Gamescom this year, much like the last, saw a significant turnout from major Chinese developers. Among them, the one that truly caught our eye is 'Phantom Blade Zero,' an action title championing the 'Kung-fu Punk' aesthetic—a gritty marriage of traditional martial arts and steampunk. You step into the boots of 'Soul,' an elite assassin once loyal to an organisation known as The Order. Falsely accused of murdering the order’s leader, Soul is left critically wounded during the fray. With only 66 days to live thanks to a temporary, unstable remedy, Soul must carve through formidable foes to uncover the conspiracy behind it all.

Phantom Blade Zero boasts a roster of over 30 primary weapons and 20 secondary ones. You'll equip two of each, swapping between them in real-time. It might sound like a recipe for button-mashing frustration or overly complex inputs, but in practice, it’s remarkably fluid. The developers have crafted an efficient control scheme that makes juggling these tools feel intuitive, allowing you to focus on the adrenaline-fueled combat rather than fighting your own fingers.

As mentioned, the core strength of Phantom Blade Zero lies in its streamlined control scheme. Soulframe Liang, founder of S-Game, emphasised on the official PlayStation Blog: "After a decade of developing mobile games, I’ve mastered the art of simplifying touch-screen controls. We’ve applied that philosophy to the console controller experience."

It starts with two-button command combat. By pressing light and heavy attack buttons in specific sequences, you trigger various combos and skills. A basic combo is simply four heavy attacks, while weaving in light attacks branches out into four distinct variations. The development team’s advice? "Just remember the light and heavy attacks."

Weapon switching is equally snappy. The left directional button swaps your primary weapon, while the right handles your secondary. Because it’s so effortless, the game actively encourages you to cycle through your arsenal mid-fight. For instance, you might slam into a cluster of enemies with an axe for heavy area damage, then immediately switch to a faster weapon to pick off the stragglers one by one.

Secondary weapons provide that much-needed 'oomph' when you find yourself in a tight spot. Beyond the axe, there’s the 'flaming mane'—a weapon that literally breathes fire. These secondary tools draw from a separate resource gauge, and swapping them at the right moment can actually help replenish your energy, rewarding strategic rotation.

Finally, there’s dodging and parrying. When an enemy glows red, a perfectly timed dodge triggers a unique counter-attack animation. Blue attacks, however, demand a firm block. Using the PS5 DualSense controller, L1 is set to block and R1 to dodge, so there’s no risk of your hands getting tangled. Keep your eyes peeled for those colour cues, and you’ll dismantle your foes with ease.

From its initial reveal, Phantom Blade Zero turned heads with its high-octane, stylish action. Having played it, I can confirm that simply alternating between two buttons triggers a wide array of distinct skills, and the post-parry counter animations are incredibly satisfying. With each weapon sporting unique move sets, there’s plenty of room for players to experiment and find their own preferred playstyle once the game fully launches.

In Phantom Blade Zero, both you and your enemies have two bars to worry about: health and a guard gauge. Deplete that yellow guard gauge, and the enemy is left momentarily stunned, opening them up for a QTE-prompted execution or a transition into another target. Consequently, breaking that guard quickly becomes the crux of effective combat.

You’ll face mobs where some enemies actually replenish the guard gauges of their allies. Maintaining offensive pressure is vital; you simply cannot afford to give them breathing room. Even defensive manoeuvres like dodging and parrying are designed to keep you on the offensive, rewarding precise timing with an immediate chance to strike back.

It feels almost like a fighting game, where the battle for momentum is paramount. The weapon-switching and combo systems are perfectly tuned to keep the pressure high. The game fills the gaps between attacks with a diverse suite of combos, all built upon that elegantly simple control foundation.

The demo provided three difficulty levels. 'Wayfarer,' the lowest, is a breeze for any seasoned action fan. 'Hellwalker,' the highest, is a different beast entirely—introducing new patterns for major bosses and making even the standard minions a formidable challenge. Testing different weapons against these difficulty spikes is surely the best way to see what this game is really made of.

Following the global success of 'Black Myth: Wukong' last August, the Chinese games industry has been hunting for its next standard-bearer. Having spent time with Phantom Blade Zero, I’m convinced it is a prime candidate to prove that Chinese studios are a force to be reckoned with in the PC and console action space.

Like Wukong, the game is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. At the demo, the S-Game team noted: "We drew deep inspiration from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. Everything you see is rooted in traditional Kung-fu and Hung Ga (a southern Chinese martial art)." They’ve even hired professional martial arts teams and utilised an in-house motion capture studio to polish the combat to a mirror sheen. Whether Phantom Blade Zero can truly replicate the massive impact of Black Myth: Wukong remains to be seen, but it’s one to watch.