start poring over the official announcements from studios that featured their games, this one in particular has some interesting origins.
According to Soulframe Liang, the founder of S-Game, the studio developing Phantom Blade Zero, the game is a “spiritual rebirth” of a 2010 RPG Maker project that they’d made called Rainblood: Town of Death. After Liang finished making Rainblood and moved to China to found S-Game, they soon spun it into a whole franchise, renaming it Phantom Blade and producing some incredibly successful China-exclusive mobile games from the IP.
Now, the studio is developing Phantom Blade Zero and expanding that universe to a whole new global audience on PS5. The game promises a semi-open-world action RPG experience an occult/martial arts/steampunk hybrid aesthetic that it’s dubbing “Kungfupunk” and an approachable but authentic kung-fu combat system. The studio has even tapped veteran stuntman and fight coordinator, Kenji Tanigaki, to assist in animating the game’s fights.
Take a look at the debut trailer for Phantom Blade Zero below. You can also read about the origins of the studio and game, as well as what to expect from it, in more depth on the PlayStation Blog.
Check out the world premiere of Phantom Blade Zero, a new Action RPG featuring deep and dark art style, fast paced combat, and a fictitious world blending Chinese martial arts and steampunk. Be the Dark Raider exiled by “The Order”, embark on the path of vengeance, and uncover the darkest secrets of Wulin.
