Phantom Blade Zero composer Caisheng Bo is known as a pioneer in Chinese experimental music. As the soundtrack for the critically acclaimed action game gets announced for release today – a four-disc, 81-track audio adventure published by Milan Records – the music publisher shares the intriguing backstory of this soundtrack. "The musical story of Phantom Blade Zero began 18 years ago, when Caisheng Bo and Soulframe Liang—one in high school and the other in graduate school—were working on their indie game Rainblood 2: City of Flames, which would later evolve into the Phantom Blade franchise."

Bo, based in Beijing and a graduate of the University of Virginia in the US, spoke with IGN on the eve of the soundtrack's release.

IGN: From what I've seen of Phantom Blade Zero, the music very much ties in with some of the folklore and cultural themes explored in the game. Can you discuss how you sought to express this through music?

Bao: In traditional Chinese music, each instrument has developed a rigid set of associations—what it represents and how it should be used. I see this as a form of stereotyped expression. The erhu, a Chinese two-string bowed fiddle, is most often used to depict heroic action and the sorrow of personal endeavour. The pipa, a Chinese four-string lute, is associated with a feminine image and with danger on the battlefield. Anything outside these conventions may seem out of context.

This is the narrative I want to challenge in the music of Phantom Blade Zero.

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