Phantom Blade Zero Is the Perfect Martial Arts Game, For Better or Worse

With games like Pragmata , 007 First Light, Beast of Reincarnation , and Onimusha: Way of the Sword , I’ve spent much of 2026 thinking about what makes a good action game. Is it about the challenge of performing extraordinary feats on the screen? Is it about fighting, and winning, excruciating battles against enemies that feel mathematically impossible to beat? Is it just about power fantasy? There's merit in difficult games that push us to master combos and boss fights, but in recent years, these sorts of games have become hegemonic. That's why developer S-Game's Phantom Blade Zero surprised me.