Beebom calls Phantom Blade Zero a combat masterpiece in new review

Beebom published its Phantom Blade Zero review on Nov. 8, 2026, calling the action RPG a combat masterpiece built on fluid and impactful combat.

After almost 40 hours, Beebom’s reviewer said it has the best combat seen in recent action RPG releases. The outlet said the combat feels straight out of a Shaolin or Kung Fu movie, with Donnie Yen’s touch noticeable in every movement.

Combat responsiveness for high-speed combat is in a class of its own and untouched by any other game, Beebom said, though Black Desert Online comes closest visually. Every movement, parry, dodge and block requires precision, and sound design makes fast enemy attacks trackable.

Combo attacks differ for every weapon, similar to fighting games but less complicated, and players can win without using them. Beebom cited the Fiend Saw’s combo as one it loved in the second half because it applies Fiend Aura erosion.

Beebom says the game features over 55 weapons, each with unique abilities and animations, and most are obtained by defeating bosses. Weapon abilities change combat style; the Fanatic’s Broken Blade, for example, can make the player drunk for 20 seconds.

The story draws on Chinese mythology and begins with Soul and his brother piercing each other’s hearts, Beebom says. It says Soul was falsely accused of assassinating the Order’s leader, fights his brother the Shadow Sovereign, and receives a heart from the Flesh Sculptor that lets him live only 66 days.

Beebom criticized the English voice acting as subpar and emotionless, saying only a few characters did a good job and that it ruined the story experience. Players who understand Chinese may have a better experience because the Chinese dub sounded much better.

Beebom describes the game as linear overall but with open-ended levels across multiple regions and fairly linear pathways with limited parkour. It forces returns to older maps when later keys or quests open new segments, and certain story points can turn previous NPCs into enemies on return.

Exploration involves too much handholding because almost every detail appears on the map, killing exploration through observation, Beebom says. Bosses are well-animated spectacles but generally not too challenging, with most fights finished in one or two tries excluding a couple of bosses.

Bosses retain second or third phases after death, letting players restart at the second phase with full heals, and overworld enemies stay dead. At Hellwalker difficulty, marketed by S-Game as challenging with more boss movesets and better AI, the game never felt too challenging to the reviewer.

Phantom Blade Zero runs above 50 FPS at ultra graphics with DLSS off, up to 120+ FPS with DLSS quality, and above 180 FPS with Frame Generation at 4x. Frame Generation at 6x creates noticeable latency and should be avoided.

Terrain glitches can leave players stuck on protruding stones, and level or cutscene assets sometimes take time to load. Still, the game looks gorgeous, and some locations are so scenic they make players want to wait there for eternity.

Beebom’s verdict calls the game unparalleled in action combat, leaving behind competitors past, present and future, with over 55 unique weapons and cinematic boss fights. It calls the game masterfully crafted, saying it grabs players from the first parry and will not let go until they perform over a thousand combos for every achievement.

Shacknews, reviewing an early PlayStation 5 copy, said the game is not a Soulslike in the usual way but uses a few Soulslike mechanics and reported it launches on PS5 and PC on Oct. 25, 2026. PCGamesN called it a new gold standard for action RPGs and an intricately designed Metroidvania at heart.

Yahoo Tech, citing Metacritic, reported an 88 score across PS5 and PC as of Oct. 26, 2026, making it one of the best releases of 2026 and the highest-scored PS5 console exclusive of 2026.

Yahoo Tech quoted PCGamesN giving the game 10/10 and calling it a stunning action RPG with phenomenal combat and a beautiful world. It also quoted IGN giving it 9/10 and saying it has standout combat that never felt old across 50 hours.

Tbreak reported that Phantom Blade Zero peaked above 700,000 concurrent players on Steam within its first 24 hours, ranking 15th most-played at launch in Steam history. SteamDB lists the all-time Steam peak at 723,876 concurrent players.

It was Steam’s biggest single-player launch of 2026, having overtaken Resident Evil Requiem, which peaked at 344,214 earlier that year. Black Myth: Wukong holds the second-biggest concurrent Steam launch at 2,415,714, putting Phantom Blade Zero under a third of Wukong.

S-Game shipped a 5 GB day-one patch and suggested rolling back from the latest NVIDIA drivers if performance problems occur. The studio refined rasterized visuals for ray tracing off and tested on mid-range and lower-end PCs and handhelds. The Steam-only player count excludes PS5 and Epic Games Store players, and S-Game has not published a combined figure or sales numbers.

Shacknews listed side characters Yu’er, Lady Inanis, Forge and Quick Hand Zhang, and said the studio noted Soul’s voiceover and some localization were still being improved during review. It reported 30 main weapons and 20 side weapons called Phantom Edges, plus a skill tree and accessories.

PCGamesN said the game has five main open areas plus smaller ones, each map taking about five hours to fully explore. It reported S-Game told the reviewer that frame rate issues and stuttering in one map would be fixed by launch.