Phantom Blade Zer Like Resident Evil With Blades Rather Than A Souls-Like

Summary

Phantom Blade Zero channels pre-Elden Ring level designs & combines elements from 3 games.
The game showcases Devil May Cry combat & Resident Evil atmosphere.
The unique gameplay makes it stand out among a market oversaturated with Souls-like games.

While action game Phantom Blade Zero might look like a Souls-like game, it doesn’t follow the formula of games like Elden Ring, Lies of P and the like.

While developer S-Game does say that they borrow elements from past FromSoftware games, it’s not even the biggest influence on the title, according to the game’s director. Instead, they were inspired more by a horror franchise that might seem like an odd choice at first.

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Phantom Blade Zero’s announcement trailer has more views than Black Myth Wukong, showing the interest is there.

Phantom Blade Zero Uses Three Games As Its Pillars In Game Design

Phantom Blade Zero - Year of the Snake Gameplay Trailer 2025 0-39 screenshot

According to an S-Game rep, even if the game isn’t a Souls-like, it is still channeling “pre-Elden Ring” FromSoftware level designs. “On the Souls-lite level design side, we are definitely a fan of and inspired by the pre-Elden Ring, interconnected, tight level design,” the rep said.

What’s more, the game’s core three pillars is based on three games: Devil May Cry-lite combat, Souls-lite level design, Resident Evil-lite atmosphere and narrative.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Phantom Blade Zero game director “Soulframe” Liang mentioned, “Before, everyone thought we’re making a Soulslike game. So in order to prove we have a totally different combat system for the core gameplay, we’re showcasing these combat demos. But now people have maybe come the other way around, they think it’s a hack-and-slash with no story and you just go kill to the end, but it’s not something like that. It’s more like a Resident Evil but fighting with blades.”

Adding to that thought, Liang said, “Anything that is useful and good for us to make our pillar, a playable kung fu movie with exploration and character progression, we’ll make use of it. Whether it’s exploration from a Souls game or vibes from Resident Evil or combat from this hack-and-slash game, we’ll take that and bring them together. But the overall experience is still very coherent. It’s not ripped apart from something else.”

It is an interesting concept, though one that stands out more given the abundance of Souls-like games already on the market.

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Need more proof Phantom Blade Zero isn’t going to play like a Souls-like? Our early hands-on impressions from last year talked about it, stating, “The game is definitely designed to be played at a faster pace than say, an Elden Ring; but Phantom Blade Zero also does a solid job of making defensive combat more approachable for beginners. As I mentioned, Parrying certainly feels more forgiving, and blocking as a whole is simple. Holding the block button will negate all damage from most enemy attacks. It will deplete your stamina, meaning you won’t be able to counter with heavy attacks (light attacks don’t cost stamina), but it means you don’t always have to rely on twitchy blocks.”

Phantom Blade Zero has no release date yet, but is currently set to be released sometime in 2025 on the PS5 and PC.