Phantom Blade Zero

S-GAME's kung-fu-punk action RPG: sixty-six days to live, nine regions of wuxia conspiracy and some of the sharpest combat of the year. Our review, the platinum roadmap and all 36 trophies explained.

9.1PixelForge Score

Developer / Publisher: S-GAME  ·  Released: 29 October 2026 (PS5, PC)
Platinum: 4/10 · 30–40h · 1 playthrough · any difficulty · offline · 7 missable
Trophies: 1 · 3 · 14 · 18

Sixty-six days, and every one of them looks incredible

You play Soul, an elite killer of a secret society called the Order, framed for the murder of its leader and so badly wounded that he's left with sixty-six days to live. That clock is the whole game: a race across a dying, half-magical world inspired by ancient China to clear his name and unravel the conspiracy before his time runs out. S-GAME call the style kung-fu punk, and it's exactly that, classic wuxia (sword sects, masked acolytes, haunted manors, opera houses) run through grime, clockwork puppets and Unreal Engine 5 lighting that makes every rain-soaked courtyard look like a film still.

The combat is the star. It's fast, readable and built around timing: parries that ring like a bell, dodges that leave an afterimage, and Phantom Edges, a second weapon set (an axe, a chain sickle, a bow, a tiger-head cannon) you weave into combos between sword strikes. Each new boss teaches you something, and the best of them (the lion-dance grandmaster, the zither maiden on the lake, the twin-serpent duelist) are as good as anything in the genre. It borrows the Soulslike skeleton, resting and fast travelling at Bells, but it's kinder: enemies stay dead once killed and dying costs you nothing, so it's about learning fights, not grinding them.

It's not flawless. The story leans hard on lore names, and a handful of side tales fail silently if you push the main path too far, which is harsh for a game this big. But nine regions, around 30 side tales, dozens of optional bosses and a genuinely great true ending make it one of the standout action games of 2026, and the most stylish one we've played this year. For trophy hunters it's a friendly platinum: one run on any difficulty, no online and no grind, as long as you respect the missable tales.

The road to Defy Destiny

A 4/10 platinum (closer to 6/10 on normal difficulty), about 30–40 hours. One playthrough, offline, any difficulty. There are 20 manual save slots plus 3 rotating autosaves, so use them.

In-depth guides

All 36 trophies explained in depth

Defy Destiny

Details

Unlock the other 35. Everything fits in one playthrough on any difficulty (even Wayfarer, the easiest), about 30–40 hours if you do the side content as you go. The only real dangers are the seven missable side tales, all covered region by region in our true ending & missables guide.

Unmissable bosses on the main path. Bai Chilian and Mu Xiaokui have missable side effects; read those two first.

The Heart's Journey

Details

Story, can't be missed: it's the opening chase, escaping the pursuers on the main road at the very start of the game.

The Axe's Grudge

Details

Story: beat Axemaster Peng Meng about halfway through Weeping Creek Valley. He drops the Dread Axe, which also smashes the chains around the Outpost.

The Hunt

Details

Story: The Hunt, Hunter of the Order, the boss that closes Weeping Creek Valley. You get the Hunter's Chain Sickle, which doubles as your grappling hook, so a few early spots open up afterwards.

A Thousand Cups Drained

Details

Story: Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic, right at the start of the Crimson Forest. Drops The Fanatic's Broken Blade.

The Shattered Mirror

Details

Story: Bai Chilian, Lady of the Twin Serpents, at the end of the Crimson Forest. Read this before you fight her: beating her fails every Crimson Forest tale you haven't finished, including A Healer's Mercy and the Flesh Lily hand-in (The Healer's Legacy), Secrets of the Baishan Sect (accept it first) and the Weeping Creek Valley tales Purge the Sect and Festering Secrets. Save before the fight. Checklist: here.

Will We Meet Again?

Details

Story: Mu Xiaokui, the Young Mistress of the Order, who ends the Village of Lu. Finish the side tale Young Mistress before taking the lift up to her and she gets a third phase with extra rewards (Fiend Saws and Fist Fragment: Core). Grab the Wild Oriole Sword on the dock afterwards: the lift breaks once you leave.

The Lion's Spirit Lives On

Details

Story: Flame, the Lion Dance Grandmaster, at the Lion Dance Hall in Pangzhen. He drops the Dormant Flaming Mane; Lei Dang repairs it at the Jingyang Hall Bell and it burns away the branches blocking lots of earlier secrets.

All Return to Dust

Details

Story: Lei Dang, the Order's Envoy, at the Perfect Vessel Pond, the end of the Mirage Estate. Reward: the Tiger Cannon, which blows open cracked walls in four earlier regions for tempering materials.

Saw It Through

Details

Story: the Saw and the Crusher, at The Giant's Lair midway up Mount Soulrend. Finish the tale Cui before this fight and Lu also gives you the Baishan Headband.

All Dreams Must End

Details

Story: beat Meng Hua, the Merciful Lady of the Blossom Veil, the normal final boss (after Leng Tu, Herald of the Veil). Past The Last Chance Bell you can't leave until the ending, but afterwards the whole map opens up again for clean-up before you choose New Game+.

Three Wardens Fall

Details

Story: beat the three Elite Shadow Wardens. Cavalrybane midway through Pangzhen, Soulclaimer in the courtyard below the Dockside Warehouse Bell on the way to Meigu Lake, and Heartpiercer at the White Serpent House in Meigu Lake.

Off the main path. Several depend on side tales or abilities you get later, so they're mostly clean-up.

Scarlet Wraithblade

Details

Optional boss in Weeping Creek Valley: Hua, the Bride (the game also calls her Hua, Deadly Betrothed). From the Valley Sha-Chi Tower 1st Floor Bell go round the back of the tower on the right, slide down the hole onto the wooden bridge and keep left to the end. Pick up the Flesh Lily on the floor of her arena: Yu'er needs it for The Healer's Legacy.

Sword Against the Seven-Stars

Details

Optional: the Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation, midway through the optional Mandate Encampment. You open the Encampment with the Outer Gate Key, found by a coffin at the bottom of the well after the Gu Wanyue fight in Pangzhen, at the Mandate Encampment Outer Gate Bell in the Village of Lu. Reward: Swordsman's Summon. Route.

Crossroads of Blood

Details

Optional: Huangxing, the Kunlun Renegade, at The Lady's Shrine at the end of the Mountain of Imprisonment (north of Meigu Lake through the Weeping Mistgate). He drops the Flying Guillotine, which breaks the reinforced walls hiding several tempering materials.

Nothing Goes to Waste

Details

Optional: the Puppet Scavenger (with Acolyte Hansui) inside the Crimson Manor in Weeping Creek Valley. The manor door needs the Puppet's Tongue, which you only get late, from the Herald's Illusion at the Puppet Cell in the Mountain of Imprisonment. Crimson Manor is also a true-ending tale. Details.

The White Shadow

Details

Optional: the Blizzard Blademaster, at the end of the Phantom Illusionist Ruins in Meigu Lake (Whiteshadow's Fall). The ruins only open once you've beaten the four masked acolytes (Yanru, Lei Ting, Guhe and Hansui) and used the mirror wall at the Four Guardians' Mirror Bell. Part of Secrets at the Heart of the Lake.

Master of the Misty Waters

Details

Beat three optional bosses around Meigu Lake: You Loong at the Blackwater Crew Dock (the Pangzhen You Loong doesn't count), Yan Qiansui, the Zither Maiden, who appears at the Meigu Songhouse Dock Bell after you find all six of Yan'er's Memory Flowers, and the One-Eyed Archer on One-Eyed Isle. Where each one is.

The Four Freed

Details

Beat all four Great Puppets. Yuzan (story, Village of Lu) and Yuding (story, Mirage Estate) are unmissable. Yubi ends the optional Mandate Encampment. Yucong is the long one: you start the tale Triple Threat at the very beginning by stepping into the statue at The Lady's Rift Bell, but you can only finish it after entering the Mirage Estate, when the lake by the Crimson Forest's Burial Grounds Bell freezes and you can walk to the Threadbound Great Tree. Puppet locations.

The Two Blade Masters

Details

Two optional bosses that are also true-ending requirements: Zhu Yuan, the Searing Blade at the top of the Pangzhen Sha-Chi Tower (go east along the docks instead of taking the boat), and Bi Feng, Giant Saber Commander, midway through the Mountain of Imprisonment at the Cavern Passage.

Six of the seven missables live here. Finish tales as you find them, before leaving each region.

With Heart and Blood

Details

MISSABLE The true ending. Finish every tale with a purple icon in your journal before the two cut-off points (entering the Mirage Estate through the Green Serpent House, and the final Bell, The Last Chance). If you did, a gold portal opens at the top of Soulrend Cliff after Meng Hua and you fight the real last boss, Zho Shang. The ten purple tales before the Mirage Estate are: Deep in the Valley, Illusion of Inanis, Sha-Chi Powered Boat, Allure of Vanity, Illusory Pipa, Pillars of Kunlun, Whence the Weeping, The Herald's Illusion, Crimson Manor and Secrets at the Heart of the Lake; Bloodline Awakening (the five Long Pillars) can be finished inside the Mirage Estate. The game warns you before each cut-off. Full checklist: true ending guide.

Forbidden Arts Beneath the Lake

Details

MISSABLE Finish the purple tale Secrets at the Heart of the Lake. It starts when you pick up one of Firefly's Memory Flowers in the Village of Lu, then runs through the whole game: beat the four masked acolytes at their scarecrows (Yanru in the Village of Lu, Lei Ting in Pangzhen, Guhe in Meigu Lake, Hansui in the Crimson Manor) for their masks, open the mirror wall in Meigu Lake, clear the Phantom Illusionist Ruins and the Blizzard Blademaster, then place both Crystal Puppet Eyes in the red statue and kill the elders inside. It's only missable because it must be done before the Mirage Estate. Step by step.

Phantom and Blade

Details

Finish Bloodline Awakening: all five Long Pillar challenge towers. They're in Weeping Creek Valley, the Crimson Forest, Meigu Lake (Midlake), the Phantom Illusionist Ruins and the Mirage Estate. Do them in any order, but the fights always come in the same sequence, so the first one you pick is always the easiest. The early pillars are tough, so it's fine to come back once you're stronger; this is the one purple tale you can still finish inside the Mirage Estate.

The Last of Baishan

Details

MISSABLE Talk to Lanlan on the giant wooden bridge near the Thieves' Camp Bell in the Crimson Forest and accept Secrets of the Baishan Sect before beating Bai Chilian. Then grab the Cellar Crank on the Cliffside Lodge balcony, open the cellar, drop onto the plank between the two platforms for the Secret Chamber Crank, open the bottom door and talk to the girl. Later, in the Mandate Encampment, beat Wu Lengshuang (from The Confinement Bell) and examine the body in the field of flowers up the path before you beat Yubi. Yubi's cutscene then pops the trophy.

Together Till the End

Details

MISSABLE Finish The Journey Home. Talk to Old Man Gen at his hideout Bell in the Village of Lu, and once you've opened the smugglers' tunnel into Pangzhen, go back and accept his next request (do this before entering Pangzhen). In Pangzhen burn the branches past the Pond of Fading Song to reach Old Man Gen's house, open the door on the left of the Bell, examine the body for the Dusty Old Wooden Comb and take it back to him. Bonus: he waits for you later at the Frozen Lake Dock in Meigu Lake with the War Wagon.

A Wanderer's Honor

Details

MISSABLE Finish Young Master Lan. Talk to him at his hideout Bell in the Village of Lu, and go back to him after you open the smugglers' tunnel into Pangzhen (before entering Pangzhen). In Pangzhen, walk across the road at the Pavilion of Knowledge Crossroads and he hands you the Lan Manor Key. Rest at any Bell, come back, kill the enemies there, talk to him again and enter the manor: the trophy pops after the scene.

Spectral Blade

Details

MISSABLE Finish A Severed Mindseal for the friendly Shadow Warden, in three visits to three Sha-Chi Towers. 1) Weeping Creek Valley: take the tale at the Valley Sha-Chi Tower Summit Bell, get the Furnace Inspection Crank from the enemy down the ladder off the roof, open the furnace at the 1st Floor for the Primal Stone and hand it over before leaving the region (the fail trigger isn't clear, so do it straight away). 2) The Pangzhen Sha-Chi Tower (east along the docks) for the second stone. 3) After the Mirage Estate the Crimson Forest lake freezes: climb that Sha-Chi Tower for the last stone.

The Healer's Legacy

Details

MISSABLE Three of Yu'er's tales, all on a timer. Flesh Lily: take the lily from Hua the Bride's arena to Yu'er at the Outpost Bell, then use it to save the old man after Chang Hong in Pangzhen. Apprentice Healer: after Peng Meng, bring Yu'er the three herbs (Blood-Stopper Vine in the river under the bridge near the Axemaster's Holding Cell, Congealeaf by the Rusted Loong Key door, Blemish Goldweed at the end of the river from the Long Pillar) before beating Jing Ye. A Healer's Mercy: heal four wounded thieves in the Crimson Forest (two caves by the Outlaw Trap Bell, down the ladder by the Cliffside Lodge, and behind the dungeon door at the Thieves' Camp) before beating Bai Chilian. Full route.

Lost and Found

Details

Finish every one of Quick Hand Zhang's Requests: bring him his 17 treasures at his hideout in each region: Crimson Forest 3, Village of Lu 3, Pangzhen 4, Meigu Lake 4, Mirage Estate 3. You have to free him from his cage in the Crimson Forest first (the crank at the end of the cave past his first appearance). Every treasure is listed in our walkthrough.

Even Trees Know Sorrow

Details

Finish Heart of the Banyan, which starts automatically after your second meeting with the Illusion of Inanis. Beat the challenge at all five Banyan Trees: Crimson Forest (rematch with Jing Ye), Pangzhen (Master Bi Yuan), Mandate Encampment (Iron Fiend and Iron Fever together), Meigu Lake, and the Mountain of Imprisonment. Each is a few waves of enemies and then a boss rematch, and if you die you carry on from the wave you died on, so they're not as scary as they look.

Passive progress. None are missable and all come with normal play.

A Tempered Ten

Details

Soul Temper 10 weapons. Tempering opens after you meet Myst in Pangzhen. Each weapon can be tempered once and needs its own unique material, which you find hidden in the world, as boss drops or as tale rewards. There are many more than ten, so this comes naturally. Our walkthrough marks every tempering material.

Overwhelming Force

Details

Upgrade one weapon to level 30, the maximum. Upgrades open once you meet Forge in Weeping Creek Valley and can be done at any Bell. Materials depend on the weapon type; they're all over the world and in shops. Put everything into the weapon you actually use and it'll be done well before the end.

Listen to Every Flower

Details

Complete 10 Memory Flowers. They're the blue flowers in the world, and each one is split into 2–6 petals (memories) you have to find before it counts. Finishing one also raises your max health by 5–10%. With roughly 130 petals in the game, ten full flowers come long before the end.

Collector's Notes

Details

Collect 30 accessories. Accessories are your equipment. There are over 60, many from chests and tale rewards, so you'll pass 30 just by exploring, even if you miss a few missable ones.

Phantom Arsenal

Details

Soul Temper 10 Phantom Edges (your secondary weapons). Same system as A Tempered Ten: unlocks with Myst in Pangzhen, one unique material per edge. Several only appear behind the Flying Guillotine and Tiger Cannon walls late on.

Skill Over Strength

Details

Upgrade one Phantom Edge to level 30 with Forge at any Bell. Pick one edge you like and pour every edge material into it.

Phantom Blade Zero platinum: quick answers