How Difficult Is Phantom Blade Zero?

Ever since it was first announced, discussion around Phantom Blade Zero’s difficulty has been rampant. Is it a Soulslike? Is it going to kick your arse over and over again? Are you going to be stuck on a specific boss for days on end?

Well, now that I’ve played through it myself, I thought it would be worth trying to clarify just how difficult Phantom Blade Zero really is.

The truth of the matter is that not everyone has the time or patience to tackle hard games. And so difficulty can be a make-or-break purchasing factor for some people.

If you fall into that category of potential buyer, then the good news is that Phantom Blade Zero has three pretty distinct difficulty modes right out of the gate.

I’ve listed the three difficulty settings below, along with brief descriptions of what they change.

• Wayfarer (easy) – Enemies are slightly less aggressive and deal less damage. Their guards are also easier to break.
• Pathbreaker (normal) – Enemies are fairly aggressive and deal moderate damage. Their guards take a little time to break.
• Hellwalker (hard) – Enemies are very aggressive and deal more damage. Proper use of parries is necessary to break guards in a timely manner.

• 66 Days (challenge mode) – Enemies seem to have the same stats as Hellwalker, but you only have 66 lives. Once you run out, it’s a permanent game over. 66 Days is the only setting that must be unlocked, and it can’t be switched to during gameplay; it must be selected at the start of a new game.

With that out of the way, I’ll be straight with you: Phantom Blade Zero is not an easy game on any of these settings. It’s designed to be a challenging action title, but at the same time, it’s not what I’d call brutal.

On Wayfarer and Pathbreaker, I think the game’s perfectly beatable even if you’re not the most experienced player of action titles.

It’s one of those games where things can start out pretty rough as you learn the mechanics, but after you get past the first few bosses are so, it’s highly likely that things will start to click.

You quickly gain access to a wider range of weapons and accessories as you push beyond the game’s opening chapter — and some of this equipment can make progression noticeably easier.

I actually found that, outside of some later boss battles, the game has a bit of a downward difficulty curve. By the middle of Soul’s adventure, you can be kitted out with gear that really enhances your own style of play — whether it’s focused on dealing huge damage, or maximising survivability.

Playing in a specific way, and catering to specific strengths, makes a big difference.

Having said that, you’re still going to die every now and then — and there’ll almost certainly be a handful of bosses that stop you in your tracks.

But like Liam wrote in his Phantom Blade Zero PS5 review, the key difference between this game and stuff like Elden Ring or Nioh 3 is that none of its challenges feel truly insurmountable.

Sure, you’ll die to a boss, but within the fight itself, you’ll catch on to what can be blocked, parried, dodged, and when. Typically, it only ever took me two or three tries to overcome a tricky boss — and I’d argue that’s good design.

At no point did I ever fall back in my chair and think “I have no idea how to beat this thing”. That kind of frustration never crept in.

And I think that’s down to defensive options. Ultimately, a lot of the difficulty found in Soulslike titles stems from having a limited pool of defensive techniques. In most cases, a dodge roll is your go-to method of survival, and it needs to be well-timed every time.

In Phantom Blade Zero, blocking is an ever-present option. It drains stamina, but it lets you observe the enemy’s attack patterns in relative safety.

The only things that cannot be blocked are strong attacks (which must be parried or dodged) and unblockable attacks (which must be dodged). Both of these strikes are telegraphed with either a blue or red flash, so there is no guesswork involved—you simply need to be ready.

Moreover, developer S-GAME has emphasized on multiple occasions that this is an action game rather than a Soulslike. And once you actually sit down and play it, getting a feel for how it works, you begin to understand that approach.

Both parries and dodges are quite generous in terms of timing—they are far easier to pull off than in a typical Soulslike experience, and they align much more closely with what you would expect from a hack-and-slash or character-action title.

As a result, Phantom Blade Zero feels fast and fluid in a way that clearly distinguishes it from its peers, which are hard by design. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t just button-mash your way through to the credits, but if you stay on your toes, you’ll be surprised by how long Soul can keep his enemies at bay.

So, in conclusion, I wouldn’t let Phantom Blade Zero’s perceived difficulty put you off playing it. It can be a tricky game, for sure, but at least to me, it never felt even close to being unbeatable.

Defensive options are plentiful and effective. Checkpoints are abundant and forgiving. On death, you don’t lose any resources, and enemies never respawn once defeated.

Additionally, the Wayfarer setting gives you extra breathing space, which can be great for simply learning the game’s ins and outs. You can always bump up the difficulty once you’ve developed a better feel for it.

Are you at all concerned about the difficulty of Phantom Blade Zero? Let me know in the comments section below whether you’re up to the challenge.