Phantom Blade Zero Will Get a Physical Release, But There’s a Catch

As more and more publishers turn their backs on physical media, fans of Phantom Blade Zero feared the game might follow the same path. The news is mixed. A boxed edition is indeed on the way, but it won’t land on shelves until several months after the game’s debut.

Phantom Blade Zero is a forthcoming wuxia action RPG from S-Game, the Beijing-based developer behind the Rainblood series. Its combat draws on authentic martial arts, and the team even enlisted action star Donnie Yen as a consultant on the fighting design, while also borrowing heavily from the soulslike genre. The game arrives on PlayStation 5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store on Oct. 28.

With launch only days away, many players were asking whether a physical copy would ever materialize. S-Game has now settled the question: a PS5 disc version is coming, but not until 2027. Learning that there will be no boxed copy on day one is a little disappointing, though hardly a surprise, since the game’s entire promotional campaign offered digital pre-orders only.

The physical edition of Phantom Blade Zero comes with an actual disc

These days, a “physical edition” doesn’t always contain the game itself. Plenty of modern boxed releases are little more than an empty case with a download code inside. Fortunately, that isn’t the approach here, as the physical version of Phantom Blade Zero will ship with a disc.

Three physical editions are planned. The standard edition is expected to retail for $59.99 and contains the base game. The deluxe edition should run $69.99 and adds a digital art book, the soundtrack, and the Wulin Legend and Blood-Steel form skins. Finally, the Ultimate Edition comes with a collectible steelbook; because it has no digital counterpart, its price and full contents are still a mystery. Whether the physical editions will carry any pre-order bonuses has not yet been confirmed.

Anyone who pre-orders the game digitally can preload it starting Oct. 26 at 10 p.m. ET, ready to jump in the moment it goes live on Oct. 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

Source: Polygon