Phantom Blade Zero Tested on PS5 and PS5 Pro with Mixed Results

Digital Foundry has compared Phantom Blade Zero on PS5 and PS5 Pro, revealing that the game offers three graphics modes with the 60 FPS performance setting proving to be the best option.

Built on Unreal Engine 5, the Chinese action game uses Nanite and Lumen. Digital Foundry experts praised the lighting, reflections, and detailed environments while noting some issues with shadows. Instead of an open world, players will find compact, carefully crafted areas featuring branching pathways.

The standard PS5 features 60, 40, and 30 FPS modes. The first mode delivers stable performance in most situations, whereas the balanced mode suffers from uneven frame pacing even with VRR enabled. In quality mode, the frame rate occasionally exceeds the target 30 FPS.

The PS5 Pro provides a sharper image and additional ray tracing effects, including reflections, global illumination, and shadows. However, it offers no noticeable performance boost, and the issues affecting the 40 FPS mode persist.

Digital Foundry recommends playing in performance mode on both consoles, concluding that smoothness and responsive controls outweigh minor graphical enhancements.