“We hope every gamer, regardless of experience, should equally enjoy all types of games”: Elden Ring’s Hidetaka Miyazaki May Take Offence at Surprise Swipe From Phantom Blade Zero
Phantom Blade Zero looks to stand out from the crowd with flashy, explosive combat.
Phantom Blade Zero‘s unique take on the Soulslike formula is all set to change the way developers approach such titles. However, the spiritual successor to Chinese director Soulframe’s Rainblood: Town of Death may have its work cut out for it, as developer S-GAME has chosen a direction for its new release that departs from important components of the genre.
While initial impressions of the game have praised its unique combination of elements originally pioneered by FromSoftware titles like Bloodborne and Sekiro, its fast-paced combat might be a little too easy for some players to take its presence among Soulslikes too seriously.
Phantom Blade Zero Plays Things Safe on Difficulty
Phantom Blade Zero’s unique premise centers around the assassin Soul, who is framed for the murder of his leader, the grandmaster of an organization called the Order. Hunted down by his former compatriots even as he finds help along the way in the form of a cure for his injuries, he only has 66 days to find the real killer before the cure wears off.
This sets the stage for some explosive action and S-GAME seems to have risen to the occasion with rhythm-based combat emphasizing parries and counterattacks in a game steeped in Chinese mythology similar to Black Myth: Wukong. However, in a recent interview with PCGamesN, game director Soulframe underlines a key distinction for his creation that aims to set it apart from its counterparts.
Can Phantom Blade Zero Truly Take Its Place Among Soulslikes?
While Soulframe does have a point with the assertion that as a new studio with a game, it would want to “keep it accessible to everyone so that everyone can enjoy it,” it is an argument that has not gone down well with fans of the Soulslike genre.
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That’s because one of the main hallmarks of a good Soulslike is that a dedicated player takes the time to learn the game’s mechanics well enough to master difficult encounters. It is a system that rewards time and effort with the satisfaction of beating enemies that may have given the player a lot of trouble over hours and maybe days.
Player reactions about the interview seem to reinforce this notion, with Phantom Blade Zero looking like it could use a higher difficulty level to truly make itself stand out from a bunch of titles that place too much emphasis on accessibility at the cost of a unique experience.
One fan pointed out that trying to please too many players at once could see the game lost in a crowd of other titles that try to attract as many players as they can.
That’s a sentiment that Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki would certainly agree with, considering that all of his games feature no difficulty options, which only adds to the allure of his creations. Another player provided a more succinct opinion on the subject.
While Phantom Blade Zero has been well-received from a critical standpoint, it remains to be seen if the game will garner the commercial success S-GAME is hoping for, given the compromises it has made to get there.
