Master Soul finds himself in a strange valley, far away from Pangzhen, and must now find his way through the Weeping Creek Valley.
With only 66 days to live, Soul must navigate his way through the valley and figure out how to reach the town to fulfill his deal with the Flesh Sculptor.
Note: This is part of our ongoing series covering Phantom Blade Zero, so check back for more insights and tips.
- Explore The Forest Valley
- Follow the Path Upstream
- How Bells Work
- Continue Through The Valley
- Unlock The Triple Threat Tale
- Continue Following The Path Upstream
- First Meeting With Yu’er
- Unlock The Flesh Lily Tale
- Find The Great Waterfall
- Unlock The Red Thread Barrier
- Unlock The Four Fierce Axes Tale
- Defeat Jagged Steel, The Frenzied Brute
Explore The Forest Valley After the fall, Soul finds himself injured in a forest area. Hold the prompt displayed on screen to get him back on his feet . Soul still needs to get to Pangzhen, but first, he needs to figure out where he landed and where the route is. For now, the only way is forward. This is where the game opens up, allowing you to check the map, explore, and even get markers on your map for areas that you cannot access yet, along with quest objectives and much more. For example, if you look back from your starting area, you will see a chest on the platform below, but you cannot reach it. The game marks it on your map and even showcases the required weapon to reach it.
Follow the Path Upstream
Follow the path upstream and progress through the valley. Soul will start hearing a strange weeping from a distance, which unlocks a new quest, “Whence The Weeping”.
One thing to note is that quests in this game work a bit differently and are pretty lengthy. This means that Tales Story and Tales quests can extend across different regions and chapters.
While sometimes you get objective markers directing you toward the next step, a lot of the time, you won’t get any tracking, and you simply need to explore.
For now, ignore the Whence The Weeping quest and keep making your way forward through the valley. Along the way, you encounter some enemies harassing an old man. Defeat the enemies.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to start practicing your parries, beginning with these basic enemies, because you need to master this mechanic to make your life easier in this game.
After you deal with these enemies, speak with the old man, and he directs Soul to reach the village upstream. Climb up the wall ahead, and you will find a Bell in front of you.
Soul still needs to get to Pangzhen, but first, he needs to figure out where he landed and where the route is. For now, the only way is forward.
How Bells Work
As you approach the Bell, you will hear a woman’s voice, belonging to Inaris, telling you about how the Bell works.
Bells act as checkpoints, and whenever you touch one, it reveals the surrounding area on your map and restores your HP and Medicine.
Keep in mind that this is not a Soulslike, so if you kill enemies and touch the Bell again, they do not respawn.
For now, the Bell has only a few options. The first one allows you to train abilities and unlock new skills for Soul using Remnant Dust, and you can also save your progress here.
The starting abilities only require Remnant Dust, but as you progress and upgrade your abilities further, you’ll need to collect Blackstone, Sha-Chi Ambers, and Blue Flowers to increase your attributes and unlock additional abilities.
These items are found as shards, meaning you need to collect multiple shards of the same item to form one complete item.
For example, collecting four Blackstone Shards gives you one Blackstone, which increases your Attack Power and Guard Break Percentage. The same goes for the other two. For now, you can unlock Fluid Form for free, so be sure to do so.
An important thing to keep in mind is that the game’s saving system seems a bit odd. While it does save automatically when touching a Bell, be sure to always keep a manual save just in case.
You unlock more features at the Bell as you progress through the game.
Continue Through The Valley
When you’re done interacting with the Bell, move forward and defeat the two enemies here. On the right side, pick up the green loot to obtain the Blood Letter of Despair book. Books are collectible items in this game.
Climb up the rock ahead and keep following the path forward, defeating the enemies along the way. At the end of this path, by the waterfall, you can pick up some Remnant Dust.
Now, climb up to the left and follow the wooden log. As you cross, you will see a short cutscene of birds flying away as if they are scared. Follow the wooden platforms here and defeat the enemies.
Next to the ladder, pick up another book item, then climb up the ladder. At the top, there are some enemies, and you can sneak up on them to assassinate them.
Simply crouch, walk slowly behind them, then press the execute button to perform an assassination.
Sprint along the wall to reach the other side, then take the stairs up. To the right, you will find a ladder.
Take it down, and you will reach a Bell. Interact with it.
Follow the Path Upstream
Follow the path upstream and progress through the valley. Soul will start hearing a strange weeping from a distance, which unlocks a new quest, “Whence The Weeping”.
One thing to note is that quests in this game work a bit differently and are pretty lengthy. This means that Tales Story and Tales quests can extend across different regions and chapters.
While sometimes you get objective markers directing you toward the next step, a lot of the time, you won’t get any tracking, and you simply need to explore.
For now, ignore the Whence The Weeping quest and keep making your way forward through the valley. Along the way, you encounter some enemies harassing an old man. Defeat the enemies.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to start practicing your parries, beginning with these basic enemies, because you need to master this mechanic to make your life easier in this game.
After you deal with these enemies, speak with the old man, and he directs Soul to reach the village upstream. Climb up the wall ahead, and you will find a Bell in front of you.
How Bells Work
As you approach the Bell, you will hear a woman’s voice, belonging to Inaris, telling you about how the Bell works.
Bells act as checkpoints, and whenever you touch one, it reveals the surrounding area on your map and restores your HP and Medicine.
Keep in mind that this is not a Soulslike, so if you kill enemies and touch the Bell again, they do not respawn.
For now, the Bell has only a few options. The first one allows you to train abilities and unlock new skills for Soul using Remnant Dust, and you can also save your progress here.
The starting abilities only require Remnant Dust, but as you progress and upgrade your abilities further, you’ll need to collect Blackstone, Sha-Chi Ambers, and Blue Flowers to increase your attributes and unlock additional abilities.
These items are found as shards, meaning you need to collect multiple shards of the same item to form one complete item.
For example, collecting four Blackstone Shards gives you one Blackstone, which increases your Attack Power and Guard Break Percentage. The same goes for the other two. For now, you can unlock Fluid Form for free, so be sure to do so.
An important thing to keep in mind is that the game’s saving system seems a bit odd. While it does save automatically when touching a Bell, be sure to always keep a manual save just in case.
You unlock more features at the Bell as you progress through the game.
Continue Through The Valley
When you’re done interacting with the Bell, move forward and defeat the two enemies here. On the right side, pick up the green loot to obtain the Blood Letter of Despair book. Books are collectible items in this game.
Climb up the rock ahead and keep following the path forward, defeating the enemies along the way. At the end of this path, by the waterfall, you can pick up some Remnant Dust.
Now, climb up to the left and follow the wooden log. As you cross, you will see a short cutscene of birds flying away as if they are scared. Follow the wooden platforms here and defeat the enemies.
Next to the ladder, pick up another book item, then climb up the ladder. At the top, there are some enemies, and you can sneak up on them to assassinate them.
Simply crouch, walk slowly behind them, then press the execute button to perform an assassination.
Sprint along the wall to reach the other side, then take the stairs up. To the right, you will find a ladder.
Take it down, and you will reach a Bell. Interact with it.
Unlock The Triple Threat Tale In front of this Bell, you will find a strange rift coming from the broken statue that you can interact with. Out of curiosity, go ahead and enter the rift . You will be transported to another realm, where you will find an extremely powerful boss, the Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet. You are not supposed to fight her now, but just so you know, this encounter is available. After you die to her, even Soul himself mentions that he cannot handle this fight right now. This unlocks Triple Threat Tales and marks the fight on your map , so you can return to it when you get stronger.
In front of this Bell, you will find a strange rift coming from the broken statue that you can interact with. Out of curiosity, go ahead and enter the rift.
You will be transported to another realm, where you will find an extremely powerful boss, the Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet. You are not supposed to fight her now, but just so you know, this encounter is available.
After you die to her, even Soul himself mentions that he cannot handle this fight right now. This unlocks Triple Threat Tales and marks the fight on your map, so you can return to it when you get stronger.
Continue Following The Path Upstream Climb the ladder up and use the wall to reach the other side . In the corner, you will find some purple loot that you can pick up. This is a Traversal Talisman, which allows you to travel to any previously visited Bell when you’re not close to one . Jump across using the chain and defeat the enemy here to obtain a new accessory called the Hunter’s Insight. Make sure you equip it, as it increases damage dealt and Sha-Chi depletion against attacking enemies by 7% .
Climb the ladder up and use the wall to reach the other side. In the corner, you will find some purple loot that you can pick up.
This is a Traversal Talisman, which allows you to travel to any previously visited Bell when you’re not close to one.
Jump across using the chain and defeat the enemy here to obtain a new accessory called the Hunter’s Insight.
Make sure you equip it, as it increases damage dealt and Sha-Chi depletion against attacking enemies by 7%.
First Meeting With Yu’er Follow the path to the right, making your way around the mountain , then use the chain to get across and the other chain to go all the way down. At the bottom, you will find a campsite with a young lady who looks scared. Soul approaches and speaks to her. This is Yu’er, and she escaped from Pangzhen because of all the mess happening there.
Follow the path to the right, making your way around the mountain, then use the chain to get across and the other chain to go all the way down.
At the bottom, you will find a campsite with a young lady who looks scared. Soul approaches and speaks to her. This is Yu’er, and she escaped from Pangzhen because of all the mess happening there.
Unlock The Flesh Lily Tale Her father is sick, which is why she had to get out of there and find a rare flower from a medicinal recipe to cure his illness. Exhaust all of Yu’er’s dialogue when prompted to receive the Flesh Lily Tale. Just as you leave the conversation and Soul departs with her, Yu’er tries to give him her lucky charm, but Soul kindly refuses and gives it back to her. She then starts to cry. He specifically says, “Sometimes holding back your tears is all you can do to keep your spirit alive.” This line will come back later in the game. Don’t worry about this Tale for now, as you won’t be able to progress it anytime soon.
Her father is sick, which is why she had to get out of there and find a rare flower from a medicinal recipe to cure his illness. Exhaust all of Yu’er’s dialogue when prompted to receive the Flesh Lily Tale.
Just as you leave the conversation and Soul departs with her, Yu’er tries to give him her lucky charm, but Soul kindly refuses and gives it back to her. She then starts to cry.
He specifically says, “Sometimes holding back your tears is all you can do to keep your spirit alive.” This line will come back later in the game.
Don’t worry about this Tale for now, as you won’t be able to progress it anytime soon.
Find The Great Waterfall Don’t worry about Yu’er’s Tale. For now, we need to continue forward. Climb up the rock , and at the end, you will find some golden loot. Pick it up to obtain the Sanguine Twin. This is a new weapon that you can equip and try out. Climb up the ladder and interact with the Bell here to reveal the surrounding map. Make sure to unlock new abilities and save your progress.
Don’t worry about Yu’er’s Tale. For now, we need to continue forward.
Climb up the rock, and at the end, you will find some golden loot. Pick it up to obtain the Sanguine Twin.
This is a new weapon that you can equip and try out.
Climb up the ladder and interact with the Bell here to reveal the surrounding map. Make sure to unlock new abilities and save your progress.
Unlock The Red Thread Barrier Follow the path toward the red thread . A few enemies are blocking the way, and defeating them grants you a new accessory called the Battle Wraps. This increases the damage you deal to enemies by 5% . Now, make your way toward the red thread barrier and interact with the Bell nearby. You won’t be able to progress past the barrier, and if you look up, you will see a singular red thread leading toward the left. That’s where you need to go. Use the chain to cross and follow this thread . This leads you to the ground-level area, where you need to descend using the wooden platforms . Directly under the platform where there is the ladder, you can pick up a collectible book. Drop down and interact with the Bell ahead to reveal the map.
Follow the path toward the red thread. A few enemies are blocking the way, and defeating them grants you a new accessory called the Battle Wraps. This increases the damage you deal to enemies by 5%.
Now, make your way toward the red thread barrier and interact with the Bell nearby. You won’t be able to progress past the barrier, and if you look up, you will see a singular red thread leading toward the left. That’s where you need to go.
Use the chain to cross and follow this thread. This leads you to the ground-level area, where you need to descend using the wooden platforms.
Directly under the platform where there is the ladder, you can pick up a collectible book. Drop down and interact with the Bell ahead to reveal the map.
Unlock The The Four Fierce Axes Tale To the right of the Bell, there is another book that you can pick up. To the left of it, go inside the house , where you can find a book on the table. Picking it up unlocks the Four Fierce Axes Tale. This is another Tale that you won’t be able to progress right now, so don’t worry about it. Head forward toward the tangled red threads, where you need to find the enemy causing the barrier. This enemy is unlike the others, as he has a shield. Since you don’t have any shield-breaking weapons, your best option for defeating this enemy is to counter his blue-flash attacks to Shadow Step behind him and deal damage . After you defeat the enemy, you will see that the red thread starts fading, and with it, the thread barrier is now open. Before you leave, be sure to open the chest ahead to obtain a Sha-Chi Amber Shard . From the nearest Bell, fast travel to the Red Thread Barrier Bell and go ahead. You will get a short cutscene where Soul is ambushed by two enemies. From a distance, you can see the chains of a familiar sickle grabbing those enemies and throwing them away. After this, you hear The Hunt calling out to Soul and waiting for him. Didn’t we just kill The Hunt? It seems he survived and is now waiting for Soul to seek revenge and claim his bounty.
To the right of the Bell, there is another book that you can pick up. To the left of it, go inside the house, where you can find a book on the table. Picking it up unlocks the Four Fierce Axes Tale.
This is another Tale that you won’t be able to progress right now, so don’t worry about it.
Head forward toward the tangled red threads, where you need to find the enemy causing the barrier. This enemy is unlike the others, as he has a shield.
Since you don’t have any shield-breaking weapons, your best option for defeating this enemy is to counter his blue-flash attacks to Shadow Step behind him and deal damage.
After you defeat the enemy, you will see that the red thread starts fading, and with it, the thread barrier is now open.
Before you leave, be sure to open the chest ahead to obtain a Sha-Chi Amber Shard. From the nearest Bell, fast travel to the Red Thread Barrier Bell and go ahead.
You will get a short cutscene where Soul is ambushed by two enemies. From a distance, you can see the chains of a familiar sickle grabbing those enemies and throwing them away.
Defeat Jagged Steel, The Frenzied Brute
As soon as you enter the boss arena, you will find Jagged Steel fighting two enemies. So either get rid of them yourself or let him take care of them.
Jagged Steel uses a sword, and each slash builds up the Bleed status effect. Once the effect builds up completely, it can drain a significant portion of your HP.
For the most part, the boss uses a variety of sword combos, sometimes ending them with a Flash Attack, either blue or red.
His sword attacks include several combos of two to four slashes, as well as a spinning attack where he swings his blade while moving toward you.
Your main focus here is to parry as many attacks as possible to drain his Sha-Chi while preserving your own. Whenever you break his guard, be sure to use your Power Surge attack to deal significant damage.
The Bleed buildup meter is displayed above your health. It’s recommended that you keep an eye on it, so whenever the meter is almost filled, you can simply back away and wait for it to drain before engaging again.
This is more of a tutorial boss fight where you can practice parrying and its timing, so it should be manageable.
After you defeat Jagged Steel, The Frenzied Brute, you receive his weapon as a reward. This is a great starting weapon since it inflicts Bleeding, so we recommend using it.
Note: To be continued
Progress forward through the opening in the thread, pick up the note along the way, and get ready for a boss fight against Jagged Steel.
Defeat Jagged Steel, The Frenzied Brute
As soon as you enter the boss arena, you will find Jagged Steel fighting two enemies. So either get rid of them yourself or let him take care of them.
Jagged Steel uses a sword, and each slash builds up the Bleed status effect. Once the effect builds up completely, it can drain a significant portion of your HP.
For the most part, the boss uses a variety of sword combos, sometimes ending them with a Flash Attack, either blue or red.
His sword attacks include several combos of two to four slashes, as well as a spinning attack where he swings his blade while moving toward you.
Your main focus here is to parry as many attacks as possible to drain his Sha-Chi while preserving your own. Whenever you break his guard, be sure to use your Power Surge attack to deal significant damage.
The Bleed buildup meter is displayed above your health. It’s recommended that you keep an eye on it, so whenever the meter is almost filled, you can simply back away and wait for it to drain before engaging again.
This is more of a tutorial boss fight where you can practice parrying and its timing, so it should be manageable.
After you defeat Jagged Steel, The Frenzied Brute, you receive his weapon as a reward. This is a great starting weapon since it inflicts Bleeding, so we recommend using it.
That wraps up another walkthrough for Phantom Blade Zero; thanks for reading!
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Former Staff Writer with experience across various gaming titles.