Both critics love S-Game’s cinematic kung fu combat. One found its bosses perfectly tuned on the hardest setting, the other found them draining.
About this review roundup: GAME MODE has not playtested this game. This is original analysis of the credited reviews and official information below, researched November 2, 2026. The displayed 7.5/10 is the equally weighted average of these two critics’ scores, converted to ten and rounded to one decimal. It is not a GAME MODE playtest score or a comprehensive review aggregate.
Released: October 29, 2026 (October 28 in the US, per PlayStation’s US support page and Steam’s US listing). Platforms: PC, PS5.
S-Game’s kung fu action game arrives
Phantom Blade Zero, developed and published by S-Game, launched on PS5 and PC on October 29, or October 28 in the US according to PlayStation’s US support page and the Steam listing. Both reviews below went live at the same moment, and both critics played on PC.
Perfectly tuned or spongy? The boss debate
IGN, 9/10: an Editors’ Choice after 50 hours
Travis Northup’s IGN review comes after 50 hours, and he calls it “one of the best action games I’ve played in a long time.” He finds the combat some of the most satisfying and well-tuned he has played, spread across dozens of weapons with their own movesets. He played on the hardest difficulty and still beat most major bosses in two or three tries. He likes that cleared boss phases never have to be repeated and praises how inventive the bosses are.
Eurogamer, 3/5: great fights, worn down by the rest
Emma Kent at Eurogamer agrees that the kung fu is cinematic and free-flowing at its peak, with seemingly endless execution animations. She likes the Sekiro-style parry and dodge loop and the lighter Soulslike touches, such as a sha-chi meter instead of stamina, two-weapon switching and generous parry windows. Her main complaint is spongy bosses, even on the easier difficulty, plus secondary phantom edge weapons whose uses are poorly explained. A large patch arrived two days before the review embargo, and when she rechecked old saves, several early bosses still felt spongy. Her summary: “It’s a death by a thousand cuts.”
Rough edges both critics ran into
The scores are far apart, but the complaint lists overlap:
- Level geometry: Northup reports bad geometry and invisible walls. About half of his roughly 200 deaths came from falls or getting stuck, and he once lost about 20 minutes of progress. Kent also hit geometry snags.
- Performance: Northup says it is much improved since preview, though one map ran consistently badly. Kent reports severe frame-rate dips.
- Story: Northup finds it convoluted, with jargon, too many characters and flashbacks. Kent finds the story and lore dumps unremarkable.
- Exploration: Northup enjoys eight maps full of missable side quests and secrets, hand-drawn maps without icons, and a Donnie Yen questline he ranks among the best subplots. Kent praises the ink-wash maps and hidden paths, but notes clusters of locked doors, empty retraversal and quest misdirection.
Is Phantom Blade Zero for you?
Our reading is that the 9 and the 3/5 are an argument about how much the rough edges weigh against combat both critics love. If you play action games for the fighting and enjoy learning bosses, Northup’s experience on the hardest setting is encouraging. If damage-soaking bosses or stuck-on-scenery deaths quickly sap your patience, Kent’s review is the one to read before buying, and it is worth checking what later patches have changed.
Cited scores and sources
Calculation: (9.0 + 6.0) ÷ 2 = 7.5/10, rounded. These are selected reviews, not every published score.
For a wider view, OpenCritic listed a Top Critic Average of 88 for the game when we checked on November 2, 2026.
Official game information and artwork source. Image: S-Game.
The Verdict: Divided
Average of the cited critic scores, normalized to 10. See the methodology and individual scores above.
