In its review of Phantom Blade Zero, PC Gamer noted that the title prioritizes flashy, fluid combat satisfaction over punishing players with repeated hardship. Although the game employs structures like checkpoints and echoes that evoke Soulslike titles, and borrows the prosthetic tool concept from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it significantly reduces the penalty for failure.
After resting at a checkpoint, enemies do not respawn, and characters do not lose echoes upon death. When a boss enters its second phase, progress within that phase is retained even if the challenge fails and the player retries. Depleting a boss's stamina through attacks, blocks, and parries grants players a window for uninterrupted damage, rather than limiting them to a single fatal strike.
This mechanic encourages players to maintain offensive pressure and freely combine moves. The game also offers a wide variety of weapons and Phantom Blades, provides ample upgrade materials, and allows players to refund materials, making it easy to frequently swap gear and experiment.
The reviewer spent approximately 50 hours completing all content and unlocking the "true" ending, praising the parrying, executions, dynamic crowd combat, boss battles, and soundtrack. The music blends traditional Chinese instruments with modern styles, and overall performance remained stable; using an RX 6800 XT, noticeable frame drops occurred only in scenes with dense particle effects.
The review's main criticism focused on exploration design. An excess of quest hints and map markers makes it difficult to miss important areas or optional content, diminishing the sense of discovery expected in Metroidvania-style backtracking and when searching for multiple endings.