Overview
The Phantom World is the fictional universe shared across the Phantom Blade series. It is based on China during the Ming dynasty (14th-16th century) but infused with fantasy elements. The official PlayStation Blog description: "A place where many kinds of powers converge. Here you'll find Chinese Kung Fu, detailed machines reminiscent of steampunk, arts of the occult, and other intriguing elements that don't quite fit into any of these categories."
Kungfupunk
The creative team coined "kungfupunk" to describe the Phantom World's aesthetic. Traditional kung fu sits alongside industrial machinery, cybernetic augmentation, dark fantasy, and horror. The visual style mixes wuxia robes and martial arts stances with mechanical weapons, steam-powered devices, and occult rituals. The term captures how the game deliberately collides historical Chinese martial arts culture with anachronistic technology and supernatural elements.
The jianghu
The Phantom World conveys the atmosphere of the jianghu, the traditional Chinese concept of a domain where folk exist outside the imperial court and government. In the jianghu, martial artists, assassins, and wandering heroes live by clan loyalties and personal codes. The Order is the most powerful institution in this space, working to maintain balance between competing factions.
The Order
The Order is the dominant faction in Phantom Blade Zero. It is a neutral underground institution that uses sabotage, instigation, and assassination to prevent any single faction from gaining total control. The hierarchy has three tiers:
The Wills (7 members): the senior leadership. Known Wills include Mu Tianmiao (Prevailing Will/founder), Inanis, Zuo Shang, Soul, Lackey, Dharma, and one unidentified seventh member
The Hands: middle-tier operatives who implement the Wills' decisions
Instruments: dehumanized operatives described as "warriors taken down by The Order, then reengineered and repurposed"
Named locations
Pang Town is the most prominent location shown in pre-release materials. Other areas include quarries with vertical cliff-face structures, forests, and underground complexes. The game's semi-open map structure connects these regions without loading screens, with multiple paths and hidden shortcuts between them.
Tone and atmosphere
The Phantom World is darker and more grounded than typical wuxia fantasy. Combat results in visible injuries and blood. The Patriarch's murder, the 66-day countdown, and the Instruments' dehumanization all point to a world where power comes at a high cost. Soulframe Liang described the emotional tone as "a Chinese version of John Wick," emphasizing revenge, institutional betrayal, and personal loss.