Phantom Blade Zero Director Wants to Use Development Ideas From the PS2 Era to Manage Scope

The upcoming action game from Developer S-Game, titled Phantom Blade Zero, aspires to emulate the experience of watching a martial arts action movie. In a chat with Eurogamer at the Game Developers Conference 2025, Director “Soulframe” Liang discussed this and shared insights on controlling the scale of Phantom Blade Zero by drawing inspiration from ’90s game development concepts.

Liang expressed a desire to revive the glory days of Hong Kong martial arts films from the 1970s, featuring legends like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen. Since the early 2000s, this trend has diminished; however, their aim is to revisit that era and work towards rekindling its popularity once more.

In continuation of his thoughts, Liang also references the action game “Sifu” by Sloclap as one of the influences shaping the themes and mechanics of “Phantom Blade Zero”. He poses the question: if a French studio can create such an excellent piece, why can’t a Chinese studio craft something even more deeply rooted in Chinese culture?

Liang shared his desire for creating games in the manner reminiscent of the old days, when titles were designed for the first PlayStation and PS2. During that era, games typically focused on specific themes without overextending themselves due to the hardware constraints present at the time. In reference to Phantom Blade Zero, Liang described its scope as being similar to a larger indie game.

Liang expressed his desire to return to an era similar to that of PlayStation 1 and 2, characterized by smaller games, more modest budgets, manageable teams, passionate and creative developers with experience. He likened it to a larger indie game, but with a substantial budget, experienced team, and seamless integration from the start screen to the end credits.

In addition, Liang also discussed another significant Chinese launch – “Black Myth: Wukong”. Liang pointed out that the release of this game demonstrated to the wider gaming industry that there is a substantial market for games developed by Chinese creators on a global scale. As Liang stated, “Now everyone recognizes that a Chinese-produced game can sell 30 million copies in just six months.

As of now, there’s no confirmed release date for “Phantom Blade Zero”. This game is being developed for both PC and PS5 platforms. Last year, whispers suggested that S-Game aims to unveil the action game in Fall 2026. During an interview in January, the studio hinted that it anticipates players will need approximately 20 to 30 hours to complete the main storyline of “Phantom Blade Zero”.

It’s anticipated that we’ll learn when Phantom Blade Zero will launch towards the end of this year. In the interim, take a look at some raw footage showcasing a battle against one of its bosses—the Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars.

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2025-03-25 18:11