"Phantom Blade Zero" is a dark wuxia action-adventure game developed and published by S-Games, built on Unreal Engine 5. You play as a swordsman with a severely injured heart, escaping through a world of blades and bloodshed with only sixty-six days left to live, while uncovering a shocking conspiracy looming over the martial arts world. In this chaotic era, prove your path with your body and find your heart with your life.
This guide covers the full playthrough and all collectibles (excluding all achievements).
Note: This guide is based on the latest official release version. Updates will aim for one main story chapter per day.
The author chose the "Defier" difficulty to avoid missing any boss move variations. Choose a lower difficulty if you want an easier experience.
Prologue: Things Change, People Remain
After selecting the difficulty, the game officially starts. Watch the cutscene, then take control of the protagonist. Below is an introduction to basic controls, using keyboard and mouse as examples.
Use WASD on the keyboard to move.
Move the mouse to adjust the camera angle.
Jump over the bamboo obstacle ahead by pressing the Spacebar.
Press SHIFT+W to sprint.
You can traverse certain terrain by pressing the Spacebar.
After climbing up, go straight ahead; the left path is a dead end.
After climbing up, stay close to the right wall and press Spacebar to continue climbing. Diagonal walls work too.
Continue forward and press C to crouch under the tree roots.
After arriving, there are two paths: left and right. Both are viable. The left path is faster, while the right requires climbing diagonal walls twice.
Keep moving forward until you reach a courtyard. After a cutscene, a sparring match begins.
First, lock onto an enemy using the middle mouse wheel, then click the left mouse button four times to perform a basic combo (light attack).
Next, use Killing Intent Combos (similar to heavy attacks). These combos consume the yellow bar below your health. They deal more damage than regular combos. Press F to initiate a basic Killing Intent Combo, following the prompts in the top-right corner.
Right-clicking puts you in "Stance Mode." Essentially, this is blocking, which also consumes Killing Intent. Hold right-click and move around a bit.
In this game, holding right-click enables automatic blocking. While convenient, auto-blocking can deplete your Killing Intent against stronger enemies, leaving you vulnerable to guard breaks. Use blocking strategically in serious encounters.
Enemies also have a Killing Intent gauge. Continuously use basic attacks on them to break their guard.
Using Killing Intent Combos breaks enemy guards faster. When your hand flashes blue after pressing F, it means the combo was successfully triggered.
Press SHIFT plus a movement direction to dodge.
There's also "Perfect Parry." Press right-click just before an enemy hits you to trigger it. Perfect Parry doesn't consume your Killing Intent and instead drains a large amount from the enemy.
Perfect Parry is most effective against enemy "Blue Light Skills," which also drains a significant amount of their Killing Intent.
When enemies use "Red Light Skills," press SHIFT to perform a "Perfect Dodge." Red Light Skills cannot be blocked.
When the icon in the bottom-right corner lights up, you can spend some "Pure Killing Intent" to unleash a special technique.
After learning all the moves, you need to defeat Zuo Shang as a practice fight.
After defeating him, you'll face him again. This battle is unwinnable for the enemy; we regenerate health, so just attack freely.
After the battle and the subsequent cutscene, the prologue ends.
