Described by PC Gamer's Richard Stanton as “a drunken nighttime sequelo,” Phantom Blade Zero looks like a pretty fascinating game. developed by S-Game and debuted at last year's PlayStation Showcase, Phantom Blade Zero, developed by S-Game and debuted at last year's PlayStation Showcase, is a really high-octane nonsense game. I like nonsense a lot.

I was intrigued by its jet-fueled combat, but a recent interview with director “Soulframe” Liang by our friends at GamesRadar doubles down on the same sentiment shared on the PlayStation blog last year: “Seamless Move around and explore the map. But it's not a huge open-world map.

As someone who professes my general displeasure with the open world of The Elden Ring, this feature is brilliantly executed, but it is always at odds with the game's other strengths. As a matter of personal preference, I prefer small, intimate, connected worlds to vast open fields.

“There is still a process you go through,” Soulframe explains. But it's not linear. It's like 'Souls' before 'Elden Ring'”

Soulframe wants to stop the Souls-like comparisons, but in a Q&A last month, the team assured us that they are aiming for “hectic, challenging, exhilarating, combo-driven, heart-pounding combat. There is a difficulty option, and you don't have to face mobs that respawn after you die or interact with checkpoints.

If anything, this description smacks a bit of “God Hand,” a beat-em-up released in 2006 that is often mentioned in the same breath as “Soul Likes” in terms of its difficulty.

In any case, I am hungry for this piece. I never had the chance to play OG's “God Hand,” but I am a big fan of From Software's secret sauce, a game with a different recipe.