Phantom Blade Zero Reviews Just Beat Every Soulslike In 2026

2026 officially has a new highest-rated game of the year. Reviews are in for Phantom Blade Zero, the Wuxia-inspired action game from S-Game, and they’ve solidified it as one of the best-reviewed games of 2026 — a feat that could help its chances at scoring a nomination for the 2026 Game Awards in December.

As of this writing, Phantom Blade Zero is currently sitting at an 88 on Metacritic, which puts it ahead of other glossy action games from 2026 (basically: GOTY bait), like Control Resonant, 007 First Light, and Saros. Though it’s still trailing the year’s high-octane racing games, Star Wars Galactic Racer (tied at 88) and Forza Horizon 6 (solidly at an impressive 90). Here’s what the critics have to say about Phantom Blade Zero.

Phantom Blade Zero reviews say it’s a razor-sharp action game

In a 9/10 review for IGN, Travis Northup was glowing about Phantom Blade Zero‘s combat, though was less sold on the narrative. “Phantom Blade Zero is one of the best action games I’ve played in a long time, with standout combat that never came even close to feeling old across 50 hours,” Northup wrote. “Its tale of betrayal and revenge mostly plays it extremely safe, and some unfortunate invisible barriers and technical hiccups can cause minor frustrations – but the overwhelming majority of my time with this stunning, incredibly well tuned adventure was downright awesome.”

Over at GameSpot, in an 8/10 review, Richard Wakeling was of a similar mind. Review headline: “Phantom Blade Zero’s Combat Is So Good, You Won’t Care The Story Makes No Sense.” Though Wakeling acknowledged “some cool storytelling moments here and there” and loved the kungfupunk aesthetic, he noted that “the story is tough to follow and difficult to care about.” But the action, for Wakeling, is enough: “Every moment feels like you’re in the middle of a Chinese martial-arts movie, pulling off moves that shouldn’t be feasible–moves that go against what we expect from third-person action games.”

At VGC, in a four-star review, Dave Aubrey also praised Phantom Blade Zero‘s kungfupunk setting and dizzying martial arts action, explicitly saying that it’s “undoubtedly stronger than genre stablemates like Black Myth: Wukong.” (Black Myth: Wukong was nominated for Game of the Year at the 2024 Game Awards and won Best Action Game that same year.) Aubrey was yet another critic for whom Phantom Blade Zero‘s story didn’t click, calling both the narrative and characters “bland.”

For a three-star review at Eurogamer, Emma Kent found the pacing of the combat to be a bit uneven, citing whiplash between frenetic cannon fodder fights and glacial boss battles. “This game is exceptional in so many areas – the animations, the beautiful environments – and when the combat works, the sense of flow is incredible. Street fights with multiple opponents feel so cinematic and so satisfying, allowing you to be truly creative and expressive with your fighting style,” Kent wrote. “Then you walk into a boss battle and feel all that power fade, like you’re waiting your turn to get hits in with a wooden sword.” Kent did praise some parts of Phantom Blade Zero‘s narrative, particularly its visual storytelling bona fides, but noted that review embargo restrictions prevent her from discussing the good parts in detail. Oh well.

Here at Polygon, Paulo Kawanishi called Phantom Blade Zero the “perfect martial arts game,” with all the good and bad that entails. For Kawanishi, who also found the narrative confounding, the action in Phantom Blade Zero ends up sacrificing interactivity for spectacle in its efforts to portray cinematic martial arts. “There are few joys like watching a good Wuxia movie play out on screen — an experience that S-Game recreated in Phantom Blade Zero,” he wrote. “Even so, as dazzling as Phantom Blade Zero’s aesthetics are, it ultimately lacks putting trust in the player to act out these abilities.”