Phantom Blade Zero—an upcoming action game from Chinese studio S-Game—was developed with no artificial intelligence, according to the studio’s chief executive officer, Qiwei “Soulframe” Liang.
Phantom Blade Zero Doesn’t Use AI
“We are fully aware that a profound technological revolution is unfolding around us. However, to this day, every single piece of content in our game has been crafted by the hands of real artists,” Liang wrote in a social media post. “We will not use AI visual tech that could alter our artists’ original creative intent.”
“Our character models are built upon 3D scans of our phenomenal cast, who also provided the facial capture performances. The voice acting in both Chinese and English has been meticulously refined by our dedicated actors, complete with full lip-syncing for both languages,” the post continues.
Liang is immediately addressing the three most common uses for AI: asset generation, translation and voice generation. It’s becoming increasingly rare for a studio to wholeheartedly reject the notion of using AI, as it’s becoming vogue to make fanciful appeals to efficiency and “enabling creativity.”
“Our combat is motion captured by over twenty highly experienced martial artists. To capture the most authentic kung-fu techniques, we consulted directly with the masters and inheritors of traditional martial arts schools,” Liang continued. “When we needed authentic swordplay, we invited sword masters from Mount Emei; when we needed lion dance choreography, we brought in lion dance masters from Guangdong.”
“We also visited many stunning locations across China, from ancestral halls in Fujian to ancient towns in Zhejiang, and even old steel factories in Beijing. We scanned these places and reimagined them in unexpected combinations to build something truly original: the visual identity we created and defined as Kungfu-punk,” the post reads.
Xbox Players Will Be Waiting A While To Play Phantom Blade Zero
At least there won’t be as much confusion as Black Myth: Wukong.
Point being, S-Game understands the importance of authenticity and allowing its creatives to shape the world of Phantom Blade Zero, rather than simply inputting a prompt into a limited language model to generate something tired and derivative.
“We firmly believe that human artistry is not merely a means of creating value; it is the value itself,” Liang declared. “S-Game didn’t just hire a group of developers to make a game; rather, in our pursuit of continuously building an exceptional, passionate team, we decided to make a game that everyone here could be deeply proud of.”
Phantom Blade Zero releases on September 9, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam.
Phantom Blade Zero
- Released
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September 9, 2026
- ESRB
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Unreal Engine 5
- Developer(s)
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S-Game
- Publisher(s)
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S-Game
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
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Phantom Blade
