S-GAME Studio has released the first major patch for Phantom Blade Zero, version 1.0302256, which adjusts one of the wuxia action RPG's toughest early bosses alongside a list of performance improvements and bug fixes, Polygon reported.
The most visible change targets Hua, the Deadly Betrothed, an optional early-game boss. According to the patch notes, the update "reduced the frequency of grab attacks used by Hua, Deadly Betrothed on Wayfarer and Pathbreaker difficulties," while other difficulty settings are unaffected.
Polygon described Hua's lunging grab as one of her deadliest attacks. It is telegraphed by a bright red flash but has to be dodged rather than parried or blocked, and she often uses it right after filling much of the screen with spectral white lilies. The change followed player complaints about the fight on Reddit, although Polygon noted that not every player considered the boss overtuned.
On PC, the patch reworks shader compilation to significantly reduce startup times. Ray tracing shaders are no longer compiled by default at startup. Players who had ray tracing disabled need to recompile shaders once on their first launch after installing the patch, while players who had it enabled can start without recompiling. Turning ray tracing on later compiles the required shaders the next time the game restarts.
Other changes listed in the patch notes include:
- New Hit Sound Intensity and Hit Impact Sound Intensity audio options
- Remapping for Interact / Talk on keyboard and controller (PC)
- Improved performance in certain areas and adjusted behavior for certain bosses and enemies
- Reduced stuttering with Bluetooth-connected controllers, and NVIDIA Reflex now working when set to Auto with V-Sync enabled (PC)
- Fixes for progression-blocking issues, characters getting stuck, cutscenes, combat issues and incorrect hair rendering on certain AMD graphics cards
Phantom Blade Zero released in October as a PS5 console exclusive. Polygon reported that it reached a peak of 833,921 concurrent players on Steam and sold 4 million copies in its first 72 hours.
