S-Game makes PC preloading live for Phantom Blade Zero with 300GB space request

Pre-loading for Phantom Blade Zero is live on PC as of 27 October 2026, and S-Game is asking players to free up 300GB of SSD space for a game that will ultimately occupy 145GB.

It is S-Game’s first action game from a Chinese developer. S-Game said the extra room is required because temporary and finished game files must exist at the same time while the game unlocks, and the space returns afterward once the game is unlocked.

Pre-installing began at 7:00 pm PDT on 26 October 2026. The game launches on 29 October 2026 for PC and PlayStation 5.

S-Game shared the PC requirements through its official X account. The minimum setup calls for an Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor, a GTX 1660 or Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card, and 16GB of RAM, targeting 1080p at 30fps with upscaling on, which renders the game at a lower resolution and sharpens it to the target resolution. The recommended setup calls for a Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor, an RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon 6700 XT graphics card, targeting 1440p at 60fps with upscaling on.

Both the minimum and recommended requirements apply only when upscaling is enabled, and TechSpot reports no indication of the upscaling level used. The official requirements post advises Nvidia and AMD GPU users to install the latest Game Ready and Adrenalin drivers.

At 145GB installed, Phantom Blade Zero‘s size falls between Crimson Desert and Death Stranding 2, each at 150GB, while Nioh 3 uses 125GB. TechSpot cited Destiny 2’s The Final Shape as a past example of a temporary storage spike during a launch, when it required almost 300GB for existing Steam players. The installation was about 155GB, with both versions temporarily on the drive. Phantom Blade Zero needs an SSD drive to run.

Eurogamer said the 300GB pre-load requirement appears to be for decryption and decompression. Eurogamer contrasted this with the 145GB installed size and called the double requirement ludicrous given the game’s size. Eurogamer also said shortages tied to gen-AI-driven memory and storage have left SSDs out of reach for many people. Some estimates cited by Eurogamer show Phantom Blade Zero has sold more than 500,000 copies on Steam alone.

Phantom Blade Zero holds a Metacritic critic score of 88 and is discussed as a potential PC game of the year. TechSpot says the game received many strong reviews before launch. Eurogamer reviewer Emma Kent criticized underwhelming boss flights and a general lack of polish, saying they detract from the game’s fluid and cinematic kung fu-style action.

S-Game released a patch after the Yahoo Tech reviewer completed the game that supposedly fixes most technical problems, including combat frame rate drops on PlayStation 5 Pro. The patch arrived too late for the reviewer to verify every fix.

On PlayStation 5 Pro, the reviewer heard audio fall out of balance, saw puddles that resembled mirrors or holes, and hit combat frame rate slideshows even after turning off ray tracing and choosing Performance mode. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5 and originates from Rainblood: Town of Death, an indie RPG made by director Soulframe Liang over 15 years ago. S-Game describes the game’s identity as kungfupunk, which blends traditional Chinese culture with modern architecture and music.

Donnie Yen serves as a creative consultant and plays a character in the game. Donnie Yen’s stunt team and other real martial artists captured the combat movements, and Yen plays a masked character behind a mask. Kenji Tanigaki, director of The Furious, also worked on it. Soulframe Liang said the team wanted to capture “the sleek, breathtaking moves in kung fu movies back in the 1990s.”

Soul is an elite assassin for the Order. He has 66 days before his artificial heart stops working. Soul is a legendary swordmaster. He once belonged to the Order, which is influential in the Wilun, and fights the Maskwalkers using Sha-Chi.

The game offers 30 primary weapons and 25 secondary weapons, and players can collect over 50 weapons total. Players can equip two primary weapons and swap them during a fight, with swapping bringing the Sha-Chi bar back to full after a short cooldown. There are four difficulty options in Phantom Blade Zero, and talismans can boost elemental defense up to 60 percent.

Checkpoints do not revive defeated enemies. Players do not lose resources permanently when they fail to recover them. Healing items stay limited and cannot be meaningfully upgraded before the game’s midpoint. Some bosses have a second phase with a checkpoint, so players do not repeat the first phase with fewer resources.