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Review 

John Elden Ring

The Thread Maker
Content Creator
Sircaw's Army

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 90 average - 100% recommended - 9 reviews


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MetaCritic - 88/100 - 30 Reviews


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[h2]Critic Reviews[/h2]
Console Creatures - Johnathon Cariati - 9 / 10

The more I played Phantom Blade Zero, the more I fell in love with it. S-GAME has crafted an action RPG that delivers exactly what I've been craving: fast, fluid combat with an incredible arsenal of weapons, spectacular boss encounters and enough depth to keep me experimenting throughout the adventure. I wish the early story beats set the stage better and that some traversal mechanics and technical issues didn't interrupt the experience. But when I think back on my time with Phantom Blade Zero, what stands out are the incredible fights, the strange characters I encountered, and how often I wanted to keep playing.

GAMINGbible - Sam Cawley - 9 / 10

Phantom Blade Zero executes the majority of its ideas very well, and it full of style and flavour.

Gameliner - Hannah Herzberg - Dutch - 4.5 / 5

Phantom Blade Zero was definitely worth the wait. The story is fine, but it's clear that developer S-GAME wanted to focus primarily on spectacle and cool visuals. And you notice that right away. The game is packed with cool action scenes, and it feels amazing to wield Soul's sword.

Noisy Pixel - Bailey Seemangal - 8.5 / 10

Phantom Blade Zero delivers an exceptional Wuxia action experience, combining exhilarating combat, phenomenal boss fights, and remarkably diverse weapons with thoughtful level design and a captivating Kungfupunk world. While its underdeveloped storytelling and occasional technical issues hold it back, S-Game's ambitious action RPG excels where it matters most, offering one of the most satisfying combat experiences in recent memory.

Oyungezer Online - Eren Eryürekli - Turkish - 9 / 10

With its debut game, S-GAME has hit almost all the right notes to deliver an unprecedented action-packed spectacle. While there's still room for improvement in its storytelling, that doesn't overshadow the fact that Phantom Blade Zero hits the mark on most of its ambitions. One of the best action games in recent years!

PSX Brasil - Marco Aurélio Couto - Portuguese - 95 / 100

Phantom Blade Zero stands out for its dynamic and engaging combat, accompanied by striking art direction, a captivating narrative, and a top-notch soundtrack. With original ideas and highly competent execution, S-Game delivers one of the best action games of the generation and a must-play experience for fans of the genre.

SavePoint Gaming - Jake Su - 9.5 / 10

Phantom Blade Zero pairs extraordinary martial arts combat with inventive weapons, superb bosses and a compelling wuxia world. Camera issues and familiar side-quest objectives occasionally interrupt the flow, but its depth and responsiveness keep rewarding mastery and delivering an epic adventure.

Sirus Gaming - Erickson Melchor - 10 / 10

Phantom Blade Zero embodies everything we love about kung fu on the silver screen, from the deadly dance that is the fights to the emotions that fuel every conflict, all woven into a tapestry of old and new cultural inspirations. It represents a bold new direction in terms of presentation and aesthetics. If you have even the slightest interest in wuxia games or pure ARPG's with a touch of Souls-like mechanics, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. I would even go so far as to say that it's deserving of a permanent spot in your games library.

The Outerhaven Productions - Keith Mitchell - 5 / 5

After waiting all these years for Phantom Blade Zero and playing it from front to back, it's clear that S-GAME put real love into creating this masterpiece. The combat, the storytelling, the world, and the way Chinese culture is woven into this dark fantasy all come together into something special. Phantom Blade Zero is a generational game that anyone who enjoys action and adventure games needs to play.

VIDEO REVIEWS

 
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Awesome. One of those games where you see it for the first time and said this can't be real. That's not actual gameplay. It's smoke and mirror. Well, turns out the final product appears to indeed be the real deal. PlayStation should definitely continue with the China Hero Project. Can't wait to see how this runs on PS5 Pro.
 
Seems like it's the best in the genre since Elden Ring

Amazing result and partnership Sony got here
Not a Soulslike. Enemies don't respawn when you use bells (game's version of "bonfire") and bosses stay dead. You also don't lose items when you die. Some reviews have pointed to these things as negative, but the devs have previously stated the game is not a Soul game.
 


There's always a party-pooper, and they gave a 60 to Control Resonant, FF Resonance, Castlevania Belmont's Curse 🥴🥴🥴

but hey 4 stars for mixtape and the abrosexual Flop day 🤪
 
Any word how long it is? Want to try and finish it before GTA6
 
Hey everyone! I'd like to share my initial technical analysis of Phantom Blade Zero on PC, featuring over 50 screenshots captured in 4K, detailed Ray Tracing vs. Path Tracing comparisons, Ray Reconstruction ON vs. OFF, Preset D vs. F, and performance benchmarks with DLSS 4.5 and Multi Frame Generation on an RTX 5070 Ti.

I've also included detailed FPS and VRAM usage tables, interactive image comparisons highlighting the visual differences, and benchmarks across the first two areas, where I noticed some pretty significant performance variations.

My full review covering gameplay, combat, exploration, and overall impressions is coming soon.

Full 4K Technical Analysis & Benchmarks: https://www.pcmrace.com/2026/10/26/phantom-blade-zero-review-benchmarks-4k/

PBZ-2026-10-24-00-25-18-911.jpg


PBZ-2026-10-24-00-48-42-659.jpg


PBZ-2026-10-24-04-40-19-857.jpg
 
Hey everyone! I'd like to share my initial technical analysis of Phantom Blade Zero on PC, featuring over 50 screenshots captured in 4K, detailed Ray Tracing vs. Path Tracing comparisons, Ray Reconstruction ON vs. OFF, Preset D vs. F, and performance benchmarks with DLSS 4.5 and Multi Frame Generation on an RTX 5070 Ti.

I've also included detailed FPS and VRAM usage tables, interactive image comparisons highlighting the visual differences, and benchmarks across the first two areas, where I noticed some pretty significant performance variations.

My full review covering gameplay, combat, exploration, and overall impressions is coming soon.

Full 4K Technical Analysis & Benchmarks: https://www.pcmrace.com/2026/10/26/phantom-blade-zero-review-benchmarks-4k/

PBZ-2026-10-24-00-25-18-911.jpg


PBZ-2026-10-24-00-48-42-659.jpg


PBZ-2026-10-24-04-40-19-857.jpg
Very deep analysis! Problem is it's in Spanish/French?
 
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