Phantom Blade Zero Review Roundup – Scores, Combat Praise & PC Performance

Critics largely agree on the game’s biggest strengths: fast martial-arts combat, inventive boss encounters, weapon variety and striking environments. Opinions are more divided on the story, while some reviewers report performance issues.

Phantom Blade Zero Review Scores

Here are scores from published reviews:

Outlet	Score	Reviewed Platform	Main takeaway
Push Square	9/10	PS5 Pro	Excellent combat and boss fights; confusing storytelling
TheSixthAxis	9/10	PS5	Memorable action, exploration and weapon experimentation
VGC	4/5	PC	Outstanding fast-paced combat, with weaker supporting elements
GLITCHED	8/10	PC and PS5	Strong combat and world design, but story and PC performance concerns

These are individual outlet scores. Metacritic and OpenCritic calculate their averages from different sets of reviews, so their totals should not be compared as identical samples. The October 26, 2026 snapshot above comes from PSX Brasil’s dated roundup and Notebookcheck’s dated report, rather than live aggregator scores.

Combat and Boss Fights Lead the Praise

The clearest point of agreement is combat.

Push Square awards Phantom Blade Zero 9/10, highlighting its fast attacks, responsive controls, weapon experimentation and boss encounters. The review describes a game that keeps expanding its fighting possibilities as players unlock new weapons.

TheSixthAxis also scores it 9/10, emphasizing the battles, exploration and flexibility of weapon builds. VGC gives it 4/5, with the fast, cinematic fighting standing out above the game’s other elements.

Together, these reviews suggest that combat is the main reason action-game fans should pay attention to Phantom Blade Zero.

For a breakdown of the announced weapon systems, see our Combat and Weapons guide.

Story and Exploration Divide Reviewers

The response to Phantom Blade Zero’s narrative is less consistent.

Push Square praises the game’s locations and visual identity but criticizes the presentation of its story, particularly its frequent flashbacks. GLITCHED also finds the plot difficult to follow despite enjoying the world and exploration.

TheSixthAxis is more positive about Soul’s narrative, praising the way exploration adds context to his journey.

These criticisms do not mean that exploration is poorly received. Several reviewers praise the interconnected areas, environmental variety, hidden routes and optional encounters.

The distinction is between enjoying the world itself and finding its story easy to follow.

PC and PS5 Performance: What Reviews Report

Push Square tested the game on PS5 Pro in Performance Mode with ray tracing enabled and reported generally smooth gameplay at 60 FPS, alongside occasional frame-rate drops during boss battles and audio problems.

GLITCHED tested PC and PS5 versions and reported frame-pacing problems and stuttering on an RTX 5080 PC, despite reaching 60 FPS with maxed-out visuals and path tracing enabled. Its reviewer preferred the console experience during testing.

These results describe the reviewers’ listed platforms and test configurations, rather than a like-for-like PC/console benchmark.

Our PC System Requirements guide contains S-GAME’s official hardware targets. Detailed graphics and performance recommendations will be covered separately when comparable test results are available.

Watch a Phantom Blade Zero Video Review

GLITCHED has also published a video review discussing the game’s combat, exploration, story and technical performance.

Watch GLITCHED – Phantom Blade Zero Review: Brutal. Beautiful. Flawed

What the Reviews Mean Before Launch

Phantom Blade Zero enters release week with strong critical reception, especially for its combat and boss design.

The main disagreements concern storytelling and technical performance rather than whether the underlying action is enjoyable.

Players comparing versions should pay attention to the platforms and settings used in each review instead of relying on a single aggregate score.

Phantom Blade Zero launches digitally on October 29, 2026, with October 28 shown in the Americas due to the global unlock time. Our release and preload guide has the exact schedule.

Sources

• Push Square – Phantom Blade Zero Review (PS5)
• TheSixthAxis – Phantom Blade Zero Review
• VGC – Phantom Blade Zero Review
• GLITCHED – Phantom Blade Zero Review
• GLITCHED – YouTube Video Review
• Metacritic – Phantom Blade Zero
• OpenCritic – Phantom Blade Zero
• PSX Brasil – October 26 review-score roundup — dated reporting of the 88 Metacritic and 91 OpenCritic snapshot.
• Notebookcheck – October 26 critical-reception report — dated reporting of 88/100 on both PC and PS5.