Phantom Blade Zero can run on old GPUs, but you'll need way more for ray tracing

Something to look forward to: Phantom Blade Zero has been one of TechSpot's most anticipated games since developer S-Game Studio unveiled the Wuxia-themed adventure last December. A lengthy recent presentation outlined the game's combat, characters, and system requirements. Although the spec sheet relies upon upscaling, Phantom Blade Zero supports older mainstream GPUs while also offering high-end ray tracing options for those with more robust hardware.

Pre-orders are now open for Phantom Blade Zero, a kung fu-themed action-adventure game that aims to follow in the footsteps of prior Chinese hits such as Black Myth: Wukong. Despite featuring highly detailed Unreal Engine 5 graphics, developer S-Game Studio claims that the game can achieve high frame rates on aging graphics cards.

The footage released so far, including a new 11-minute pre-order trailer, mostly focuses on Phantom Blade Zero's fast combat, which appears to be based on dodging and parrying in contrast with the stamina-driven Dark Souls games. The developers have dubbed the game's wuxia-themed setting "Kungfupunk" and described its levels as semi-open-world. The latest trailer also reveals that actor Donnie Yen served as a creative consultant while performing motion capture, facial capture, and voice acting (in Chinese and English) for one of the main characters.

Phantom Blade Zero also has lightweight system requirements, with the caveat that users must activate upscaling and disable ray tracing. An Nvidia GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT can achieve 30 fps at an upscaled 1080p, while 60 fps at 1440p only requires an RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT.

Meanwhile, maintaining 60 fps with ray tracing at 1080p requires at least an RTX 5060. Phantom Blade Zero also supports path tracing, but S-Game Studio recommends having an RTX 5080 to use it at 60 fps in upscaled 4K. While the game requires 16GB of system RAM, its storage footprint remains undisclosed.

Phantom Blade Zero represents a massive leap in technology and production quality compared to its spiritual predecessors. The game is a follow-up to Rainblood, a series of low-spec RPGs developed in the early 2010s using RPG Maker. Rainblood and its spin-off, Phantom Blade: Executioners, remain obscure outside of China.

Phantom Blade Zero was initially scheduled to launch in September but was recently delayed to October 28. A PlayStation console exclusive, it will be available on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and PlayStation 5.