Phantom Blade: Executioners is a free-to-play side-scrolling action role-playing video game developed and published by S-GAME.

Story

Once upon a, the Phantom World was hit by a series of horrendous incidents. Members of well-respected clans and sects sought power from a body-engineering technique known as Sha-Chi Mod. They gain inhuman power, but often at the cost of their sanity.

To stop such killing sprees, the Organization, a powerful institute that maintains law and order behind the scene, sent out its elite agents to investigate. They found the same claw-shaped mark on all victims of Sha-Chi Mod, each talon representing a mastermind

Obviously these cases are connected. Planned, even. As the agents venture further, they are led toward a grand scheme that ties to the very origin of the Organization.

Kungfupunk

“Kungfupunk,” the cornerstone of the PHANTOM BLADE franchise, is a fusion of kungfu movies of the 1970s to 1990s, cyberpunk, and steampunk.

Similar approaches have been tried by Japanese creators / artists, namely, putting ninjas and samurais in ultra-modern settings. In our implementation, we are taking the most iconic, timeless parts of Chinese culture and breathing a new life into them.

Keywords

• Phantom World – The Phantom World is a vast fantasy world with highly detailed / varied terrains and history. Costumes and architecture are mostly based on Chinese conventions back in the 14th to 7th century, augmented with modern adaption.
• Organization – The Organization is a manipulating force pulling strings behind the scene, trying to maintain law and order in a world full of ambitious conspirators. Its founder, an extremely powerful kungfu master in his own right, was pursuing a vision way ahead of his time. Few of his contemporaries recognized his values. The Organization flourished and quickly withered as the founder’s charisma waned. The story of Phantom Blade: Executioners happened during the Organization’s brief heyday.
• Five Playable Characters – Soul, Mu Xiaokui, The Chord, and Zuo Shang and her lackey. There are five playable characters as of now, each with multiple class advancement routes.
• Sha-Chi Mod – Sha-Chi Mod is an engineering technique that replaces human body parts with artificial implants (or the kungfu equivalent of them), granting its subjects tremendous power overnight. A major drawback is that it has a negative effect (chronic or acute) on the subject’s sanity, turning them into frenzy killing machines. In a world where physical prowess is everything, the social impact of Sha-Chi Mod is devastating.
• Dark Humanity – Respectable kungfu masters fall victim to Sha-Chi Mod. Most of them are well-aware of the consequence, but made the decision nonetheless. Some believe they are the special few. Some simply need it to solve crises at hand. Some are so disillusioned by those they’ve been trying to help and find the loss of humanity may not be such a big deal after all. Storylines of Phantom Blade are woven around the imperfections and shining moments of humanity.

Art

• 2D Art – We are huge fans of 2D arts. From Muramasa: The Demon Blade to 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Hades, and Hollow Knight, we see the reason of NOT going 3D, and have tinkered elaborately with technologies to make 2D art truly shine. The root in Chinese culture is another reason why we are so adamantly pursuing 2D art. Chinese traditional painting is too much a wealth to ignore. With refined technology, we are exploring the boundaries of 2D art in our own way.
• Fluid Animation – Balance is the key word. On the one hand, IK animation tend to be lacking in fine details, on the other hand, animation hand-drawn per-frame in the traditional way does not have the efficiency for mass production. With an arsenal of proprietary tools, we are taking the best of both worlds, augmenting CG animation with the talented touch of real artists.
• Impressive Cinematics – Every Overdrive (the most powerful move of playable characters) comes with a full-screen cutscene made to a standard no less than what one would expect from professional anime studios. 100 percent hand-drown, fleshed out in glorious details.
• 2D, Yet 3D – The scenography of Phantom Blade: Executioners represents scrolls of traditional Chinese painting, yet players traverse scenes with a actual depth, instead of “height” as typical in Metroidvania games.

Gameplay

• Approachability – We are fans of dazzling, fast action, like what Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden are known for. It’s exhilarating, it’s satisfying, but at the same time, it’s brutally hard. “Approachability” is a real thing in game design. We want to make an action game that is just as cool, yet doesn’t turn / scare people away.
• Choreography – The combo chain system makes use of only two buttons, but the possibility is infinite. Be as creative as you like and don’t worry about clumsy fingers.
• Character Growth – Great combo chains only get you this far. To stand up to challenges, you’ll need more way to grow your characters. Phantom Blade: Executioners offers plenty of options through Phantoms, equipment, and engravings, items that you can find and enhance in the game.
• Story Content – As of now, Phantom Blade: Executioners has eight story chapters, in other words, more than 50 hours of quality gaming. More updates will come in intervals of approximately three months, bringing to the table additional story contents and playable characters.
• Side Stories – Outside the main story arc, there are tons of side quests and random events to keep players occupied (and rewarded). Explore different ways of doing things and feel the impact of choices.
• Endgame Content – The fun stretches beyond the storyline. Even if you’ve finished, the game, there are plenty of things to do. Try ParaWulin challenges and procedurally generated stages for even better random loots. And there are cooperative / confrontational multiplayer modes!

Business Model

• Games as a Service – Games as a service, if done right (balanced, experience-driven), creates tremendous replay value and sustainable growth. With games as a service, developers and players establish a lasting relationship that is very hard to achieve (if possible at all) in traditional retail models. To maintain a loyal fan base, developers must keep churning out new contents of consistent quality. That is the vision we have for Phantom Blade: Executioners.
• Costumes – We are making that happen in multiple ways, most profoundly with costumes in Phantom Blade: Executioners. Costumes are cosmetic in-game items that alter character appearances, sometimes even special effects of their moves, with no actual impact on the gameplay. They are sold separately. With each update, we provide more costumes for each playable character. Players can brag about their newest look in multiplayer sessions and public profiles.
  • Crossover – Costumes in Phantom Blade: Executioners are also a great way of tie-in marketing. We have seen success in costumes developed in cooperation with other games of similar theme / style. Samples shown here are tie-in costumes made for / with Nioh (Japanese game) and Blades of the Guardians (Chinese manga).
• Gacha of Phantoms – Gacha has become an integral part of mobile games. It is present in Phantom Blade: Executioners, but strictly optional. Every Phantom can get from the gacha system can be found in random loots. Paying the premium simply makes things happen faster. Plus, having more / better Phantoms doesn’t make your characters indefinitely more powerful.
• Battle Pass – To foster sustained engagement, Phantom Blade: Executioners offers battle passes that reward loyal players at a lower cost, or no cost at all—basic battle passes are available to free players, too.