Phantom Blade Zero will likely get an Extreme difficulty mode at launch and it sounds crazy. The anticipated action title, which caught the attention of gamers thanks to its flashy combat and stunning art direction, is still without a concrete release date, yet some lucky players got opportunities to play early builds of the game at Gamescom. Surprisingly, one of the most common criticisms is that the game felt easy, so the developer took that to heart.
A a representative of Phantom Blade Zero developer S-Game told Games Radar at GDC 2025 that the game will include an Extreme difficulty mode that can only be unlocked after beating the game for the first time. S-Game emphasised that it wants Phantom Blade Zero to be as accessible as possible to many players at launch, hence the options to tweak the difficulty. That said, hardcore players seeking a formidable challenge will be treated with an Extreme difficulty mode.
“We got some feedback at Gamescom from our core players that the game could be even harder,” said the representative. “So between Gamescom and [Tokyo Game Show], I believe we had one employee that conceptualised this brand new AI. It wasn’t just increasing the damage and health, it was a completely new enemy AI that removed the combos and created this PvP-like experience. And it shipped in time for TGS and we showed it off.”
S-Game founder “Soulframe” Liang later added, “Accessibility is very important in our game, so that’s why we have difficulty options and a very long tutorial. But the tutorial is story-driven, it’s not like a list. We want to create an accessible game for players to enjoy the story and style of everything.”
In other news, Phantom Blade Zero will offer a lengthy 30-50 hour campaign along with easy, normal and hard difficulty options (before finally opening up Extreme difficulty). The game is currently in development for PS5 and PC.
Source: Games Radar
