An intense side-scrolling hack and slash ARPG coming soon| Beta Review - Phantom Blade: Executioners

224594

Phantom Blade: Executioners is a 2D side-scrolling martial arts hack and slash game available on PC, Android, and iOS, featuring full crossplay functionality. It is currently hosting a live open beta test from June 26 to July 10, 2023.

🟩Pros

+Four characters that players can all play, each with their own progression

+Unique art style, a blend of Chinese Art and Anime.

+Plethora of unlockable skills that can be mixed, matched, and synergized with each other

+Clever approach to its combo chains combat system

+Crossplay with PC, Android, and iOS

🟥Cons

-Minor performance problems

-Floaty and unresponsive controls especially for the combat

-Mixed voice acting quality

📝Notable points:

*No automated or idle mechanics

*These pros and cons are based on beta build and does not accurately represent the quality of the finished product

Not to be confused with the similarly titled AAA third-person hack and slash game Phantom Blade Zero, which unsurprisingly comes from the same developers, S-Game. Phantom Blade: Executioners takes a completely mobile-centric approach to the beloved Phantom Blade franchise.

The art style of the game is reminiscent of traditional Chinese drawings blended with anime-style graphics the game calls "Kung fu punk", resulting in a unique art style that visually stands out. Each playable character in the game is voice acted, adding depth to the story cutscenes and reflecting a change in voice-overs depending on the selected character.

The story is decent and involves love, vengeance, and centers around a corrupted power called Sha-Chi which turns everything into monsters. When it comes to the voice acting, I found it to be a mixed bag. While there is evidently extra effort put into the performances, many of them come across as cheesy, and unfortunately, the poorly written dialogues don't do much to improve the overall quality. But, that's not the main highlight of this game.

Moving on to combat, Phantom Blade: Executioners offers a fast-paced  experience that requires players to utilize two-button abilities along with dodge/roll, jump, and parry/block actions. The game provides a plethora of unlockable abilities/skills that can be mixed, matched, and synergized to create amazing combos.

The developers have taken a very clever approach to combat combos, ensuring that it doesn't rely heavily on extreme memorization or finger bending combinations. Instead, players can pre-set up to two combo chains in their character's settings. By executing a preset combo chain, players only need to press the assigned ability button. However, this doesn't mean that the game doesn't require any reflexes at all. There are still plenty of opportunities for movement and agility through the dodge and parry maneuvers available. Although you can automate the combo flow once you press the button to kickstart the action, there are no fully automated or idle mechanics so the player will have to press every movement they want to make in this game.

Phantom Blade: Executioners shares some similarities with souls-like games, featuring a high level of difficulty and a focus on reflexes and timed actions. Enemies will telegraph their attacks in a variety of ways, and it never felt unfair because of the visible warning indicators before their powerful attacks.

However, I did notice that the controls in the game felt somewhat floaty and unresponsive. One reason for this is the noticeable delay due to the wind-up time required for most skills to activate. This delay can impact the responsiveness of the controls, making precise timing a bit challenging at times. I’ve also encountered minor performance issues with the game freezing or performing poorly at times.

Additionally, although the game is a side-scrolling hack and slash, players do have the ability to move "up" and "down" within the game environment. However, there isn't a proper animation for these movements, resulting in the characters appearing to skate upwards or downwards like retro titles. This aspect may feel mechanically outdated and could detract from the overall immersion and fluidity of the gameplay experience.

The game offers four unique characters: Soul, ZuoShang, Mu, and The Chord, representing the Swordsman, Heavy Swordsman, Agile Swordswoman, and Ranged Support Hero classes respectively. Players have the ability to create and play each character separately on a single account. These characters do not share resources or energy/stamina credits, except for the premium currency used in the shop. This allows players to switch between the characters and continue playing. It's important to note that when selecting a different character for the first time, the tutorials, story progression, and level advancement also start from scratch.

In addition to the main story, the game revolves around taking on missions to complete, transporting us into a 2.5D environment, a mini-open world divided into instances filled with enemies, events, side-quests, choices, and a boss fight at the end. There is also an asynchronous PvP system where you can enter a zone and you will get matched with an exact replica of another player's character which can give rewards if defeated.

The combined power of all characters contributes to the Organization level of the account, providing incremental base stat boosts known as Organization buffs for all characters. This, along with the separate energy credits, serves as an incentive for players to engage with and play each character in the game.

Given that the heroes are chosen in advance, the gacha system instead revolves around acquiring and attaching Phantoms to skills. Phantoms act as spirits or avatars that activate when the associated skill is used. Players have the flexibility to attach any Phantom to any skill, as long as they remain within the character's maximum perception limit – which increases as characters level. More powerful phantoms will cost more perceptions, so It’s not always about equipping the most powerful phantom if you want a more spread out Phantoms for all your skills.

The itemization is taken from a standard ARPG system, which will probably feel very familiar to Diablo fans. Characters can equip gear in different body slots, and players can find epic items with powerful bonuses and even set items that give huge bonuses when equipped together.

Conclusion:

The beta test version of Phantom Blade: Executioners delivers an engaging 2D martial arts hack and slash experience across PC and mobile platforms. Its unique art style blends traditional Chinese aesthetics with Anime graphics. While the voice acting and the floaty controls may have its flaws, the fast-paced combat system and its customizable combo chains provides a unique and customizable combat experience that hack and slash RPG fans will surely appreciate.