Gaming

Phantom Blade 0 makes you feel like a total badass

Fun, engaging hack and slash game

Published

August 24, 2025

Difficulty: Gamechanger (Normal). Time played: 1:07:04. Death count: 13. Those were the numbers I tallied at the end of my hands-on session playing Phantom Blade 0 at gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany.

The demo at gamescom 2025 gives you a pretty extensive impression of how the game’s combat looks and feels. Which is great because it looks like Phantom Blade 0 is placing most of its bets on its prowess as a hack and slasher.

Controls

If you have any experience at all with action games, this should be relatively easy to pick-up. We played on the PlayStation 5 Pro so these are the controls I’ll reference.

Square and Triangle are your primary and secondary attack buttons. Cross or X is, per usual, the jump button, and Circle lets you dodge. Pressing Circle and then using L3 will let you determine the direction of your dodge.

Holding L1 lets you block while pressing it at the right moment lets you parry attacks. L2 becomes available once you’ve filled up the gauge of your main weapon. L2 unleashes your special attack.

R1 lets you interact with your environment. I mostly remember using it to scale and run along walls . R2, meanwhile, triggers the use of your equipped secondary weapon.

You essentially carry four weapons in combat. There are two slots each for your main and secondary weapons. You can switch them out any time during combat using the left directional button for the main weapon and the right directional button for the secondary weapon.

The down directional button lets you consume items. For this demo, it was used for healing.

Combat

What carried this whole experience is how polished and engaging the combat felt. Not once will you feel like you don’t have the tools to win despite facing off with multiple enemies at certain points in the demo.

There are certain combinations of Square and Triangle for specific combos. But I’m gonna be honest with you, during the first 15 minutes, I was mostly button mashing and was still getting stylish results.

After beating down enemies, a Triangle button appears that lets you execute finishers. These look absolutely striking and differ depending on the weapon you have equipped. And while it can be interrupted to start, once you’re in the middle of it, you’re practically invincible.

If you deal enough damage to multiple enemies, you can chain these finishers from one enemy to another for an even higher level of badassery finishes.

Boss encounters

It wasn’t until the first boss encounter that I actually locked in and became more mindful of when I block, dodge, and parry. Most of my 13 death counts also happened here.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to read the boss’s patterns. My elder millennial reflexes just couldn’t keep up. It took plenty of tries, but with the encouragement of my play guide, Luke (shoutout to Luke, he was great company during the playthrough), I finally bested the first boss encounter of the demo.

It took a few tries of learning his patterns and properly timing my blocks, dodges, and parries, along with changing up my loadout to best deal with the boss battle.

So, while you can get away with button mashing through the fodder throughout the game, the boss battles will test both your reflexes and strategically figuring out your windows to attack.

After that there were a couple more mini-boss encounters, which I surprisingly dealt with in one go, before the final boss of the demo – the Seven Judgments. It’s the boss battle featured in the Year of the Snake trailer that looked absolutely difficult to deal with.

At this point though, I was already locked in and only died once. Still, it was a challenging, engaging, and extremely fun boss encounter.

Watch it play out here:

Release date and more game details

I tried pressing but as of now, the folks over at S-Game still aren’t ready to disclose any potential release window for the game. We’re just gonna have to wait.

The demo itself showed the potential for some of your usual exploration and mini-puzzle solving. But bear in mind that this is mostly a linear hack and slash game most similar to the likes of Ninja Gaiden.

Hack and slash at its finest

I know it was only an hour of gameplay, but it was more than enough to get me looking forward to seeing more of what Phantom Blade 0 has to offer. I’m 100% certain more depth will be added to the combat and it will be an overall fun and flow-state-inducing experience once it fully releases.

Related Topics:Phantom Blade 0 PlayStation PlayStation 5 S-Game

Computers

AMD launches Radeon RX 9050 graphics card

Affordable GPU option for AAA titles

Published

July 30, 2026

GadgetMatch

AMD has launched the new AMD Radeon RX 9050 graphics card, expanding the Radeon RX 9000 series with an affordable option.

This brings AMD RDNA 4 gaming technologies to mainstream gamers with a retail price of US$ 279.

The particular GPU is designed for responsive gameplay at 1080p. That’s for esports and modern AAA titles.

Some popular titles it can run at high frame rates on a 1080p resolution include: Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 6, Pragmata, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Valorant, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, to name a few.

This highly efficient, drop-in upgrade features a 92W TBP and fully supports the latest AMD FSR technologies, next-gen raytracing, and high-quality AV1 video streaming.

Key specs:

Architecture: AMD RDNA 4
Compute Units: 16
VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
Game Clock / Boost Clock: 1.92 GHz / Up to 2.60 GHz
TBP: 92W

In line with the Radeon RX 9050 launch, AMD has also released AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.7.1.

This driver introduces official day-one support for Radeon RX 9050, alongside early multiplayer access for Gears of War: E-Day.

Users can download the software here.

Gaming

NBA 2K27 gameplay trailer showcases new dunk mechanics, Rucker Park, and more

First gameplay details revealed

Published

July 29, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

NBA 2K27 is giving fans their first look at this year’s gameplay.

2K has released the official gameplay trailer for NBA 2K27, showcasing enhanced visuals and several gameplay updates ahead of the game’s September 4 launch. The trailer also features cover athletes Victor Wembanyama, Caitlin Clark, and Derrick Rose while teasing changes across Gameplay, MyCAREER, MyTEAM, MyNBA, and the MyPLAYER Builder.

The publisher also confirmed the Preseason Breakdown: NBA 2K27 Game Reveal, which streams on August 18 at 10:00 AM PT. During the presentation, 2K will reveal this year’s biggest gameplay innovations and mode updates before Early Access begins on August 28 for Deluxe Edition and Ultra Edition owners.

Smarter AI and a new Dunk Meter headline gameplay changes

NBA 2K27 introduces several gameplay refinements based on community feedback.

AI defenders now contest shots more effectively and hold their defensive positioning better, especially in online modes like The REC. The changes aim to create a more balanced experience on both ends of the floor.

The game also introduces a fully dynamic Dunk Meter. Instead of locking in the timing at takeoff, the meter continuously evaluates defensive positioning throughout the dunk attempt. Open driving lanes create a larger green window, while late defensive rotations shrink it, making each dunk attempt feel more responsive to the action on the court.

MyPLAYER Builder expands with more Badges

The MyPLAYER Builder now features 53 total Badges, up from 40 in last year’s game. Players can also experiment with 19 brand-new Badges designed to support more specialized builds.

Cap Breakers are also making a return. This time, players can preview attribute boosts directly inside the Builder before finalizing their character.

MyTEAM and MyNBA receive community-requested updates

MyTEAM introduces the franchise’s first unified Auction House across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. The shared marketplace creates the largest pool of community-listed cards in the mode’s history. It should also make card prices more consistent across supported platforms.

Winning an auction is now faster, too. Purchased cards go straight into your collection without a verification delay.

MyNBA also receives several franchise management updates that reflect today’s NBA. These include second apron salary cap rules from the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement and the ability to offer No-Trade Clauses to free agents.

Rucker Park comes to MyCAREER

The City returns with the same centralized layout introduced last year. This time, however, it gets a new nighttime look filled with neon lights.

NBA 2K27 also recreates the legendary Rucker Park. The iconic streetball court serves as the setting for this year’s MyCAREER prelude story, Fire & Concrete, and also appears in the Street Kings mode.

NBA 2K27 launches on September 4 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. Players who purchase the Deluxe Edition or Ultra Edition can jump in early starting August 28 through Early Access.

Watch the full trailer.

Gaming

God of War Laufey finally confirms its highly anticipated launch date

Set your calendars next year.

Published

July 27, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

It’s about time we get excited for God of War Laufey. The upcoming entry into the acclaimed franchise takes off on a tangent as it follows Faye, Kratos’s late wife, as she traverses an afterlife filled with similarly deceased gods. It’s a different perspective but with still the same action we’ve come to expect from the series. Now, we know when to expect it: February 16.

In the ongoing Norse saga, Faye’s death is everything. Her passing pushes Kratos and Atreus towards a path that eventually led to Ragnarok. In Laufey, a deceased Faye wakes up in Everywhen, an afterlife where gods from different mythologies converge. She then discovers that the carefully laid plans she made to help her husband and her son are unravelling, so she has to find a way to save the living world from past the veil.

Laufey will still have the iconic battles that the God of War series is known for. However, because Faye is nimbler than the burly Kratos, fighting is more fast-paced with a mix of grounded and air-based fighting. All in all, there’s a lot to be excited about for Laufey, despite its different take on the series.

Over the weekend, during San Diego Comic Con, PlayStation confirmed when the title is launching. Thankfully, it’s not a long wait. God of War Laufey is launching for the PlayStation 5 on February 16 next year.

Additionally, Santa Monica Studio has also confirmed that Kratos will lead another entry after Laufey.