Phantom Blade Zero Just Became the Highest-Rated Game of 2026 — and This Week’s Gaming News Is Wild
Published October 26, 2026 — by Vito Ruocco
Every once in a while, the video game industry delivers a week that feels like a fever dream. This is one of those weeks. A Chinese studio best known for mobile games has just dropped what critics are calling the best-reviewed game of 2026, toppling every Soulslike and action title that came before it. Meanwhile, the fallout from one of the biggest studio closures in gaming history is still rippling through the community, Hollywood keeps throwing nine-figure budgets at game adaptations, and a certain Netflix anime sequel is making everyone in Night City feel feelings again.
Buckle up. Here is everything you need to know from the last 48 hours of gaming news, from record-breaking review scores to billion-dollar drama.
1. Phantom Blade Zero Reviews Just Beat Every Soulslike in 2026
The big one. On October 26, 2026, review embargoes lifted for Phantom Blade Zero, the Wuxia-inspired action game from Chinese developer S-Game, and the verdicts have been spectacular. According to Polygon, the game has officially claimed the title of the highest-rated game of 2026 on Metacritic — a stunning achievement for a studio that built its reputation on mobile titles like Phantom Blade: Executioners.
“2026 officially has a new highest-rated game of the year,” Polygon declared in its review roundup. “Reviews are in for Phantom Blade Zero, the Wuxia-inspired action game from S-Game, and they’ve solidified it as one of the best-reviewed games of 2026 — a feat that could help its chances at scoring a nomination for the 2026 Game Awards in December.”
IGN’s Travis Northup was equally enthusiastic after spending more than 50 hours with the game: “Phantom Blade Zero has spent years looking almost too good to be true, especially coming from a studio that’s best known for its mobile games. That’s why it’s just about the biggest compliment I can pay it that after 50 hours performing picture-perfect kung fu, it’s exactly as fun to play as it looks.” Northup called its combat “some of the most satisfying and well-tuned combat I’ve played in a long time.”
Eurogamer’s Emma Kent framed it as a love letter to martial arts cinema: “There are moments in Phantom Blade Zero that make me feel as though I’ve tumbled through a crack in time onto the set of a kung fu film.” Her review, titled “superbly flowing swordplay with rough edges,” praised the combat as “cinematic, free-flowing, and full of surprises.”
The game stars Soul, a warrior and outcast member of a mysterious organization called The Order, who has just 66 days to live and a serious score to settle. What follows is an odyssey across the Wulin — a fantastical martial-underworld where feuding sects, malevolent entities from another world, and one very memorable revenge mission collide.
2. Why the Combat Feels Like a Revolution
The critical consensus is clear: Phantom Blade Zero’s moment-to-moment combat is the reason to buy it. But what makes it special, mechanically speaking?
The game channels the flow of classic kung fu cinema, with slow-motion parries, acrobatic dodges, and a “high-octane Sekiro” feel, as Eurogamer put it. There’s no traditional stamina bar. Instead, combat is governed by a resource called sha-chi, which depletes when you block, parry, or unleash heavy attacks — while quick attacks, sprints, and dodges remain free. It’s a clever design that keeps the action fast and aggressive without ever letting you spam your way through a boss.
- Two-weapon system: Switching between your two equipped melee weapons instantly refills your sha-chi bar (with a cooldown to prevent abuse), forcing you to master multiple movesets simultaneously.
- Generous parry windows: Dodge red attacks, parry blue ones — breaking a boss’s guard opens a punishment phase. You can cancel nearly any move into a last-minute parry, eliminating that classic “locked into an animation while the boss winds up” frustration.
- Second-phase mercy: If you die during phase two of a boss fight, you restart at the start of that phase with full resources. Less heartbreak, more momentum.
- Four difficulty settings: Including a brutal extra-hard mode where every death costs Soul one of his remaining 66 days — a literal countdown embedded in the difficulty curve.
- Dozens of weapons: From a drunken-sword moveset that sends your blade flying through the air to twin swords orbiting around you, pole-swords that charge through enemies, and even a weapon that summons flowers to drain an opponent’s sha-chi.
Add in a soul tempering system that unlocks latent weapon abilities, trinkets with build-defining buffs (like extra damage at full health), a skill tree with mid-air dodges, grappling hooks, bows, and eight hand-crafted maps — and you have a game that rewards experimentation at every turn. IGN noted you can freely refund weapon upgrades early on, so there’s rarely a reason to stick with a tired loadout. The game even hides a questline where Donnie Yen, the legendary martial arts actor, voices and portrays a mysterious gold-masked man who trains Soul — widely considered one of the game’s strongest subplots.
Critics ding it for a convoluted story, dense lore delivery via collectible scrolls, and occasional performance hitches, and the embargo reportedly asked reviewers to avoid spoiling some late-game surprises. But when the core loop is this good, nobody seems to mind.
3. “Save Mass Effect”: 187,000 Fans Fight Back After BioWare’s Closure
It’s been a devastating week for one of gaming’s most beloved studios. BioWare has been closed by EA, with the cancellation of the in-development Mass Effect 5 — reportedly titled Mass Effect Universe — confirmed alongside widespread layoffs. The closure comes just months after Saudi Arabia’s $55 billion leveraged buyout of EA, a deal reportedly involving Jared Kushner, and the job cuts have hit developers at Respawn, Maxis, Full Circle, EA Motive, and other EA-owned studios as well.
In response, fans are mobilizing. A Change.org petition titled “#SaveMassEffect”, started by a fan named Joe Smith, has now topped 187,000 signatures and counting. It doesn’t ask EA to reverse the BioWare closure — it asks for something arguably more important: “decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect.”
“This commitment requires proper funding, adequate staffing, and time allocation to maintain and advance the high standards the franchise is known for. Alternatively, EA could consider licensing the Mass Effect intellectual property (IP) to another studio that shares the passion and vision to keep it alive and allow it to flourish anew.” — Save Mass Effect petition, Change.org
The petition argues that Mass Effect “has transcended the typical gamer experience, creating a community that advocates for choice, individuality, and shared adventure,” and warns that “the potential cessation of new developments in this universe is a devastating prospect not only for fans but for the diversity of narrative-driven games as a whole.”
Adding fuel to the fire: an internal trailer for Mass Effect Universe leaked and was later confirmed as real by BioWare after the closure — showing fans exactly what could have been. A content creator who claims to have served on a “Mass Effect Council” community advisory group has also shared alleged details about the cancelled project, saying the game “looked incredible.” Whether EA listens to a third of a million voices remains to be seen, but the gaming community is making its feelings unmistakably clear.
4. Elden Ring’s Movie Budget Is Nearly $200 Million — A24’s Biggest Bet Ever
Hollywood’s video game gold rush shows no signs of slowing. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, A24’s live-action Elden Ring movie is set to cost almost $200 million — making it the most expensive film the studio has ever produced by a wide margin. For context, A24’s previous priciest film, Marty Supreme, reportedly cost around $70 million, while Alex Garland’s Civil War came in near $50 million.
The film, written and directed by Alex Garland (who also helmed Civil War and Ex Machina) is being shot for IMAX and is scheduled for release on March 3, 2028. The cast reads like a who’s who of modern prestige cinema: Kit Connor, Ben Whishaw, Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke, Havana Rose Liu, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonathan Pryce, and Nick Offerman.
Production has been underway at Conwy Castle in North Wales, where leaked set videos show familiar-looking soldiers patrolling the walls — apparently set before the Shattering that doomed the Lands Between. The movie is reportedly at least partially a prequel to FromSoftware’s 2022 open-world masterpiece, whose lore was written by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. Even the infamous Dung Eater is reportedly appearing, which fans have taken as a sign of a faithful adaptation.
The WSJ piece frames the movie as proof of A24’s growing clout in Hollywood. “They’re a Goldilocks company. Just the right amount of people doing just the right amount of things,” Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger told the paper. If the movie lands anywhere near the game’s quality, $200 million might end up looking like a bargain.
5. The Call of Duty Movie Will Explore “the Cost of War”
Speaking of game-to-film adaptations: the long-gestating Call of Duty movie is officially moving forward, and director Peter Berg is making some intriguing promises. Berg — known for Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, and the upcoming Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl — told Eurogamer the CoD movie will explore “the cost of war” and will likely be less graphically violent than The Mosquito Bowl, which he describes as an intense war drama.
The project is tied to the massive success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (2026), the current installment from Infinity Ward, which shipped across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. It’s a fascinating creative choice: translating a franchise built on multiplayer adrenaline into a contemplative anti-war statement. Berg’s track record suggests he can do both — whether Activision lets him is another question entirely.
6. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 Is Out — and It’s a Gut Punch
Netflix has released Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2, the sequel to Studio Trigger’s beloved 2022 anime set in CD Projekt Red’s Night City, and the early reactions are glowing. Eurogamer’s Connor Makar wrote that the new season “is more than a retread of Netflix’s beloved first season — it’s a story that truly understands what it means to exist in Night City,” a city where the neon is beautiful and the system is brutal.
The first season, which followed the tragic rise and fall of David Martinez, became a cultural phenomenon and even boosted Cyberpunk 2077 sales. Season 2 reportedly delivers 10 episodes of new mayhem in the dark future, with Studio Trigger’s signature over-the-top animation and CD Projekt Red’s world-building on full display. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to dive back into the Cyberpunk universe before the next game chapter — or just want to emotionally recover from one (1) anime about chrome and dreams — this weekend is your moment.
7. Stalker 2’s Next Big Update Just Leaked
GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl continues to evolve, and the studio’s next patch has apparently been outed early. PlayStation Asia reportedly leaked details of Update 2.1, which is expected to arrive next week and appears to introduce a new mode called “Zone Lookout” — details are still fuzzy, but the leak suggests a fresh way to experience the Zone beyond the base campaign and the existing multiplayer modes.
It’s a busy time for the survival-shooter, which launched in late 2024 after a notoriously turbulent development in wartime Ukraine and has since become one of the most-supported live games on PC and consoles. The 2.1 update should bring another round of fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and possibly new content for the multiplayer side. Keep your detectors on.
8. Quick Hits: Pokémon Cards, Classic SNES, and a Farewell to a Voice Icon
Rounding out a monster news week:
- FBI investigates massive trading-card heist: Federal agents and Santa Ana police are investigating the theft of 6,451 PSA-graded trading cards — including nearly 3,000 Pokémon cards — from a FedEx truck in California. PSA is the industry’s leading grading service, and a heist of this scale could involve six-figure single cards. The TCG market, already volatile, is watching closely.
- SNES classics on Switch Online: Polygon ranked the 10 best Super Nintendo games on Nintendo Switch Online’s Classics library, from Super Mario World to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — 77 classic titles currently streaming on Nintendo’s service, a reminder that the 16-bit era remains untouchable.
- Knightmare returns: An officially licensed point-and-click adventure based on the cult British TV show Knightmare is in development, featuring the original cast, and will be free on PC. Nostalgia, meet dungeons.
- Eric Bauza, 1979–2026: The voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck — and hundreds of other characters across animation and gaming — passed away at 46 from hypertensive heart disease, news announced October 25. Bauza’s work touched generations of players and viewers; the industry’s tributes have been pouring in.
The Takeaway: Gaming Has Never Been More Exciting
One week, and the narrative arcs read like a full season of television: an underdog studio from the mobile space delivers the year’s best-reviewed game; a legendary studio closes and a community of 187,000-plus fans refuses to let the galaxy die quietly; Hollywood bets $200 million on a video game movie; and the small screen keeps expanding the universes we love.
Phantom Blade Zero’s success is the headline — and it’s worth pausing on. S-Game, a developer that most Western players had never heard of three years ago, has out-scored every Soulslike released in 2026. That’s not just a win for one studio; it’s evidence that the global gaming scene is more diverse and more competitive than ever, and that genre boundaries are dissolving. Wuxia isn’t a niche anymore — it’s a contender for Game of the Year.
The lessons for players: keep an eye on surprise launches, don’t count studios out because of their history, and maybe sign that petition while you’re at it. The industry is changing fast, and the gamers are the ones holding the controller.
— Vito Ruocco, October 26, 2026