With just two days remaining until its official launch on October 29, Phantom Blade Zero is already building significant momentum. On October 26, the game’s review embargo lifted, earning high scores from multiple domestic and international media outlets. Meanwhile, a third-party analytics firm estimates its Steam preorders have reached roughly 500,000 units. Developed by Chinese studio S-GAME, this martial arts action title has attracted widespread attention well before its full release.
As of October 27, the PC version of Phantom Blade Zero holds an 88 Metacritic average across aggregated critic reviews. IGN China awarded it a perfect 10/10, IGN gave it a 9/10, and Gamersky scored it 9.8/10. While reviewers focused on different strengths, nearly all highlighted the game’s combat experience: tight, fluid pacing across combos, dodges, parries and weapon switching, with boss fights also earning repeated praise.
Phantom Blade Zero does not follow the common realistic wuxia formula. It blends Chinese martial arts, mechanical contraptions and a dark, gritty jianghu narrative — a style the developer officially dubs "Kung Fu Punk". Players step into the role of a swordsman with little time left to live, battling various foes while uncovering a far-reaching conspiracy. The game’s combat design became a major talking point after multiple rounds of gameplay demos, and the newly released critic scores now give long-awaiting players a more concrete benchmark for expectations.
Of course, strong scores do not mean the game is without shortcomings. Some reviews note that the story unfolds in a relatively conservative manner, and that map navigation guidance and technical performance still have room for improvement. Whether these issues will meaningfully affect the player experience will only become clear once more players get hands-on with the full game.
Beyond critical reception, preorder performance is also worth noting. Phantom Blade Zero has an estimated 500,000 Steam preorders, translating to roughly $24 million in projected revenue. This is not an official pre-sale figure released by the developer, nor does it represent the game’s final launch sales. Even so, the current figures reflect genuine high market expectations for this new domestic standalone title.
Per the official schedule, Phantom Blade Zero will launch on PC and PS5 at 10:00 AM Beijing time on October 29, with the China digital standard edition priced at 268 yuan. Preload went live on October 27; the PC build is approximately 145GB, and the official recommendation is to reserve at least 300GB of available disk space.
From critic reviews to preorder data, Phantom Blade Zero has already built substantial pre-launch hype. The real test ahead is whether player reception can match the critical acclaim, and how long this momentum can be sustained. After all, earning strong launch scores is one thing — delivering a thoroughly satisfying experience for players is another.
*Data aggregation is sourced from Gghubs.