Tom is an expert in all things Fortnite or the latest RPG release, but is probably spending too much time on the latest EA FC game.
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The music in Phantom Blade Zero is phenomenal. Whether it be as you’re exploring the mysterious world or across three different stages in a boss fight, it’s always right at the forefront of the action. I visited S-Game’s studio in Beijing to speak to the team behind Phantom Blade Zero, and I chatted with Caisheng Bo, the game’s composer, about how the game’s music came to be.
Interestingly, the process for making Phantom Blade Zero’s music wasn’t a conventional one. “The music is very important. Unlike other games, music isn’t an afterthought. [In other games] you have to finish the game first, or at least you have to reach a certain point, and then you find a musician to compose for the game. But for Phantom Blade, it’s completely different. Like I, for some boss fights, I composed the music first,” Bo told me.
Having met Soulframe (S), the game’s Creative Director, at college in the USA, they have a long-held trust in each other. S knows the style of music Bo likes to create, and is confident that it’ll work in his vision of the game. That’s why the composer was able to create music for the game long before S had designed the bosses, figured out the staging, or thought about whether the music would fit into the structure.
“‘Okay, this sounds good. Yeah, let me create a boss to match your music,'” Bo said, quoting Soulframe. “I think for the line dance boss, it was back in 2023. He asked me to compose a piece. I was like, ‘Do you have the art design?’ He’s like, ‘No, nothing. Just give me something. Just inspire me.’ I was like, ‘Okay,’ but we didn’t end up using the piece; it was too early. So for Phantom Blade Zero, since we’ve started as an indie game developer, we’re used to that kind of workflow,” Bo explained.
Playing the game, you’d never know that, either. The music isn’t there as an addition or mood piece; it’s a real character in what’s happening on screen. There’s a real style, confidence, and quality to the music that really matches the gameplay, particularly in the spectacular boss fights.
You’re going to be surprised by what you hear, too. The game isn’t full of sweeping orchestral scores and familiar emotional beats; instead, Bo had a vision to create something unique.
“A very clear vision is that I wanted to blend the traditional Chinese stuff with the modern side of China,” he said. “I’m a big fan of rock music, big fan of metal, and electronic dance music. So I want to bring all that goodness and blend it with the Chinese instruments. I don’t think a lot of people have done it, which is a shame because a lot of Chinese instruments, like the musicians, the players, they’ve always been trained to play the old pieces, the pieces created 500 years ago. So I told them [the musicians] I wanted to do something new, and they were like, ‘Yeah, sure, let’s do it.’ It’s a great opportunity to sort of innovate and get the fresh stuff out there for everyone to listen to.”
Not every piece of music that Bo composed made its way into the final game, though. The process of developing a piece of music before it was decided where it’d go wasn’t always a successful one. Early in the game, you face off against an optional boss, who’s a bride, and Bo told me the story about the piece of music he initially created for that sequence.
He said: “I’ve told you about the bride music. Some people in our team found it offensive. I had to rewrite it.” That doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to hear that piece of music, and work out for yourself why the team at S-Game didn’t like it.
“But I didn’t want to toss it away, so I included it in the pre-order deluxe edition. If you order the deluxe edition, there will be a music player inside the game, and you can still hear that piece. So yeah, sometimes I go too far, and also I’ve done a jazz piece with traditional Chinese instruments, and it sounds really weird. It’s also included in the deluxe. We just couldn’t find anywhere for it to go in the game,” Bo continued.
Whether the music was created before or after the boss fights, the music in Phantom Blade Zero is a real standout. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, adding an extra level of quality to the more intense fights. It’s unusual at times, and you’ll have to play the game to completely understand – just try not to let it distract you from all those parries.
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