Originally pre ordered the asia ver. of the game from them. Once the confusion about a physical release started, i cancelled. I did email them to get clarification and this was their response
"Dear players:
Hello everyone!
The pre-orders for *Shadow Blade Zero* have been running for five days, and the pre-order results have far exceeded expectations. For this, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the friends who support *Shadow Blade Zero*! This is a vote of confidence cast upon us by our players, and we will certainly do our utmost to present everyone with an excellent game product.
The news of Donnie Yen's collaboration with us has particularly sparked everyone's interest, with numerous memes flooding social media. Donnie Yen plays the character Mo Yuan, a role we've meticulously crafted. As a powerful hidden boss in the game, he requires players to undergo a series of explorations and trials before he will appear. We eagerly anticipate everyone's encounter with Mo Yuan in the game!
I still remember the pride and passion he showed for kung fu movies when I first met Dan, and his still-strong creative desire to innovate and change. He had been involved in game development for a very long time—more than 20 years ago, he directed the opening CG for Capcom's Onimusha 3. And now, we finally have the opportunity to tell a Chinese martial arts story that belongs to the Chinese people in a game.
In player discussions, some expressed concerns about celebrity endorsements. I completely understand these concerns, because celebrity endorsements imply a series of labels that core gamers may not like, and also represent the risk of diluting the brand's image and tone. With the hype brought by celebrities, will the players' genuine needs still be prioritized?
I want to reiterate that this collaboration is not yet another instance of "a celebrity endorsing a game for commercial purposes."
Everything we do is aimed at creating better game products for players, not putting the cart before the horse. Dan not only did face capture and motion capture and personally completed the English voice acting for the characters, but also invited Chen Hao to help polish the Chinese voice acting for Demon Abyss. As the creative supervisor, he gave us a lot of suggestions and opinions. Later, Yan Hua was also brought in by him to choreograph the complex fight scenes.
Over the past forty years, Donnie Yen has created a variety of classic screen images. The grandmaster Ip Man, the beggar Qiao Feng, the policeman Ma Jun, the assassin Kane, and the blind swordsman from Star Wars are all the same person, and they don't seem out of place in the public's perception. Donnie Yen's action style, which transcends national borders and eras, has unified these images.
What *Shadow Blade Zero* strives to present is a fusion of the most traditional martial arts world with bizarre steampunk elements, human modification, and even a post-apocalyptic alternate world. Moving between the new and the old, inheriting tradition while innovating, upholding the orthodox while creating the extraordinary—this is our shared vision.
In our collaboration with Dan Ge, we have also continuously improved ourselves. Our internal action director, Yang Liu, and his Xingfu Feiyang team have fully absorbed Dan Ge's interpretation of Chinese Kung Fu, constantly thinking about the deep integration of Kung Fu with gameplay, combat systems, motion capture production lines, and other aspects. Together with combat planners and animators, they have worked tirelessly for over a thousand days and nights to design and produce many unique and impressive game action sequences that we are proud of.
This "translation" process was completed with virtually no precedents to follow, making it all the more challenging. We've previously showcased in other interviews the process of translating sword formations, drunken swordplay, and lion dances from traditional prototypes into games—as I expressed in my IGN interview, we wanted to build a motion production process suitable for Chinese martial arts from scratch, capturing the unique charm of Chinese Kung Fu that differs from Japanese/Western styles, while simultaneously translating it into input feedback, impact, camera movement, and ultimately creating a thrilling combat experience for players.
Tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM, at Sony's special STATE OF PLAY event for *Shadow Blade Zero*, Dan will first introduce the concept of "Kung Fu Punk" to players worldwide, followed by a live stream where I will introduce the game's story, world, combat system, and other content. The live stream will last approximately 18 minutes, and the entire video will subsequently be released on various platforms.
I think this may give this collaboration even more significance: we will be able to promote and convey the unique charm of Chinese martial arts culture to the world directly on a stage that is watched by global players.
The live stream and video were recorded in English and translated into multiple languages with subtitles. However, I later offered to provide my own Chinese subtitles, which were based on my original English speech and therefore might be closer to the original meaning than my live stream script.
Remember to watch on time tomorrow!
Producer of Shadow Blade Zero, founder of Lingyoufang
Liang Qiwei (Soulframe)"
Source: https://www.bilibili.com/opus/1237497330649792533?spm_id_from=333.1387.0.0
Here's the link to the uncompressed images: https://ibb.co/album/S4pDTC
Hi guys, has anyone here outside China managed to get the 2nd batch Collector's Edition?
I only managed to create a JD account and reserved a participation slot, looks like there was 37,000 who reserved. Tried to check out earlier as fast as possible via WeChat but sadly got real name verification pop-up which is impossible for me who's not local haha.
Kinda curious if it's really possible for others outside China.
Also kinda curious how fast it sold for local folks and your POV.
The beautiful and exquisite designs continue to impress.
Peak combat, fantastic music, badass Soul, Donnie Yen, real Kung-Fu masters and schools involved, great voice acting, amazing level designs and maps, and beautiful women!!!
GAME OF THE CENTURY!
As someone who platinumed Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, this 66 Days difficulty looks really interesting, but also a little intimidating since bosses behavior adapt to the player (per showcase). If it’s required for the Platinum/100%, it'll push the difficulty easily to at least 9/10.
What do you all think? And what’s the hardest game you’ve ever Platinumed/100%’ed?
Kinda sucks that no demo will be available and most likely no physical copy which realllllly sucks cuz I really wanted to buy it on disc and I really don't know if I can wait and see if they'll do the same thing Wukong did with there game, im wayyyyyy to hyped to wait months after the game release to see if a physical copy releases :(
They allow you to respec and get your materials back which is nice.
Guess the leaks weren't real lol
>“Well, anyway. The Forgotten Shore was a bit tough on us, Sleepers. By the end of it all, I had killed around four hundred Awakened abominations — and a few Fallen ones, as well. And a Great Devil! All of that despite being a mere Dormant Beast. | also lived in the Dark City alone for a while — alone with my friends, I mean. A shadow, a talking rock, and a mute statue. Ah, those were great times. I only kept my sanity because of them..."
>Revel's expression turned peculiar, for some reason.
>Ignoring that, Sunny continued his story, eventually reaching the siege of the Crimson Spire and the fateful duel at its pinnacle.
>“...but actually, Nephis pretended to lose — all of it was a ploy to get me to leave. She wanted to sacrifice herself to save me. "
>He heard a peculiar sound and glanced at Revel with wide eyes.
>"Hey. Did you just... squeal?"
Revel is like me fr fr. ( The difference is I'm a guy. So I lose points for squealing ✌🏼🤣 )
His goofy run cycle has always been my only big gripe. I didn’t think they’d ever “fix it”. I’m happy to see this change
There's so much sauce, so much love and passion put into this game. There's no way people who watched this state of play feel this isn't GOTY worthy it looks perfect from start to finish
State of play is still going on, but oh my god I haven't been this excited for a game since Elden Ring. Mind is blown.
Unfortunately no demo announced. I'm still holding out hope that there will be one - I personally think it would help ensure a smoother launch, but either way, I preordered!
The biggest reason Chinese players believe is to prevent physical copies from leaking early.
Even the slightest change in the marketing and promotional strategy can have a huge impact. If physical copies were available at launch and some people managed to get the game early through leaked copies, gameplay videos would be all over the internet the very next day. All kinds of people would start nitpicking the game, and the community could get caught up in endless controversies even before the official release.
One example:
BMW has an almost unimaginable level of attention in China. Even without a physical release at launch, the opening CG was still leaked through an off-screen recording. After release, some people even used cheats to finish the game in a very short time, picking out all kinds of things to criticize—for example, claiming that the game “disrespects the original.” They then went on to call the game garbage. There were even absurd rumors about a secret ending unlocked after multiple playthroughs, supposedly called “Storming the Heavenly Court.” And when people eventually discovered that there was no such secret ending, some of them started criticizing the developers for not making multiple endings.
Secondly, Chinese players are predominantly PC gamers, while console users make up a relatively small portion of the market. Combined with Steam's relatively low regional pricing, the lack of a physical release actually has a fairly limited impact on Chinese players.
PB0 also has a very high level of attention in China. Their pre-order video posted on August 12 surpassed 10 million views within just a few days. They will most likely follow a similar promotional strategy to BMW, which means not having a physical release at launch.