PS5's Incredibly Promising Phantom Blade Zero Sounds Absolutely Brutal on Its Hardest Difficulty

Yes great, but out with the release date already...

Difficulty options are always welcome for us who seek a challenge, safe to say Phantom Blade Zero and Resident Evil 9 are my most hyped games for next year.

I hope there isn't a trophy you can only unlock on the hardest difficulty setting because that will be an instant no go for you know who 🤔

Some Soulslikes have difficulty options now...
(Lies of P and FBK being 2*)

Edit: * plus the upcoming NG game I believe.

I‘d love to see local AI hardware used to create believable AI opponent behaviour. It shouldn’t be too hard just for the sake of it, rather like some real player of my skill level playing against me. THAT would be transformative. Instead, we get crappy AI in games like Star Wars Outlaws.

I just hope that hardest difficulty is unlocked from the start without requiring ng+.

@Northern_munkey I hope there is for the same reason.

@Rich33 difficulty options should be easy - normal - hard. What we got in Lies of P update was normal - easy - Cuphead tutorial survivor.

As long as it is fair, I'm all for the return of tough games. Too many games now hold your hand for the fear of people dropping titles they find difficult and not finishing them or they make things difficult through egregious means where it just feels unfair and heavily weighted against you rather than an actual challenge.

This is good to hear in my eyes.

@Northern_munkey I think nowadays needing to do the game on the hardest difficulty is not as common as it used to be.

@Northern_munkey Darn straight. I’d much prefer to allot the time it would take to ‘git gud’ and eventually prevail on Hellwalker mode to other games in my backlog, ones with respectable, well thought out trophy lists that value people’s time. This is, of course, providing there’s even a trophy for that mode in Phantom Blade—I don’t think any list has leaked yet, so we don’t know for sure either way. The game looks so good though, so even if they botch the list I may still pick it up down the road in the bargain bin and play it on my alt.

@Balaam_ fair play to you but please don't use the "git gud" phrase as its just so cliché and cringe inducing..

Pretty sad to hear that you'll start at phase 2 if you get to it and then lose.

@Dalamar
Im going to presume that the Cuphead tutorial is almost unloseable as I dont think Ive played it.

Lies of P was an odd one as I found NG in a few places to be very hard, and I have a pretty good track record in Soulslikes, but NG+ and beyond suddenly was much easier (apart from the boss as the end of the dlc). NB all played before the difficulty option was added, or keeping it at hardest once it was.

However, the main complaint against the game was difficulty as a lot found they could not progress. If soulslikes ever want to really hit mainstream (because I rarely think they are, even though I really enjoy them), they need to add easier difficulties for those that need them.

My point was that the article / director interviewed suggested the game is not a Soulslike because whilst difficult it has difficulty options - but that is becoming fairly irrelevant.

@Rich33 the term "soulslike" is really thrown around like there is no tomorrow. Lose resources on death - soulslike. Replenishable healing items on checkpoints - soulslike. No difficulty settings - soulslike. Can't faceroll - soulslike. I've even seen "block and dodge - soulslike". Namco shamelessly patted itself on the back for inventing difficulty when promoting Dark Souls and everyone gobbled it up.

Cool. I think this is what devs needs to do for action games; better A.I enemies that can adapt with players playing style instead of focusing on fancy graphics.

Although, i can see some gaming journalist and gamers will complaint and ask the devs to tone down the difficulty when the game release.

@PuppetMaster It really shows how pathetic video game AI is today when something like Metal Gear Solid 2 has some of the most impressive AI on the PS2.

@Northern_munkey Please don’t use the word “cringe” as it is just so cliche and…
vomit inducing.

@Dalamar
I agree, and have said much the same in the past.
I also think there are far too few games in the genre - even though you will get loads of comments from people saying how sick they are of every game being a soulslike.

I just find it amusing that this may actually be sort of the opposite - the developer saying it isn't, purely based on it including difficulty options, when in fact most will consider it to be a soulslike.

@Stevemalkpus
Please dont say the word 'vomit' as it is just so vomit inducing.

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

@Nepp67 The thing is, not every game needs advanced AI. Metal Gear might be a gold standard for AI, but it's only so good because it's a stealth-focused game that's supposed to make you feel underpowered where most of the gameplay variety stems from emergent cat-and-mouse dynamics.

Goombas don't need to react differently if they just saw a fellow Goomba perish under the heft of Mario's girth. And if they did, I dare say it wouldn't really improve the experience in any meaningful way. Even when dealing with a more advanced combat system, what are we proposing here? Fighting an enemy that reads if you're more prone to attack or defend, and intelligently focuses on your weakest element? That might sound cool to you, but you also need to realize that designing AI is a delicate balance between engaging and frustrating. Designers can make enemies smarter, with more varied combat options and greater line of sight. But that's liable to quickly turn a good game into nothing but an exercise in frustration.

@Oram77 or if you are crap at (but enjoy) gaming like me!

Sounds exactly like input reading, that's been in fighting games for decades including the lucky draw. DoA4 on OG Xbox had a very similar system.

@Rich33 - NG always had difficulty settings. Easy and normal are playable by default. The harder difficulties have to be unlocked via progression. Mentor difficulty unlocks by beating normal and likewise Master unlocks by beating Mentor then Ultimate after Master.

None for me thanks. I play games to enjoy them, even if they’re somewhat challenging. And masochism is not enjoyable to me. 😂

This sounds like how difficulty should be done, to me. Not higher health and more damage output, but better or even new behaviors.

I remember Perfect Dark on the N64 had different things for different difficulties. I think one mission supposedly had you protecting someone doing something important by covering them with a sniper rifle or so. But on a harder dificulty, YOU were the one doing the thing and maybe without sniper cover!

Sounds like a pretty cool system they've implemented

@Stevemalkpus that's a damn good point to make sir..I'll just give myself a going over with the flail..sorry 😪

How in the world there's so many gameplay videos of this game and not a release date yet

I hope hellwalker difficulty is really,really hard and is mandatory for platinum. Too much games have very easy platinums. Git gud or die trying 🤟🤟🤟

@Balaam_ So you want the gratification without any of the time investment?

@Radekbejbl1 Right? I remember when the whole idea of trophies/achievements was for them to be similar to an old school high score in the arcades. Want your name up there? Then you'd better have skill and be damn good at the game.

Now? It's like "congratulations on consuming the story/content you paid for, and following a collectibles guide".

That ai implementation sounds interesting I'd play on normal and than hellwalker to see the differences

@Dalamar I hate the term soulslike. So many features have existed since the 90s but get called soulslike.

Someone in the comments had the audacity to call Ninja Gaiden a soulslike. The ridiculousness aside, Team Ninja dont make souls games. Even the Nioh series is something different but gets called that.