The bosses on the hardest difficulty mode of the upcoming PS5 action game Phantom Blade Zero have been compared to an opponent in a fighting game, rather than an encounter you can learn the attack patterns of and eventually master.
Speaking in an issue of PC Gamer Magazine (transcribed by GamesRadar), director Qiwei Liang touches on a specific boss called Huangxing. “In normal difficulty, he has some of the Souls-like elements to him: he has fixed combos, and if you fight him enough times, you’ll figure out his combos.”
However, on the hardest difficulty mode called Hellwalker, the AI of Huangxing is upgraded to analyse the situation it’s in and adapt. Different attacks will be used depending on the circumstances, and a state called “lucky draw” will “use the result of his last attack to determine what to do next”. If an attack lands, the combo continues. If it doesn’t, the boss will try something else. According to Liang, the idea came from fighting games and has been fully incorporated into the AI.
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Despite the focus on difficulty, Phantom Blade Zero developer S-GAME has constantly stressed the PS5 title won’t be a Souls-like. There’ll be four difficulty modes for you to choose from, including Hellwalker on the extreme end, and boss encounters should be somewhat manageable if they have two phases. Past previews have revealed that if you make it to a boss’ second phase, you’ll restart there if you die.
We are supposed to get some sort of release date or window for Phantom Blade Zero before the end of this year. This coming week’s strongly rumoured State of Play livestream or The Game Awards in December are potential places such an announcement could be made.
Do you want to test yourself against the hardest Phantom Blade Zero bosses on Hellwalker difficulty? Let us know in the comments below.
[source gamesradar.com]
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