Phantom Blade Zero, the exceedingly promising Soulslike game in development at Chinese studio S-GAME, has been shown again today with a gorgeous new gameplay trailer dedicated to the Year of the Snake celebration. The footage, which demonstrates the visual improvements that have been made since the last build, shows a new boss fight against the so-called Seven Judgements.
According to S-GAME, these foes will fight in a sword formation, with one of them coordinating the entire formation. The Seven Judgements were once righteous warriors who used this formation to slay countless powerful enemies but have since become puppets corrupted due to the bloodlust caused by the Transcension process. Six of them wear white robes with a dark hollow in the place of their faces, while their leader, Decree, wears blue with a similar hollow face, faintly glowing.
Players will have to deal with multiple enemies simultaneously while looking for opportunities to attack Decree, the heart of the formation, to complete the first stage of this Phantom Blade Zero boss fight. However, things are rather complicated due to several mechanics. For example, whenever Decree takes damage, the others sacrifice their own health to heal him. Moreover, if there are less than three disciples left, Decree will use his health to revive them. The collective health pool of all these enemies remains the same, meaning that the player must reduce them in one way or another. S-GAME says these Disciples are controlled by a group AI and can launch multi-directional attacks.
After the first phase, three Disciples climb onto platforms and use red strings to manipulate a puppet called Tyrannical Decree to attack the player. In this phase, enemies have a wide range of movement and swing across the arena with pendulum-like movements guided by the red strings. Their attack patterns are completely different from the previous phase and will require precise timing for counterattacks. Chasing them recklessly is not advised, as it can disrupt your rhythm and result in ineffective attacks.
In this new Phantom Blade Zero gameplay trailer, S-GAME also introduced new snake-themed weapons. White Python and Red Viper are a pair of swords of different lengths shown in the first phase. The White Python is a long sword with wide, sweeping attacks, while the Red Viper is a short sword designed for precision strikes. The two swords can also be used in combination, such as the long sword propelling the short sword to attack. The Venomous Softblade, shown in the second phase, is a flexible sword that excels at countering and deflecting attacks.
Phantom Blade Zero is currently in development for PC and PlayStation 5. For our impressions on the previous build, check out Francesco’s Gamescom 2024 hands-on preview.
