The incredible-looking Phantom Blade 0 is a semi-open-world "rebirth" of a $7 indie JRPG
Phantom Blade 0 made a heck of an impression at the PlayStation Showcase with a trailer that seemed tailor-made to capture the attention of Sekiro fans. Now we're starting to get a bit more information about the game, which has its roots in a very small-scale indie JRPG series.
"Soulframe" Liang, founder of developer S-Game, explains on the PlayStation Blog that Phantom Blade 0 has its roots in RPG Maker. That's an inexpensive tool that lets aspiring indie devs create their own games in the classic JRPG style, and one which has powered uncountable games from a dedicated community. Liang's 2010 RPG Maker project, Rainblood: Town of Death, kicked off the series that would eventually become known as Phantom Blade.
Rainblood (or Phantom Blade) became a series in its native China, but only a handful of entries ever got translated into English. The original Town of Death RPG was a $7 direct download release that you can still pick up from GamersGate. A side-scrolling spin-off, Rainblood Chronicles: Mirage, is available on Steam for $5, and the similar Phantom Blade: Executioners is scheduled for a future release on Valve's platform.
The one thing all of these games have in common - including Phantom Blade 0 - is that they're visually striking games that take heavy influence from the Chinese wuxia fantasy genre. (If you're not familiar with wuxia, just think 'kinda like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.') Liang describes Phantom Blade 0 as "the game that we always wanted to make," and serves as a "spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood." 13 years from an RPG Maker title to a big AAA PS5 game is quite an impressive turnaround.
Liang describes this as a "semi-open world" game with multiple handcrafted maps to explore. The team
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