Phantom Blade Zero performs well on PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro, but its 40fps balanced mode suffers from serious frame pacing issues, according to a technical analysis by Digital Foundry. The outlet recommends performance mode on both consoles, citing its generally stable frame rate and the limited visual differences between the available settings.
Built on Unreal Engine 5, the martial arts action game stands out for its animation and interactive environments. Digital Foundry highlighted how foliage reacts to the player’s movement and sword strikes, while the main character’s hair and clothing move dynamically during combat.
On the base PS5, players can choose between performance mode targeting 60fps, balanced mode targeting 40fps, and graphics mode targeting 30fps. Shadow quality provides the main visual difference between the modes, with graphics mode offering noticeably better results. Internal resolution ranges from approximately 900p to 1080p in performance mode and around 1440p in graphics mode, although dynamic resolution scaling means these figures vary during gameplay.
Digital Foundry found that performance mode mostly maintains 60fps, with occasional brief drops, while graphics mode generally delivers a stable 30fps. However, the latter can sometimes fail to maintain its frame rate cap, resulting in visible judder.
Balanced mode is the biggest concern. Although it targets 40fps with a 120Hz output, Digital Foundry described its frame pacing as “totally busted”. Enabling variable refresh rate (VRR) through the console’s system settings did not resolve the issue.
The PS5 Pro offers the same three display modes, alongside a ray tracing toggle that affects shadows, reflections, and global illumination. Digital Foundry believes the setting enables hardware Lumen. Reflections show clearer geometric detail, while global illumination improves slightly, although the analysis found no meaningful change to shadows.
The PS5 Pro also appears to use Sony’s PSSR upscaling technology instead of Unreal Engine’s TSR, producing a sharper image in motion, particularly in performance mode. Frame rates remain broadly in line with the base PS5, including the balanced mode’s frame pacing problems, while enabling the additional ray tracing features has little impact on performance.
