Phantom Blade Zero Reveals Major Launch Day Details Ahead of State of Play

Developer S-Game published an 11-minute pre-order trailer for its upcoming game, Phantom Blade Zero. It showcased the opening scene, cinematic cutscenes, action sequences, and boss battles. The trailer was posted to YouTube by both the official Phantom Blade Zero account and by actor Donnie Yen. The actor played a crucial part in the development of Phantom Blade Zero, not only by playing the role of Mó Yuan but also as creative consultant; his martial arts knowledge proved key to the game's combat design.

Just as the trailer went up, the official PlayStation account on X announced that a State of Play would air soon. This was a nice surprise for fans after getting a lengthy trailer. Fans who are interested in learning more details about Phantom Blade Zero and would like to watch the deep dive can tune into the State of Play on Aug. 17 at 10 p.m. ET. It is possible that a demo will become available following the State of Play, as there are reports that a demo page was accidentally made available on PlayStation.

Phantom Blade Zero is an upcoming action role-playing game that wears its wuxia inspiration on its sleeve. The Beijing-based studio behind the game is famous for the Rainblood series, which includes the first indie games published in China. The franchise was rebranded and expanded into the Phantom Blade series, with Phantom Blade Zero being the most ambitious project to date, following a mobile side-scroller game.

Analyzing the trailer and the upcoming State of Play will easily keep players busy until the launch of Phantom Blade Zero on Oct. 29. Those who liked what they saw will be happy to know that Phantom Blade Zero is now available for pre-order on PlayStation 5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. The standard edition costs $59.99 and includes the Treasure Basin accessory and the Legacy outfit as a pre-order bonus. The deluxe edition costs $69.99 and features the same bonuses as well as the Wulin Legend and Blood-Steel Form outfits, plus a digital artbook and soundtrack. Pre-ordering the game on the Epic Games Store will grant Soul's cosmetic set in Fortnite as a gift-with-purchase. At a time when game prices keep rising higher, Phantom Blade Zero being still sold for $59.99 has been welcomed as good news by fans.

However, fans are also unhappy about something else. At the moment, it is unknown if there will be a physical edition of Phantom Blade Zero, as it is only available for pre-order on these digital platforms. With Sony moving away from disc production, it is entirely possible that, just like Grand Theft Auto 6, Phantom Blade Zero won't have a physical version, at least on launch day.