Within the wake of Elden Ring, the soulslike style is arguably larger than ever. From Lords of the Fallen and Lies of P to brand-new releases like Flintlock: The Siege of Daybreak, everybody desires a chunk of FromSoftware’s bloodstained pie. On paper, it seemed like Phantom Blade Zero was the identical, championing excellent parries and channeling the moodiness of Bloodborne and Sekiro. But after chatting to recreation director ‘Soulframe,’ it’s obvious that developer S-Recreation is taking a really totally different method to its upcoming “Kung Fu punk” journey.
Set in a macabre world impressed by Chinese language folklore and Wuxia, Phantom Blade Zero thrusts you into the footwear of Soul, a mysterious murderer who works for the shadowy group often known as ‘The Order.’ After being mortally wounded, he’s out of the blue revived and hurled again into the fray – however he solely has 66 days to enact vengeance earlier than his accidents return.
That’s all we all know thus far story-wise, however once I took it for a spin at Summer season Recreation Fest, I used to be pleasantly stunned by what I performed. Whereas at first look Phantom Blade Zero seems to be one other soulslike recreation, it performs extra like an action-focused hack-and-slash chimera. As I notice in my Phantom Blade Zero preview, the fight is slick and speedy, and it’s an terrible lot of enjoyable.
Within the wake of my playthrough, Soulframe and I enterprise exterior into the summer time solar, pitching up at slightly desk beneath an enormous parasol. I ask him whether or not the deviation from the tried and examined soulslike method was intentional, and he nods emphatically.
“There’s a rhythm to [Phantom Blade Zero’s] fight, however typically it’s a lot quicker than the typical soulslike. We had been truly impressed by the old style combo-driven motion in video games like Ninja Gaiden and Metallic Gear Stable Rising, which not many individuals play anymore. These video games are our favorites, however these days, youthful gamers would possibly discover these video games too hardcore, so we wanted so as to add further accessibility.
“We put these fast-paced combos right into a soulslike map, which is a brand new mixture,” he continues. “However that additionally created a whole lot of challenges for us, just like the digicam angles. I feel it’s gone fairly nicely. We love the thought of doing one thing actually new and distinctive that includes all the primary parts from the basic video games that we love.”
The dialog naturally strikes right into a dialogue of issue, the component that, in fact, acts as a blessing and a curse for the soulslike style. I ask if the staff desires to really take a look at your mettle with Phantom Blade Zero.
“From the start, we determined we weren’t going to do one other soulslike recreation,” Soulframe tells me. “We expect the difficulties and frustrations you expertise in a standard souls recreation can’t be the primary a part of the sport. So we wished to take away the irritating components, and add extra constructive suggestions; each dodge, each excellent parry will reward you with fancy animations and Ghoststeps.”
The sport additionally options issue choices, which aren’t obtainable in lots of different soulslikes – “this implies you don’t have as a lot punishment if you die,” he tells me. “We wish our gamers to benefit from the pure fight, the story, and the world; that’s the purpose.
“As a brand new studio, I don’t assume we’ve the privilege of FromSoftware to make you annoyed whilst you’re enjoying. We’d fairly maintain it accessible to everybody so that everybody can take pleasure in it.”
S-Recreation is on observe to launch one thing slightly totally different with Phantom Blade Zero, and I can’t assist however really feel that its shedding of style expectations was the fitting name. The sport’s launch date continues to be unclear, however we do have an inventory of all the perfect motion video games to maintain you busy within the meantime. Should you’re into the classics like Soulframe, we even have an inventory of all the perfect outdated video games to peruse.
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