Phantom Blade Zero Review: Sharp Combat Across Eight Maps

IGN's Phantom Blade Zero review praises roughly 50 hours of tuned parry-and-dodge combat across dozens of weapons and eight maps full of side quests and secrets. The convoluted time-hopping story and occasional performance issues fall short of the action.

• Combat with parries and dozens of unique weapons called among the most satisfying in years
• Swapping melee weapons with one button restores the posture meter
• Eight maps with side quests, chests and easily missed secrets
• Nonlinear timeline and frequent flashbacks criticized as overstuffed