In a recent interview in China, the creator and CEO of Phantom Blade Zero and S-Game, Qiwei Liang, gave a ton of details about the methodology and inspiration for the game.
Liang was questioned about many aspects of Phantom Blade Zero, but first and foremost, he spoke about how the development team visited a professional Chinese dragon dance studio. The trip revealed how these dancers moved and flowed along with the routine. He and his team translated this directly into a boss fight for the game, recording dancers with motion capture technology to make the fight out of their movements.
They have even replicated the infamous drunken sword style for another boss fight in Phantom Blade Zero. “The enemy will continually drink to build up a certain kind of energy. Once drunk, his movements become highly erratic, and, naturally, his attacks do as well,” said Liang.
Phantom Blade Zero has always been described as a “Wuxia”, which is an expression in Chinese fiction that means “Martial Hero.” Liang has deconstructed Wuxia into just Wu and Xia, each with its own meaning in the game. Wu is the expression of martial combat, so naturally, they visited many martial arts schools before returning to the studio to adapt what they learned into gameplay.
Xia is the more important part of the story; it is essentially the spirit of the hero, and that comes into play with the main character of Soul. Soul will always try to help those around him, even in dire situations, making him the embodiment of the hero’s spirit. Souls’ actual heart is already on a ticking clock, but their inner heart or soul is in even more danger.
Soul has spent the first half of his life fighting on behalf of The Order; he did not have a choice of who he did or did not kill. But, being that the game takes place in his last 66 days alive, he can now live and make his own decisions. He will have to find out who he truly is or would have been if not for the life of conflict he lived. As the player does side quests, the actions taken during the quests will define the Xia or heart of Soul, or you could take the route of inaction, which presumably leads to a bad ending.
Liang ended the interview by saying that his team is polishing the game before its final release and that he is proud to bring Wuxia’s spirit around the world, just as Bruce Lee brought the word Kung Fu to Hollywood. Phantom Blade Zero releases worldwide on September 9th, 2026.
