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As a result, Phantom Blade Zero bases its combat around blisteringly fast, fully motion-captured and balletic fight animations from a professional Hong Kong stunt team. The choreography prizes physical momentum and a lightning-fast exchange of strikes, blocks, evasions and counterstrikes over the more magical, floaty style of combat seen in games such as the Sword and Fairy series.<\/p>\n
Put simply, if you\u2019re a fan of Hong Kong wuxia epics such as Iron Monkey, the Once Upon a Time in China trilogy or the Fong Sai-yuk movies, the combat in Phantom Blade Zero will look and feel warmly familiar.<\/p>\n
Phantom Blade Zero\u2019s Hong Kong connection also runs deeper than its ties with Kenji Tanigaki, as Donnie Yen himself plays an extensive role in the project. In addition to contributing the expertise of his Hong Kong-based stunt team to S-GAME\u2019s motion capture and fight choreography, Yen takes on the major role of M\u00f3 Yuan, lending his facial likeness, combat choreography and motion-capture performance to the character.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth noting that this marks Yen\u2019s first high-profile, fully acted and motion-captured appearance in a video game of this calibre.<\/p>\n
Ancient China Meets Industrial Augmentation<\/h2>\n
If a different studio had developed Phantom Blade Zero and taken a markedly different approach, the game could have ended up as a fairly unremarkable \u2013 if probably still objectively attractive \u2013 period wuxia actioner. However, we do not live in that timeline. The version of Phantom Blade Zero in front of us instead presents a heady combination of traditional dynastic Chinese aesthetics and industrial-punk leanings, creating something really quite unique.<\/p>\n
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At the centre of the kungfupunk premise, Phantom Blade Zero has players tearing through a Jianghu \u2013 essentially a martial underworld \u2013 stuffed to the brim with sophisticated clockwork automatons, viscerally flesh-stitched fiends and augmented robotic enemies. Players can tackle these threats with a broad range of weapons, including polearms, dual blades, rudimentary firearms and even modular secondary weapons that can shoot fire and unleash other hazards.<\/p>\n
The kungfupunk visual language also defines the world of Phantom Blade Zero in no uncertain terms. Our protagonist roams through a world thick with industrial decay and rusted architecture, where seemingly constant torrential rain lashes muddy roads and rural environments. To dispel any lingering illusion about the setting, you won\u2019t find the impossibly clean, flawless d\u00e9cor and majesty of dynastic imperial palaces in Phantom Blade Zero. Of that, you can be sure.<\/p>\n
Chinese Folk Horror with a Grimdark Twist<\/h2>\n
Peer beyond the wuxia-inflected combat and wrecked industrial aesthetic that Phantom Blade Zero seemingly oozes from every pixel, and you\u2019ll quickly realise that strong elements of Chinese folk horror underpin the entire affair. As such, Phantom Blade Zero\u2019s kungfupunk leanings allow the game to subvert those terrors in new and often frightening ways.<\/p>\n
A hefty dose of occult horror serves as the primary vehicle for this terror. It taps into the darkest Chinese folk myths but twists them to accommodate the industrial aesthetic of Phantom Blade Zero\u2019s kungfupunk visual sensibilities.<\/p>\n
The animated mechanical figures that attack the main character, Soul, provide a perfect example of this unholy amalgamation. In other games, these mechanised monstrosities might simply amount to a shambling mass of mechanical parts hell-bent on killing Soul. Here, however, the red threads that give these horrors life subvert their traditional role in Chinese folklore. Rather than suppressing spiritual possession and bad energy, the threads facilitate them.<\/p>\n
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The subversion of traditional Chinese folklore continues with the fact that the overwhelming majority of the enemies Soul encounters wear ritualistic masks to conceal their identities. In Chinese folklore, people often use these masks to ward off and repel evil spirits. Here, though, the game reverses that meaning and symbolism: the masks erase the wearer\u2019s humanity, leaving only a nihilistic, murderous husk behind.<\/p>\n
A 66-Day Race Against Death<\/h2>\n
Perhaps the biggest element of Phantom Blade Zero\u2019s occult leanings \u2013 and the one that dovetails most directly with the narrative \u2013 is Soul\u2019s 66-day reprieve. After suffering a mortal wound and taking the blame for the murder of an important patriarch within his order, Soul has just 66 days to live.<\/p>\n
A necrotic tether grants this reprieve, keeping Soul\u2019s artificial heart ticking for 66 days. After that, Soul will perish and join the legions of animated dead he has sworn to combat.<\/p>\n
Kung fu, industrialisation and the occult: these are the three pillars of Phantom Blade Zero\u2019s kungfupunk setting, and there\u2019s nothing quite like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"