The first time I played Phantom Blade Zero earlier this year, I was bad at it—which might've had something to do with jumping straight into a boss fight while I was still learning the controls. But over the last two days at a preview event in Beijing, I've gone from fresh-faced trainee to a wispy-bearded master, beating an hour-long demo's toughest fight on "Hellwalker" difficulty.
Okay, that's probably giving myself a little too much credit—because in a refreshing change from the sea of Soulslikes in recent years, Phantom Blade Zero is actually aiming to be more beautiful than bastard hard. Even on its toughest setting, it's not as punishing as FromSoftware's Sekiro or Shadow of the Erdtree. It's more generous with parry windows and stamina than TeamNinja's Nioh. And it's lighter on technical combos than Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. All that is intentional, because the pain isn't meant to be the big draw.
