Phantom Blade Zero lands strong reviews ahead of its October 29 release

Phantom Blade Zero, the wuxia action game from Chinese studio S-GAME, launches on October 29, 2026 on PS5 and PC. The first reviews landed on October 26, three days ahead of release, and critical reception is overwhelmingly positive: 88 on Metacritic (PS5 and PC), and an average above 90 on OpenCritic.

IGN gives it 9/10 and names it an Editors' Choice

At IGN, reviewer Travis Northup describes the game as one of the best action games he's played in a long time, scoring it 9/10 and giving it the Editors' Choice label. Performance issues, he says, are the only thing keeping it from a perfect score. He also notes clearing nearly every major boss fight in two or three tries, even on the hardest difficulty, without it hurting his enjoyment.

An overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception

TheGamer awards a perfect 5/5, calling the game a "genuine Game of the Year contender." DualShockers agrees with a 9.5/10, reviewer Christian Bognar simply calling it the best action RPG of the year. Praise shared across reviews centers on the fluidity and flow of combat, boss design, art direction, and the soundtrack.

A few more critical voices

The reception isn't unanimous, though. Eurogamer is notably more reserved with a 6/10, praising the animations and environments but pointing to boss fights that slow the early pace and a story it calls "pretty unremarkable." At Polygon, reviewer Paulo Kawanishi, without assigning a score, enjoys the game's wuxia aesthetic but finds its combat system doesn't trust the player enough in executing its abilities.

Buzz already confirmed before the reviews

These scores back up buzz that was already visible ahead of launch: S-GAME announced in late September that the game had passed 3 million wishlists across all platforms, and it climbed to the top of Steam's global sales chart as soon as preorders opened on August 13, 2026.

Sources

• IGN: Phantom Blade Zero Review
• Eurogamer: Phantom Blade Zero Review
• DualShockers: Phantom Blade Zero Review
• Polygon: Phantom Blade Zero Review Roundup
• TheGamer: Phantom Blade Zero Review Round Up
• Kotaku: Phantom Blade Zero Reviews Call It An 'Incredibly Well Tuned' Adventure

The bottom line

Three days before release, Phantom Blade Zero is landing an overwhelmingly positive critical reception (88 on Metacritic, above 90 on OpenCritic, 9/10 from IGN), alongside some notable reservations from Eurogamer and Polygon about its story and combat direction. These scores back up the buzz already measured ahead of launch, between a Steam sales record and millions of wishlists.