17 December 2025

Phantom Blade Zero Took Late Stage Advice From 2025 Game of the Year Winner

By newsgame

As usual, there were a host of major reveals at this year’s Game Awards ceremony, but one of the biggest announcements came from S-GAME’s Phantom Blade Zero. During the show, the highly anticipated action RPG confirmed its official September 9, 2026 release date via a 4-minute trailer showcasing the game’s combat, world, and story. That means from the time the release date was announced to the day the game will be released, Phantom Blade Zero has only 9 months left to put some finishing touches on the experience and ensure it’s in good shape for launch day. And according to a recent interview with the developer, the team may need all the time they can get.

Speaking with Game Rant at The Game Awards, game creator Soulframe explained that Phantom Blade Zero is currently in the fat-trimming phase of development where the team must decide what to keep in the game and what to pull from it. During the conversation, the developer highlighted the importance of this stage of development, as it will determine whether the experience really comes together as something focused and cohesive rather than bloated by ideas that no longer serve the core vision. In fact, S-GAME was even encouraged by the team behind this year’s Game of the Year winner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, to ensure that remains their top priority over the next 9 months.

Phantom Blade Zero Devs Were Encouraged by the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Team to Deliver a Polished Experience

In the modern gaming industry, nothing hits quite as hard as an unpolished game release. Generally, this happens when developers pack their games with far too much content to manage, leaving little room for refinement once the scope gets out of control. Ideas that were strong on paper clash with systems that feel half-finished, and anything that was originally intended to shine is overshadowed by scale and bloat that ends up serving more as a distraction than anything else. This is something S-GAME has been keenly aware of during Phantom Blade Zero‘s development, especially with only months left before release. When asked about how the developer knew it was time to announce a release date, Soulframe replied:

“We have finished most of the game design and mechanics, and most of the landscape design and production. Now, we’re in the phase of putting different parts together. We have to carefully pick what we really need for the final gameplay because the point of developing this game is not to make a very big game, or to fill the game with a lot of unnecessary details. In our philosophy, the game is like a living thing, so every part needs to be organically combined to be something elegant and coherent. We can very easily pack the game with tons of side quests, but what we are doing now is cutting everything we don’t need.”

Rather than chasing scale for its own sake, the studio described this period as one of hard choices and restraint, where cutting content can be just as important as creating it. At this point in Phantom Blade Zero‘s development, it seems the core ideas of the game have been fully fleshed out, and while they may not be in place just yet, S-GAME clearly sees it as a puzzle of sorts where certain concepts fit the framework well and others simply don’t.

“The point of developing this game is not to make a very big game” is a philosophy that appeared to be lost at one point in the industry’s recent history, with developers seemingly prioritizing quantity over quality. As a result, many games were released unfinished, bug-filled, and feeling empty in spite of their massive worlds. As such, it’s refreshing to learn that S-GAME is moving in the opposite direction, with every intent to pick a lane rather than attempting to occupy them all.

That philosophy aligns closely with the advice S-GAME received from the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 team at The Game Awards, who emphasized that the final months before launch are best spent polishing what already works instead of piling on more features. For Phantom Blade Zero, that likely means ensuring its combat systems, progression, and narrative all serve to empower one another, even if it requires leaving certain ideas on the cutting room floor. Soulframe explained:

“I think it will end up being a good game and a coherent game without unnecessary abundance. We just talked with the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer last night, and I think the best advice they gave us is to, with 9 months left, the most important advice is to cut things and polish the rest.”

While it seems like S-GAME was already headed in that direction, getting affirming advice from 2025’s Game of the Year winner is undoubtedly an encouraging reason for continuing down that path. Considering Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched with minimal technical issues and then went on to become one of the most praised RPGs in video game history, if there is any example worth following, it’s that one. It’s unclear if Sandfall actually implemented that strategy during Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s development themselves and are merely offering that advice from experience, but the game’s polished launch state speaks for itself.

With Phantom Blade Zero now in its final stretch, the next 9 months will likely define how the game is remembered long after launch. S-GAME’s willingness to prioritize what serves the game rather than what adds to it, paired with timely advice from a studio that just delivered one of 2025’s most celebrated releases, suggests a level of self awareness that is often missing at this stage of development. Whether every cut ultimately proves to be the right one remains to be seen, but if S-GAME can follow through on that philosophy, Phantom Blade Zero has a real chance to arrive as a confident, polished experience rather than an ambitious one stretched too thin.