Phantom Blade Zero Review Roundup
Short answer: the critical consensus is strong — 88 on Metacritic and 91 on OpenCritic, with IGN at 9/10 and GameSpot at 8/10. Combat and boss design carry the game; story pacing and technical polish are where the scores come apart. Eurogamer's 3/5 is the loudest outlier.
This page is a sourced roundup, not our own scored review. All figures were captured on 2026-10-30 and will drift as more outlets publish.
Scores at a glance
| Outlet | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic | 88 / 100 | PC (30 reviews) and PS5 (24 reviews), ~97% positive |
| OpenCritic | 91 | Top Critic Average, 100% of critics recommend |
| IGN | 9 / 10 | “Memorable boss fights, compelling combat, and limitless swagger” |
| GameSpot | 8 / 10 | Combat praised, story and uneven difficulty criticised |
| GamesRadar+ | 4.5 / 5 | “A GOTY contender with combat that looks as good as it feels” |
| Push Square | 9 / 10 | Kungfupunk combat singled out |
| PSU | 10 / 10 | Highest score in the English-language press |
| Wccftech | 10 / 10 | “One of the best action RPGs of the generation” |
| DualShockers | 9.5 / 10 | — |
| VGC | 4 / 5 | Positive, with reservations |
| Eurogamer | 3 / 5 | Lowest major score — boss health balance, bugs, frame-rate dips |
| GameStar (DE) | No score | “Best combat system of the year” |
| jeuxvideo.com (FR) | No score | “One of the best action games of the year” |
What critics agree on
- Combat is the reason to play. Nearly every review leads with the Sha-Chi resource loop, colour-coded parry telegraphs and the Ghoststep dodge. IGN's reviewer put in roughly 50 hours without combat fatigue; GameSpot called it a playable translation of wuxia cinema.
- Boss fights are memorable. Multi-phase encounters with checkpointing between phases were repeatedly named the highlight.
- The art direction lands. “Kungfupunk” — traditional Chinese architecture welded to steam-driven machinery — plus hand-painted ink-wash maps earned consistent praise.
- It is not a Soulslike. No corpse runs, no resource loss on death, adjustable difficulty. Reviews treat that as a feature, not a dilution.
Where the criticism lands
- Story and pacing. GameSpot's headline was blunt: the combat is so good you will not care that the story makes no sense. Eurogamer and several European outlets flagged a slow opening and a convoluted conspiracy plot.
- Boss health tuning. Eurogamer's main mechanical complaint was inflated boss HP pools that turn some fights into attrition.
- Bugs and frame pacing. Bosses clipping out of arenas, terrain collision problems, broken side-quest markers and dips in the balanced performance mode were all reported at launch.
- Linearity. The eight-region structure is semi-open; reviewers expecting a true open world found invisible walls instead.
How it performed commercially
| Steam peak concurrent | ~723,800 — the biggest single-player launch of 2026 and a top-15 all-time Steam peak |
|---|---|
| Pre-orders | ~850,000 copies / ~$43 million before launch (press reporting) |
| Steam reviews | “Very Positive”, ~79–86% depending on language filter (~12.9k reviews at capture) |
| PS Store rating | 4.79 / 5 from ~4,900 ratings |
| Steam wishlists | ~2.27 million pre-launch |
The gap between critic scores (88–91) and user sentiment is worth noting: Steam reviews sit lower than the aggregate, mostly over PC performance and stutter rather than design.
Before you buy — the short checklist
- You want combat, not story. If you play action games for narrative coherence, the reviews are consistent that this is the weak leg.
- You have ~135 GB free and an SSD. PS5 install is 134.9 GB; the PC build is ~145 GB with a 300 GB pre-load requirement.
- You are on PS5 or PC. No Xbox, Switch 2 or PS4 version; the console window runs at least 12 months from launch.
- You are fine with single-player only. No co-op, no PvP, no cross-save.
- You can wait on the disc. Boxed PS5 editions arrive in 2027, so launch buyers are digital-only.
For the mechanical side of that decision — parry timing, weapon choice, when to drop difficulty — start with the beginner guide or the soulslike comparison. If you are weighing it against a rival release, the differences come down to structure: Phantom Blade Zero is wider and flashier than Onimusha: Way of the Sword (85 on Metacritic) and far less punishing than a classic Souls game.
Watch: hands-on impressions
Frequently asked questions
What is the Metacritic score for Phantom Blade Zero?
88/100 on both PC (30 reviews) and PS5 (24 reviews) as of 2026-10-30, with roughly 97% positive reviews. OpenCritic’s Top Critic Average is 91 with 100% of critics recommending.
Why did Eurogamer give Phantom Blade Zero 3/5?
Eurogamer praised the cinematic kung-fu combat and ink-wash exploration but criticised inflated boss health, bugs such as bosses clipping out of arenas and broken quest markers, and frame-rate dips. It is the lowest major score against an 88 aggregate.
Is Phantom Blade Zero worth buying at full price?
If you want the best action combat of the year and do not mind a weak story, yes — 88 on Metacritic with 100% of OpenCritic critics recommending is a strong signal. If you are story-first or sensitive to launch bugs, waiting for patches is reasonable.
How many copies did Phantom Blade Zero sell?
S-GAME has not published official sales. Press reporting puts pre-orders at roughly 850,000 copies (~$43 million) and the Steam concurrent peak at about 723,800 players, the largest single-player launch on Steam in 2026.
Does the game run well on PC?
Mixed at launch. Reviewers reported stutter and frame-pacing issues on high-end cards including the RTX 5080, which is why Steam user scores trail the critic aggregate. Our benchmark page tracks the settings that help most.