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Phantom Blade Zero review scores: Metacritic, OpenCritic, IGN and Steam

Critics are very positive. As of 29 October 2026, 05:44 UTC, Metacritic shows 88 on PC and 87 on PS5, and OpenCritic's Top Critic Average is 89. Reported · Metacritic Steam players are more split: Mostly Positive. Reported · Steam Every figure below moves, so each carries its timestamp and a link to the page it came from.

Aggregate scores

Read 29 October 2026, 05:44 UTC. Metacritic splits PC and PS5; we do not average them.

Aggregators · as of 29 Oct 05:44 UTC
Metacritic
Metacritic Metascore: 88 on PC (45 critic reviews) and 87 on PS5 (40 critic reviews), as of 2026-10-29T05:44Z. Metacritic's overall block shows 88 from 44 reviews, 98% positive.
Reported · Metacritic
OpenCritic
OpenCritic: Top Critic Average 89, 96% Critics Recommend, 53 critic reviews, as of 2026-10-29T05:44Z.
Reported · OpenCritic
Steam user reviews
Steam user reviews: Mostly Positive, 77% of 1,301 reviews positive (all languages), as of 2026-10-29T05:44Z, the first hours after launch.
Reported · Steam

Metacritic's own user score was still empty when we read it ("available after 4 ratings"). The Steam figure covers all languages and all purchase types. Early player scores swing a lot in the first days (see PC fixes for the launch problems players report).

Score by outlet

Score and a one-line summary in our own words. Follow the link beside each tag for the full review.

Outlet · score and verdict
IGN
IGN: 9/10, Editors' Choice (Travis Northup, PC, about 50 hours). Praises the combat and boss fights; calls the story safe and mentions invisible barriers and technical hiccups.
Reported · IGN
GameSpot
GameSpot: 8/10 (Richard Wakeling). Fantastic action game held back by a story that critics say makes little sense.
Reported · GameSpot
Eurogamer
Eurogamer: 3/5 (Emma Kent), the lowest of the major outlets we checked. Enjoys the fluid kung fu combat but marks it down for balance and quality issues. Metacritic lists it as 60.
Reported · Eurogamer
GamesRadar+
GamesRadar+: 4.5/5 (Luke Kemp, PC). Combat, weapon design and world layout are the highlights; inconsistent storytelling and some pre-launch bugs are the complaints.
Reported · GamesRadar+
Push Square
Push Square: 9/10 (Liam Croft, PS5 Pro). Strong praise for the action; our summary: one of the PS5 generation's best action games.
Reported · Push Square
TheSixthAxis
TheSixthAxis: 9/10 (Nick Petrasiti, PS5, about 40 hours). Calls the combat and exploration excellent, with only small technical hiccups.
Reported · TheSixthAxis
Insider Gaming
Insider Gaming: 9/10 (PS5 Pro, about 40 hours). Praises combat, bosses and the wuxia world.
Reported · Insider Gaming
VGC
VGC: 4/5 (Dave Aubrey, PC). Fast, flashy combat is the strength; level design is linear and the story is weaker.
Reported · VGC
DualShockers
DualShockers: 9.5/10 (Christian Bognar), the highest outlet score we list. Calls it among the best action games in a long time.
Reported · DualShockers
Hardcore Gamer
Hardcore Gamer: 4.5/5 (Kevin Dunsmore). Praises the story, world and deep weapon-driven systems.
Reported · Hardcore Gamer
Shacknews
Shacknews: 8/10 (TJ Denzer). Positive: beautiful locations and absorbing combat, in a long-awaited game that justified the wait.
Reported · Shacknews
Hobby Consolas
Hobby Consolas: 89/100 (David Rodriguez; Spanish-language review). Calls it one of the great action games of the year.
Reported · Hobby Consolas

GameSpot, Hardcore Gamer, DualShockers and Hobby Consolas scores were read from the OpenCritic listing, because the outlet pages did not load for us. Metacritic rescales scores, so IGN's 9/10 appears there as 90 and Eurogamer's 3/5 as 60. Game Rant has a review, but we did not read a score from it. Reported · Game Rant

What the reviews agree on

Our reading of the verdict lines above, not a quote from any outlet.

What we're still checking

Questions

How is it reviewed?

Very positive: Metacritic 88 on PC and 87 on PS5, OpenCritic 89 (96% of critics recommend), most outlets 8/10 to 9.5/10. Steam users are Mostly Positive (77% of 1,301) as of 29 October 05:44 UTC.

Reported · Metacritic
Is it a Soulslike?

Reviewers and the developer say no: it is faster character-action combat with hard bosses, but no corpse run, no enemy respawn and generous save points.

Reported · GamesRadar+
How long is it?

Main story about 20-30 hours; 35-45 hours with side content; 45-55+ hours for completionists (reviewers range 40-50 h).

Reported · Game Rant

Sources and checks

Official and store pages

Press, reviews and data sites