Combat seems extremely dull and life-less and has no weight to it at all. But it looks pretty though!

@Swirly 1:RE4, 2:RE2 ?

Rockstar clearly dont care about framerates, look at RDR2, still at 30 FPS, almost nine years later while other devs upgrade their older games with 60 FPS to make the fans happy. 30 FPS is history, 60 FPS should be the standard. I won't buy it.

Maybe this is a perfect time to become an addict.

I love this game. I'm 7 hours in and have multiple puzzles and mysteries to uncover. Funnily enough i also watch twin peaks on the side since i haven't got arround to watch that show before. The atmosphere is very similiar in both the show and the game and it's perfect for this season, my only concern is that Phantom blade zero drops tommorrow and i really want to get on that too. What a year for gaming.

Anyone knows if there is customization and different outfits? The review doesn't mention it, and i've only seen the character in the same black outfit in every gameplay video.

@AI-Generation Isn't that a 10 ?

@garrywood I'm thinking for an action title the story doesn't carry that much weight in scoring? But if the combat and progression is bad it's a different thing. In Black myth and stellarblade i had zero understanding of what the game wanted to tell me, but the combat felt really good so i did'nt care for the story, maybe that is it, i don't know.

@Yahooligan Yes it's pretty frustrating sometimes to be honest. Maybe they should rename this site to pushsquare-onPRO.com. I did manage to find a review that tested the game on base PS5(gamingbolt), they had this to say on performance: "Even with some technical snafus, I feel like I haven’t said enough about how great Phantom Blade Zero looks. Or runs, for that matter, with silky smooth 60 FPS throughout many of my hours, that too on base PS5."

@LiamCroft How about performance for base PS5?

I wonder if a day comes when gta5 or minecraft are not on a top seller chart anymore.

The collectors edition for this is a retro dream! Complete with a lunchbox and everything

Excellent preview. I kinda get the feeling this plays somewhat like Onimusha (which i'm playing right now, and love) with great combat and no stamina for attacks and a lot of special attacks. That sounds really good to me and i can't wait for the full review, but this sounds like a solid 8 or even a 9.

It's a must play. I've played the base game and it's DLC twice now. Absolute brilliant. The most cozy gaming experience i have ever had, and alot of laughs!

Nice Artwork too! Oasis - Definitely Maybe album!

Nice, I'm currently playing pragmata and I'm having a blast! Capcom is goat. I will be jumping into way of the sword right after pragmata! Nice review!

We all kinda knew it, but it still sucks. I will keep my distance unfortunately. But one day I will play it, probably on my PS6. But i'm happy for those who don't mind the 30 FPS

Nice, I just bought Pragmata, I've heard it's great!

Unacceptable! For me 30 FPS belong to the last console generation. I've tried red dead 2 on my ps5 and its giving me seizures. It was fine back when we didnt have the oled tvs and was used to 30 FPS. It sucks because that means i wont be playing gta6 until playstation 6 launches probably.

Great review Aaron!

As someone how does like the aesthetics of a souls-like but occasionally having a hard time with the difficulty, how would you place this among other souls-like? I know this question probably comes with every souls-like game review and maybee is hard to answer because it's individually different for everyone. Again, thanks for a great review, looking forward to play it and getting my ass kicked!

@Rich33

"Its always been the same table. Its just much cleaner, the service is better, and what is served up is of higher quality."

Yea, ok dude. On your serious note though, i agree, the games now looks better on the more expensive version of PS5.

"If thats not important to you, it's fine, stick with base PS5 - no one is twisting your arm to get you to upgrade."

The only ones twisting my arm is PRO players that take every chance they can to tell everybody they are playing on a PRO. I'm perfectly fine with the base PS5.

On your last point i totally agree, Insomniac really has the led when it comes to optimisation. Cheers

Oh no, what will the PRO owners say? Are they going to have to eat at the same table as us base players now?

No worries, there will probably be an extra ray of sunlight for you

There seems to be a lack of blood when in combat, it looks odd and more like a kids game

I just bought Marvel cosmic invasion and T2 Dark fate, so i'm flush when it comes to 2D retros at the moment, so a little delay wont hurt me, just sounds like it will be more polished when it arrives

I was so hyped for this, but something was clearly wrong when they didn't show console gameplay. I will experience it somewhere down the line though. I'm impressed with the devs and the fixes they do. But it needs more fundamental fixing for me. Happy for everyone else who is playing and enjoying it though!

I'm looking forward to playing this game sometime in the future; I'm just sad it didn't happen at launch.

@LikelySatan That is great to hear man, thanks for the info!

Is performance mode on PS5(base) as bad as they say? I just want to play the game with stable framrate and have good visuals

Well well well

@Michael2008ish maybe you should play the game instead? I'm assuming you're a "proud PS5 PRO owner" 😂

What in the world is going on up in here

I played it for a second time this winter and got the platinum. I was going to hold off the second playthrough since i heard the DLC would come out early this year, but i couldnt hold myself. I will definitely jump back in for the DLC when it drops. Such a gem of a game!

60 fps baby! Smooth as butter!

The fact that Pearl Abyss is confident enough to send the game to Digital Foundry for analazys before launch gets me real hopeful. The reason why they've only showed PC footage should be because thats where it looks best. I've gone from feeling "this is never gonna release in a good state" to "I'm friggin ready"

@tangyzesty I think it can be a strategy from Pearl Abyss to not show any ps5 footage. When the Embargo lifts maybe next week(?), and they know that i works flawless on consoles. The reviews are gonna show it and people are gonna get even more hyped and buy the game day 1, regardless of the review as long as its runs great. It's just my theory though but i am really rooting for this game!

If this game plays well on the pro and poorly on the base ps5 and gets great reviews, I might consider to upgrade.. but for now I just pray for a miracle

The male character sounds like english voiced Adam from Stellar blade. Bland and stoic.

Pretty cool that Keanu will be starring in two major game titles. Goals man..Maybe we will se him in a matrix game too some day!

It looks like some of the footage in the video was from PS5 actually: 07:55 and then again 08:15 min into the video. Lets hope its optimized! It looks dope

Yes! For the box-art alone!

I hope you can tune down the weird wind animation in the game. The foliage and trees seems to be going through a tornado season! It looks really weird. And maybe we can tune down the particle effects as well, it's all over the place. Overall its obviously looks great, hoping this could be the next big thing in open world games

Oh man, 2026 gonna be packed! I will definitely pick this one up

Performance mode 60f fps on a base console is how I will play it, if possible. If not, well I guess i wont be playing it🤷‍♂️

This game never interested me. Fighting with sticks and casting spells? I did that in the woods when i was a kid. I was also a bit to old when the books and movies came out, so i can't appreciate the IP. I grew up with LOTR.

Nobody seems excited 😂

@Dudeitsme Dude, T2 premiered in 1991, maybe you're talking about T1? I also watched both on VHS though, good times

I was curious why there was so many comments on this article🤔 Did not expect walking into this kindergarden brawl. The games looks great an the voice actor is a great choice. Happy holidays!

It's great, so good! I've played it two times now since 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, i didn't touch it before. Sometimes i just start it up and visits my apartments, have dates with Panam and cruise the streets in my insane car collection, so immersive!

@Mostik You really should, it's great! the first is a bit of a drag, you can feel the old age, but the story is great, and it sets up the second game, that's when it really shines!

I think the problem is that Rockstar don't communicate with it's costumers, so speculations is all we have, wich then turn to dissapointment when we're wrong. Everybody wonder what their plans are for old and new games, but are met with silence.

@Mostik Thanks mate! Indeed we have. I'm currently playing Mass effect legendary edition, it's my first time playing mass effect, what a rare gem it is!