Phantom Blade: Zero takes inspiration from Sifu

Despite comparisons to Souls games and hack-and-slash titles, Phantom Blade: Zero is resisting being tied to any one specific genre or idea. Instead, we should think of it more as a tribute to Chinese culture and the kung fu focus of the 1970s.

In this aspect, developer Soulframe told Eurogamer that the real inspiration comes from Sloclap's Sifu. "If a French studio can do something like that, why couldn't we do something even more authentic from Chinese culture?" he said.

S-Game as a studio also wants to take ideas from previous eras of gaming. "We want to get back to the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 era," said Soulframe. "When the games were not so big, the budgets not sky high, the team manageable, and all the developers were passionate and creative and with experience. It's like a bigger indie game, but with budget and with experience and with a stable hand, and everything feels so integrated from the starting point when you press down the Start button to the finish point of the staff list."

Still, S-Game isn't holding back its expectations, and after Black Myth: Wukong proved how successful games from Chinese developers can be, there's a sense that Phantom Blade: Zero wants to emulate that success.

If you want to hear more about the kung fu influence in Phantom Blade: Zero, you can check out our previous interview with Soulframe in the video below: