Phantom Blade Zero launches with boss weapons and a driver warning

Phantom Blade Zero, the wuxia action RPG from developer S-Game, hits PlayStation 5 on October 29, according to the PlayStation Blog. PC Gamer reports the game is now out on PC as well, and that S-Game has posted launch guidance on its Steam page, including a warning about the newest Nvidia graphics driver.

Combat and weapons

Sony describes the combat as a mix of Soulslike bosses and hack-and-slash combos. Players dodge with R1, block with L1 and parry by tapping L1, while Square and Triangle handle basic and heavy attacks. A Sha-Chi meter drives the fights. Blocking drains it, and running out leaves you staggered. Perfect parries, dodges and landed hits drain the enemy’s meter instead.

Pressing Left on the D-Pad swaps between two equipped main weapons and quickly refills Sha-Chi. Landing hits also builds Sha-Chi Essence, and a full charge unlocks a Power Surge attack on L2 that interrupts enemies and deals heavy damage. Limited-use Phantom Edge weapons add to the mix.

Most weapons come from defeated bosses rather than chests or merchants. Beating the optional boss Hua, Deadly Betrothed, yields the Scarlet Wraithblade, which spawns spider lilies that slow enemies. The White Serpent and Crimson Viper are dual-wielded swords that can be used separately or combined. Some Phantom Edge weapons also open blocked paths, such as breaking barriers or grappling to high spots. Sony adds that Donnie Yen plays the Gold-Masked One, a character met in the Discordance realm.

PC guidance from S-Game

In a Steam post titled “Reason and Madness,” S-Game recommended downloading the 5 GB day-one patch and encouraged players to try the game on handhelds and lower- to mid-range PCs. It also advised against Nvidia driver 621.01, which PC Gamer says launched on Wednesday, October 21, and is meant to improve DLSS and RTX support in games including Phantom Blade Zero.

S-Game wrote that version 617.42 “currently offers the best experience” based on its testing. Players on a newer driver should roll back to 617.42 with a clean installation and stay there until Nvidia’s next release, which the studio expects soon. The studio did not say what problem the newer driver causes, and PC Gamer notes there is no timeline for the next driver.

Why it matters

GamesRadar+ writer Austin calls it the best action RPG he has played this year and argues it is not a Soulslike. In his account, you lose nothing on death, enemies never respawn and there are no RPG stats. Clearing a boss’s first phase means restarting at phase two.

He also points to the weapon system as the main draw. Different weapon types use separate upgrade materials, including one-handed, two-handed, dual-wielded and sub-weapon archetypes. According to GamesRadar+, finding upgrade materials increases the effective level of all your weapons. Downgrading a weapon refunds its stones and XP, and he says that costs nothing until level 10 and then only a coupon.

What we don’t know yet

No source here gives a PC release date, and S-Game has not explained what is wrong with Nvidia driver 621.01 or when its replacement will arrive.