\"Phantom Blade Zero is the best game I played at gamescom\" | Asmongold Reacts
Table of contents
- Just rewatched Phantom Blade Zero and it's mind-blowingly good—can't believe I forgot seeing this!
- Just because a game has easy bosses doesn't mean it's bad.
- In Phantom Blade Zero, mastering the timing of blue parries and red dodges makes you feel like a sword-fighting pro.
- Even if you're bad at the game, you can still look like a badass.
- Games should be designed for the average player, not the top 1% who will always find ways to make it harder.
- Design games to be fun and satisfying, not just hard—let the best players create their own challenges.
- Fun in games trumps difficulty every time.
- Phantom Blade Zero rewards you for swapping weapons mid-combat, making battles both strategic and visually stunning.
Just rewatched Phantom Blade Zero and it's mind-blowingly good—can't believe I forgot seeing this!
Phantom Blade Zero - Did I watch it? There's no way I didn't watch this. I don't remember watching it, so I'm going to rewatch it. Maybe I'm an idiot that doesn't remember things, but yeah, I'm going to rewatch it real quick and see what this is. Okay, so not this one. No, no, no, no, no. It's okay, let's take a look at it.
This is on PS5 and just so you guys are aware, very like, I mean, I show you that you, everybody knows exactly what that is - healing, health, stamina. Okay, so, and then you have a posture bar as well, I guess, kind of like Sekiro. Yeah, this seems decent. I guess blue is some form of parry. I guess triangles and execute. I'm going to be real, that was actually really clean. Let me go back and watch that again. Again, that was actually really good. This is... wow, this is sick.
It's crazy to watch this and then go back and look at the Assassin's Creed game, you know? Like, that's what's so weird for me to think. Okay, now we have a boss. Alright, so you've got your traditional Berserker. Okay, so that's like some sort of teleport behind you, nothing personnel kid. Got it. Seems fine to me. I mean, we're obviously talking about a... oh, that was... yeah. Wow, I don't remember watching this. I actually don't.
I'm going to be real, guys, like this looks really good. This looks awesome. Is this another boss fight? I really respect the fact that they're just showing full boss fights. They're not showing some 3-second slice. This is awesome. Commander Cleave - what a name. Is this Phantom Blade? Yeah, it is. Is this one coming out on PC or no? I mean, I've got a PS5, I just prefer to play on PC. Yeah, it is? Okay, cool.
Better than Black Myth Wukong? I do think that Black Myth Wukong has definitely set a new standard for a lot of games, like action combat games. Especially for games that have a lot of Asian and Eastern themes, I think Black Myth Wukong absolutely was like that. I didn't play a lot of other games like Ghost of Tsushima and Rise of the Ronin, but I played Wolong and a few of the other ones.
I feel like the quality difference - Ghost of Tsushima is a story game primarily, right? It's a combat game, sure, but it's primarily a story game and I think there's a lot more to it than that. I do think that Wukong will be viewed kind of as if that's the Dark Souls 3 or Elden Ring level quality that these other games are going to try to aspire to. I love combat, to be honest. Really? Yeah, I heard it was kind of okay, not super interesting or crazy.
Yeah, this actually does look pretty good and this is like an execute, I guess. Oh, he saved it so he could do it at the end. Only a dead person can keep a secret. Jesus Christ, so they're just showing boss fight after boss fight. Oh my God. Okay, yeah, I mean obviously you know what I've said before, right? About how there are certain games I feel like I'm not the target audience for. This is one that I feel like I am. It's like, yeah, they made this game for you, Baldi. Here you go.
It's demo footage, yeah, but usually with a lot of trailers of games, if they're not showing full boss fights, I usually assume there's a reason for that. This guy reminds me of me in Blasphemous 2, you know? Bro, that mace was crazy. Why parkour though? I don't know, I'm sure there's probably reasons in the base game. It looks like he's using different weapons too. This one seems like a great sword because it's larger and it's not like the red one he was using before. The combat's pretty slick. Boss gets staggered every hit. Yeah, but people say boss gets staggered every hit, but you don't remember, like Abyss Watchers get staggered every...
Just because a game has easy bosses doesn't mean it's bad.
When watching trailers of games, if they're not showing full boss fights, I usually assume there's a reason for that. This guy reminds me of me in Blasphemous too. You know, bro, like that mace was crazy. The parkour though, I don't know, I'm sure there's probably reasons in the base game. It looks like he's using different weapons too. This one seems like a great sword because it's larger and not like the red one he was using before. The combat's pretty stick, and the boss gets staggered every hit.
People often say the boss gets staggered every hit, but you don't remember Abyss Watchers get staggered every hit, Artorius gets staggered every heavy, Ornstein gets staggered every hit with a two-hander, Friede gets staggered every hit, and Gwyn gets staggered every heavy. Melania only gets staggered with charged heavies most of the time. So, if you really think about it, they're clearly showing easier bosses. This doesn't mean there won't be more challenging bosses. That's not a bad thing. My point is that these are games we all accept as pretty good, with bosses we think are good. Just because a game has some easy bosses doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be bad.
In this Phantom Blade Zero video, I'm going to be talking about my hands-on impressions with the title. I got to play it at Gamescom just a few days ago. I spent about 30 minutes playing through the game, both on normal and hard modes. You'll see gameplay from both in this video. I'm not a fan of hard modes in games. I've said this many times; I don't really like hard modes in games, but that's just the way it is. This is probably the best game I saw at the game show and is arguably one of the best games I've played this year.
This game is being developed and published by S-Game and will be coming to PlayStation 5 and PC, probably sometime next year. We don't have a release date yet. This game is being made in China. So, is China just making the good games now? I guess so. I like customizable difficulty too, but I think it should be discovered through game options rather than game settings. For example, having armor as a difficulty setting in Dark Souls feels like a better difficulty modifier than just turning it down in a menu.
The combat of Phantom Blade Zero is based on Chinese martial arts. They actually used real Kung Fu Masters in Hong Kong, motion captured them, and used that for this game, which is pretty cool. The combat reminds me of a mix between Sekiro and Ninja Gaiden. It's not as methodical as Sekiro and more flashy like Ninja Gaiden, but there's an offensive and defensive side to it that reminds me of Sekiro. Sometimes you're deflecting, sometimes you're attacking. There are two modifications to weapon attacks: a red attack and a blue attack. A blue attack is probably some sort of parry, and a red attack is some sort of unavoidable or reversal move.
The combat revolves around breaking the guard, stance, or posture of enemies so you can do a Critical Strike on them. If you look at this frame by frame, it becomes clear how intricate the combat system is.
In Phantom Blade Zero, mastering the timing of blue parries and red dodges makes you feel like a sword-fighting pro.
It's very clear that there are two modifications to weapon attacks: a red attack and a blue attack. The blue attack is probably some sort of parry, while the red attack seems to be either unavoidable or a reversal move. Combat revolves around breaking the guard of enemies, or their stance or posture, whatever you want to call it. I don't know if it has an exact name in Phantom Blade Zero yet, but you're attacking them, trying to break through so you can perform a Critical Strike.
If you look at this frame by frame, you might notice some inconsistencies. Combat isn't extremely clean. I have extremely good eyesight, and I can see these details in just one frame. For instance, there was a moment where an arrow appeared, but it wasn't clear why it happened. This highlights that combat revolves around breaking the guard of enemies or their stance or posture. You're attacking them, trying to break through so you can perform a Critical Strike. At the same time, you're deflecting and countering their attacks.
When enemies perform blue flashing attacks, you have to parry at the right moment. This will slow down time, leading to a sick animation, and then you can begin your offensive on the enemy. It swaps you from defending to attacking instantly. The same thing happens with red flashing attacks. This component is crucial, especially with fast attacks that can sometimes feel weightless and unsatisfying to land. Sound plays a significant role in making these attacks feel impactful.
In this case, you have to dodge at the right time instead of parrying. If you do this correctly, you'll end the enemy's offensive assault. This seems to be a new default for video games, where blue indicates parry and red indicates dodge. Many games use this exact paradigm. Successfully executing these moves allows you to begin your counterattack, which is lightning fast, slows down time, and looks amazing. It's really fun to pull this off.
Combat feels like a tug of war, where you're attacking an enemy or boss, and at some point, you can tell they're done blocking and will start swinging. Then you go into parrying, deflecting, blocking, and dodging, looking for the opportunity to counter. This back-and-forth dynamic makes fights feel very much like a sword fight, as you would see in real life. The game also features different weapons, such as dual-wield daggers, swords, a red sword, and a big two-handed sword. The combinations and animations are almost unbelievable.
The combat is fast, fluid, and looks amazing. Even an average player will love it because you don't have to be amazing at the game to look like a badass. The way the game is designed makes it accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
Even if you're bad at the game, you can still look like a badass.
The gameplay showcases various weapons being used, such as dual wield daggers like swords, a red sword, and a really big two-handed sword. Combinations and animations are almost unbelievable, and the combat is fast and fluid, making it look amazing. Even an average player playing this game is going to love it because you don't have to be amazing at this game to look like a badass. The game design allows players to perform flashy moves with minimal input, making it appear as though they are doing more than they actually are. For instance, in Zess Zone Zero, players can press a few buttons and still look impressive, giving the illusion of high skill.
The game's design contrasts with fighting games where executing combos requires a high level of skill. In this game, even if you're bad, you can still do really cool things. This accessibility, with a low skill floor and high skill ceiling, is beneficial. The demo primarily tests combat interactions and player response. While some might think the game is too easy, the developers are seeking feedback on how it compares to other games in the genre, such as superhero or ninja games, and even Souls games.
Upon playing the demo on both normal and hard difficulties, it was found to be a bit too easy, as it was completed quickly despite being new to the game. The developers are interested in feedback to ensure the game provides a fulfilling experience for the average player, rather than catering to the top 1% of players who have extensive experience with similar games. The goal should be to create a game that is enjoyable and challenging for the majority, rather than making it overly difficult based on the skills of the most experienced players.
Games should be designed for the average player, not the top 1% who will always find ways to make it harder.
For just having started the game, this is something they want feedback about. I imagine this is my feedback if they ever watch this. What I'm talking about is that I don't think you should design the game for a guy like this. F the guy that does fxra life; he has played every single one of these games probably for thousands of hours. The barometer of this game being easy for a person like that is literally the top 1% of the top 1%. You should not base the game and design it around that. You should look at what the average player is doing and how to create a fulfilling experience, not how to make the game feel really hard. There will always be things like soul level one runs or Rune level one runs; players will always find ways to make the game harder. You can even add in modes or things that you can do that with, like the bell and seiro or the Calamity Ring in Dark Souls. You always have options to do that, right? It should be based on fun.
Wukong is a great example of this. All the bosses in Wukong, at least so far that I've played against, are not really hard. They’re not extremely hard, and the reason why the bosses aren't that hard is actually not because of their mechanics but because of your tools. You have a lot of tools to solve problems in Wukong that a lot of other similar games don’t give you. For example, you can freeze a boss, summon in a bunch of ads, or turn into another guy who has a separate health bar. They’re challenging, but the game also gives you tools to solve these problems if you choose to. Transforming gives you a second health bar, and you can respawn for free. There are also consumables that make you stronger if you need that much extra help.
Why is it that you need to modify the game and add in difficulty modes and then base it around those super serious players? The truth is that, number one, those people are going to play the game no matter what. Let’s be honest. And number two, they’ll find their own ways to make it more challenging, whether it’s a new game plus or with different difficulty settings. There’s no reason to design a game around people that have beaten Elden Ring seven times. It’s not a good idea and it’s a very bad barometer. When you do that, like this is my biggest comparison, right? I think that the original Elden Ring DLC was too hard. I got a lot of flak for this, but Bandai Namco agreed and they nerfed it. They nerfed it indirectly with the tree fragments. They gave you 5% more additive damage reduction at the end of it. That’s insane; it’s a huge increase. If you look at the damage people were taking on day one of that DLC versus week two after that patch was over, it’s a totally different world. So they did actually nerf it, by the way.
Another comparison is with WoW. I think WoW is really the main game that I’ve had this experience with. The game has been made more and more difficult over time to appeal to the more hardcore player. What I think that does is create a situation where you have skill and time. The average player’s skill level goes up like this. This is your average new player. If you’re coming in at Dark Souls 1, you’re bad because you just started playing the games. If you’re coming in at Elden Ring, you’re also bad. But for experienced players like a lot of us, we’ve played all these games, so our skill level goes up.
Basically, where do you want to design the game? You do not want to design the game for the red line because the red line is the serious, really good players. Those people will always find a way to make the game more challenging, whether it’s a no-hit run or whatever. Casual players, if you put walls in front of them, won’t be able to get over those walls. For example, in the Dark Souls 1 era of gaming and even Dark Souls II era, nobody was as good as Gino Machino is at Elden Ring.
Design games to be fun and satisfying, not just hard—let the best players create their own challenges.
The problem with designing games for experienced players is that player skill among seasoned gamers has significantly increased. Many of us have played numerous games, and our skill levels have risen accordingly. When designing a game, you should not cater to the red line, which represents the extremely skilled players. These players will always find ways to make the game more challenging, such as attempting a no-hit run. On the other hand, casual players will struggle if faced with too many obstacles, unable to overcome these walls.
For instance, during the Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls II eras, no one had the skill level of players like Gino Machino in Elden Ring. Similarly, in World of Warcraft, the skill level of players during the world-first kills of Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm was much lower compared to today's standards. The skill gap has widened significantly over time, a trend observed in various fields, including sports and the Olympics. Despite the increasing records, it remains impressive for an average person to achieve milestones, such as running a mile in eight minutes.
Designing games for a player base that continually improves is not sustainable because this player base is shrinking. Not many players possess the skill required for feats like a no-hit run in Elden Ring or defeating a boss without healing. Therefore, games should not be made excessively hard. Good players will always find ways to increase the difficulty, even in games considered hard, by adding extra handicaps or modifiers.
The focus should be on creating games that are fun, satisfying, and fulfilling, making players feel good about their accomplishments. While harder bosses can be part of this, they should not be the primary goal. The aim should be to deliver satisfying gameplay. If harder bosses contribute to this, then that's acceptable.
Adding another difficulty level, such as a very hard mode, can be beneficial. Developers often seek feedback, and if a demo is released, providing feedback is crucial. Personally, I don't mind the current difficulty level; it felt amazing to play and watch. Fun should always take precedence over difficulty.
New Game Plus is an excellent way to enhance the gaming experience. For example, Wukong handles this well, offering new abilities and challenges in subsequent playthroughs. This mode allows players to explore different abilities and fully max out their transformations, adding depth and replayability to the game.
Fun in games trumps difficulty every time.
Right now, I felt amazing playing. It was exactly amazing to watch and it was so much fun. I think another way that you can make the game better is by having New Game Plus. For instance, W Wukong does this really well. I want to play through the new game plus of Wukong because there are so many different abilities and things that I haven't been able to level up yet. I often think to myself, what would it be like if I had my transformations fully maxed out? What would that look like? I would want to try it out. A new game plus could make the game harder and maybe add in more enemies. Dark Souls 2 is, in my opinion, the best version of a new game plus.
Fun is more important than difficulty to me. I would much rather have a fun time with a game than be challenged by it. If they don't improve the difficulty, that's not going to be the end of the world for me. However, as it stands now, I think it's a little bit on the easy side. It wasn't all completely easy though. One of the bosses I fought actually had an instant kill mechanic. When you start the fight, he does this animation where he throws a bell up in the air, and if it lands on your head, you die instantly. This is just kind of awesome in my opinion. There are ways to avoid that attack; you can either dodge it and attack or hide behind a pillar so that he can't hit you with it.
I speculate that a lot of other mechanics will make the game harder moving forward, especially when fighting harder bosses that might have those mechanics. In terms of level design, although you won't see a ton of gameplay footage of me exploring in this game because there just wasn't a lot to the demo, something that I found really interesting was one of the first areas I explored. I ran in to fight a few guys and didn't realize there were archers up on the sides attacking me, which made it very difficult, and I ended up dying. The second time around, I snuck up on one archer, assassinated him, and then took my bow out and shot the guy across the way in the face. He died, so then I jumped down and fought the guys without the archers attacking me.
In that sense, it reminded me a lot of Sekiro, where you can use stealth to your advantage to thin out enemies before engaging them. I expect that to be a huge part of the gameplay, especially in parts where you're not doing boss fights. This is a great example of how a game can make itself easier by allowing a player to take different approaches. Obviously, it makes the game easier if you kill the archers ahead of time, but the player earns that accomplishment by being clever and having good gameplay.
One thing you can't really see in the demo is that there is going to be loot while you explore. They specifically mentioned that they removed it for the demo. There isn't going to be a ton of equipment and gear for your character to get. The game leans more towards an action game, so there's going to be less focus on that, but there will be different weapon types to acquire. I imagine there will probably be more than one weapon of each type. I don't know all the names of the weapon classes, but you can see kind of an adi looking weapon in my gameplay, dual blades, etc. There will obviously be more in the full version of the game.
You generally have two weapons equipped, and what I really love about combat in Phantom Blade Zero is that you're actually rewarded when you swap weapons mid-combat. Not only does it look flashy, but I think it also replenishes some stamina.
Phantom Blade Zero rewards you for swapping weapons mid-combat, making battles both strategic and visually stunning.
In the demo, there isn't going to be a ton of equipment and gear for your character to get. They mentioned that the game leans more towards an action game, so there's going to be less on the side of that. However, there will be different weapon types to acquire, and I imagine there will probably be more than one weapon of each type. I don't know what all the names of the weapon classes are, but you can see kind of an ADI-looking weapon in my gameplay, dual blades, etc. There's going to be more than that, obviously, in the full version of the game. You generally have two weapons equipped.
What I really love about combat in Phantom Blade Zero is that you're actually rewarded when you swap weapons mid-combat. Not only does it look flashy, but I think it also replenishes some stamina or at least prevents some stamina from deteriorating for you for a little bit of time, which allows you to continue your onslaught. So, you're kind of encouraged to swap weapons mid-combat. Stamina is a big part of playing Phantom Blade Zero because a lot of times if you're deflecting, blocking, or attacking, you're running out of stamina. If you run out, then you can't do anything else and obviously, you're going to have to back away; you can't just keep attacking. I really love that they've not only mechanically tied that in but from a flashy standpoint, it looks really good.
Phantom Blade Zero feels like the first game to incorporate this mechanic in a really well-done way. As a player who doesn't normally weapon swap in games like Neo because I find it too challenging and the reward often not worth the risk, in this case, I almost feel like it's always worth it. I was trying to weapon swap as often as I could, and that felt amazing.
That kind of wraps up my impressions for Phantom Blade Zero. This is by far the best game I played at Gamescom 2024. There is another game that I played that I really want to talk to you guys about, but I can't yet as it is still under a lot of NDAs. It is not a similar type of game at all, but I look forward to talking to you about that. This game looks beautiful; the graphics are good, it's smooth, and it runs on Unreal 5 with no frame drops or anything. This is all PlayStation 5 footage, not PC. I hope that means the final version of this game won't have any performance issues, which is a big issue in the industry these days. Even Black Myth had some performance issues. Some performance issues are understandable; it just depends.
This is a game that's going to be at the Tokyo Game Show in a little over a month, and we will play it again there. Hopefully, the demo is a bit different so I can showcase some different gameplay from the game. This is one I'm absolutely going to be keeping an eye on. If you are a PlayStation or PC player and you like action-type games with heavily combat-focused gameplay, you should definitely keep an eye out on this game.
Phantom Blade Zero was this one that you had on your radar from a while ago, or is it just getting on your radar? What do you hope to see in this game? What concerns do you have? What are you excited for? Let me know all those things in the comments below. I'm going to be honest, that was actually a good video. I agree with pretty much everything he said. I'll link it to you guys. He's right about pretty much all of that. There's the video right there; give him a sub. He did say no armor changes. I feel like having armor and customization is a good thing. I know some people are like, "Oh no, I don't want to have this; I want everything to be the same." No, I think that it's much better to have it where everybody is able to make different decisions and do different things.