I’ve been tracking the release of Phantom Blade Zero for several years now, playing the game multiple times over the course of three years, from demos that felt like little more than vertical slices all the way to a multi-hour hands-on at Gamescom this year. For a time, it felt like the game had come out of nowhere; I’d never encountered Chinese developer S-Game’s previous titles, and assumed they were never released outside of the country. However, it turns out I simply wasn’t paying attention, and Phantom Blade Zero is part of a franchise known as Rainblood that’s over 15 years old and features a longtime series protagonist who has only so many days to live, while the games themselves have sought to create their own new genre and style.

Across 2010 and 2011, two Rainblood games were released, with only the first making it to the West via a fan translation apparently approved by the developer, S-Game CEO Qiwei “Soulframe” Liang, and being sold on fan sites. These titles are turn-based RPGs set in the same world as Phantom Blade, and seem to share almost no gameplay DNA with the upcoming triple-A game. In 2013, they were followed up by Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage (yes, Rain Blood is two words now), a Unity-powered hack-and-slash 2D brawler which did actually make its way to Steam and consoles—though the Xbox and PlayStation versions now seem to be delisted.

All three of these games are noticeably unpolished, but make up for it with their striking, dark and twisted interpretation of the Ming Dynasty.

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