Loading...
Loading...
Technical Specifications
April 17, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Removed additional external site attributions
Phantom Blade Zero runs on Unreal Engine 5. The concept phase (2017-2022) was handled by a small 2-3 person team; active development began in early 2022. S-GAME takes a deliberately selective approach to UE5's features, prioritizing performance and visual quality over adopting every flagship technology.
hands-on analysis revealed a nuanced picture of which UE5 technologies the game actually uses:
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Nanite | reports vary between builds. One outlet reported Nanite being used to "maintain high-quality assets while preserving framerate." However, no evidence of Nanite in the build they tested. This may reflect different demo builds at different events |
Lumen | similarly inconsistent reports. Lumen creating "a gloomy and foggy atmosphere," while the game using baked lighting with limited ray-traced shadows rather than full Lumen global illumination |
Virtual Shadow Maps | not used |
These discrepancies likely reflect evolving builds rather than conflicting information. The game's rendering pipeline may have changed between demonstration events.
Hardware ray tracing is confirmed for both PS5 and PC. Ray-traced shadows and reflections are used selectively, primarily in puddles and water surfaces rather than across all materials. S-GAME received technical support from both AMD and NVIDIA for their hardware ray tracing implementation.
The PC version launches with day-one DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation support. This includes ray-traced reflections, ray-traced shadows, and ray-traced caustics. NVIDIA announced this at CES 2026. The combination of DLSS upscaling and frame generation should help maintain high framerates even with ray tracing enabled on supported hardware.
Standard PS5target modes of 2K resolution at 60fps and 4K at 30fps. The aspirational target is 4K at 60fps, or at least stable 45-50fps
PS5 Proconfirmed upgraded visuals with improvements to textures, models, and lighting. Hands-on sessions at Summer Game Fest 2025 and Gamescom 2025 ran on PS5 Pro hardware
The PC version uses Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM, listed on both the Steam and Epic Games Store pages.
Soulframe Liang described the studio's approach as "adopt the most traditional game design approach, avoiding automated mass production." Combat segments are described as "handcrafted" and "thoughtfully" designed. The selective use of UE5 features reflects this philosophy: the team uses specific technologies where they serve the game's visual goals rather than enabling every available option for marketing purposes.
