IGN's US review of Phantom Blade Zero is strongly positive about its combat and boss encounters, with reservations about the story and technical problems. It covers a completed playthrough, rather than just an early demonstration. If you are deciding whether to buy, the useful question is how those strengths and drawbacks match your priorities.
What IGN's reviewer actually tested
Reviewer Travis Northup describes reaching the credits after about 50 hours while pursuing optional encounters. His experience is a useful reference point, with specific limits:
| Reported scope | What you can take from it |
|---|---|
| A playthrough extending to the credits | The verdict considers more than the opening hours. Fifty hours is his reported playtime, not a promised main-story length. |
| Playing on the hardest difficulty | His assessment reflects his action-game experience. It does not establish how every difficulty setting will feel to you. |
| Comparing performance with his earlier preview | He reports improvement alongside a troublesome area. The account does not supply a repeatable hardware-and-settings benchmark. |
The reviewed platform and an exact build number are not established in the available article text. Use platform-specific testing before treating this as evidence for your own PC or PS5 performance.
Decide which parts of the verdict matter to you
If combat variety is your priority, IGN's enthusiasm is relevant: Northup praises how the fighting holds his interest across different weapons and encounters. Watching the review video can help you judge whether that pace appeals to you; it also contains gameplay spoilers.
Combat illustration from existing site media; not an IGN benchmark or a capture from its review session.
If story or technical polish is central to your purchase, pay closer attention to his criticisms of the narrative, environmental collision and uneven performance. His suggestion that a patch could help is an expectation, not confirmation that those issues have been fixed.
For the numerical rating, check the original IGN US review. This page does not reproduce an independently confirmed US score. IGN Portugal is a separate editorial review; its rating should not be substituted for the US verdict.
Compare the wider picture
Check the Metacritic status and OpenCritic status for the broader critic picture, or read the review embargo explanation for timing and scope. Our review and preview comparison places the different reports alongside one another.