Released just yesterday, Phantom Blade Zero is off to a blistering start, with over 700K players on Steam this morning, and that number is climbing.
If you haven’t seen it, Phantom Blade Zero is quickly becoming a big deal at the tail end of 2026. The title was released yesterday, and according to SteamDB, it has eclipsed 700K concurrent players as of this post, and the number keeps going up. The title’s popularity is rising at a meteoric rate, as just three hours ago, that number was below 450K. Currently, Phantom Blade Zero is in third place on the charts, ahead of DOTA 2 but still behind Steam titans Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds. It’s also worth mentioning that these are only the players on the Steam platform; there are more playing on PS5 and XBOX Series S/X.
CGMagazine’s review for Phantom Blade Zero gave it a stellar 9.5 and called it “beautifully bleak, presenting a world that feels ethereal, dangerous and yet unbelievably beguiling,” adding, “Phantom Blade Zero has one of the best combat systems I’ve ever experienced.” After the positive initial reception and the launch of the game, creative director and S-Game CEO, Soulframe Liang shared a heartfelt letter thanking fans and detailing the road the team travelled on the way to Phantom Blade Zero being played by the many thousands who are currently in the game. Liang detailed his humble beginnings, including completing his first indie game, Rainblood: Town of Death. That title had been made with RPG Maker, and that’s where the beginnings of Phantom Blade Zero and its wuxia inspiration began.
Liang explains, “Phantom Blade Zero exists to make you feel powerful and incredibly cool. No matter what enemy stands before you, you will defeat them in the end. That feeling has to come from more than simply telling you how strong you are. It has to come through every slash of your blade, every block, every dodge, and every dazzling execution shaped by the game’s brutal aesthetic,” saying that every development decision was intentional and intended to make the player feel powerful, down to how strong every enemy is. If you can overcome difficult encounters in Phantom Blade Zero, Liang bets you will feel it.
Phantom Blade Zero is out now, and according to SteamDB, it’s one of the most popular games being played on the platform currently.
