Phantom Blade Zero difficulty settings, and is it a soulslike?

Phantom Blade Zero comes out on PC and PS5 on 29 October, and on 28 October in the US and some other regions.^1,2 Here's what we know about its difficulty so far. Everything below comes from S-GAME's own posts, its store page and its site, checked on 21 October 2026. We'll add what players say about the difficulty once their reviews arrive.

The difficulty settings

S-GAME's founder names three difficulty modes in the studio's post on the PlayStation Blog.¹

• Wayfarer is for players who want to enjoy the story.
• Hellwalker raises the challenge with more advanced, adaptive enemy intelligence.
• Sixty-Six Days is the mode he says "isn't for the faint of heart."

He describes the range as letting both new players and action game veterans tailor the experience to their liking, and the store page lists adjustable difficulty among the game's features.^1,2 The story gives Soul, the hero, sixty-six days to live after a wound to the heart.²

Is Phantom Blade Zero a soulslike?

S-GAME doesn't call it one. The studio describes wuxia action built on combos that are "easy to learn yet rewarding to master," where you dodge, deflect, counter and strike in one flow.² You unlock more than 30 main weapons and 25 secondary weapons called Phantom Edges, upgrade them, pair them with accessories, and can reforge a weapon to get its materials back if you change your build.¹

If you want the story without the struggle, Wayfarer is the mode S-GAME points you to. Whether Hellwalker and Sixty-Six Days play like a soulslike is a question for players, and we'll answer it from their reviews after launch.

The PC you need

• Minimum, 1080p at 30 frames per second with upscaling: Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1660 with 6 GB or Radeon RX 5500 XT with 8 GB.
• Recommended, 1440p at 60 frames per second with upscaling: Core i5-10600K or Ryzen 5 5600X, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with 8 GB or Radeon RX 6700 XT with 12 GB.

Both need Windows 10 or 11 and an SSD.²

Editions

The standard edition costs $59.99, and the Digital Deluxe Edition $69.99.² The Deluxe Edition adds two outfits, Wulin Legend and Blood-Steel Form, a digital artbook and the soundtrack. Pre-orders of either edition get the Treasure Basin accessory and the Legacy outfit early. S-GAME's site says the listed content can also be obtained through in-game progression.³

Weighing it against other sword games

Players have already had their say on this year's other sword-led action games. Read what they think of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Mortal Shell II, and see what else comes out this month on our October release calendar.