Phantom Blade Zero

It all began in 2010 with Rainblood: Town of Death, which Liang, later the founder of S-GAME, made by himself in RPG Maker as an escape from his architecture studies. He calls Phantom Blade Zero the spiritual rebirth of that Rainblood.

Liang calls the style “kungfupunk”. He names 1970s Hong Kong kung fu as the reference for the fights, and action director Kenji Tanigaki acted out every move himself for the animators. There are 30 main weapons and 20 side ones: an axe breaks shields, hook blades pull enemies in, a bow strikes from afar.

Bosses often punish button mashing, so you need parries, dodges and patience. The fights and the bosses drew the most praise from critics. At launch some reviewers found the story weak, one thought the levels too linear, and another was bothered by a camera that slipped behind walls in fights. Critics give it 88 on Metacritic, players leave 92% positive out of 73,505 reviews. By our Recommended Score it is #113 of 4,736 games.

Liked it? Try Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, where combat also hinges on deflecting blows, and Black Myth: Wukong, based on Journey to the West, where you are a staff-wielding monkey.