Phantom Blade Zero PC performance benchmarks reveal high GPU demands

S-Game lifted the review embargo for Phantom Blade Zero and, with a review code from NVIDIA, conducted a PC performance analysis before the game's release. The title runs on Unreal Engine 5.7.4 and includes Denuvo protection.

The benchmarks were performed on an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D system with 32 GB DDR5 memory, testing AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 7900 XT, RX 9070 XT, and NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090 graphics cards under Windows 10 64-bit with the latest drivers.

Phantom Blade Zero offers extensive graphics options, allowing adjustments to lighting, materials, shadows, reflections, and supports NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, Intel XeSS, as well as ray tracing and path tracing. The game lacks an in-game benchmark, so the starting area—identified as one of the most demanding sections of the first two chapters—was used for testing.

"Path Tracing makes a huge visual difference," the reviewer noted, adding that the feature improves image quality but cannot be toggled during gameplay and must be changed from the main menu.

When DLSS is enabled alongside Path Tracing, Ray Reconstruction activates by default, improving image quality and providing a performance boost. Comparisons showed that DLAA with Ray Reconstruction delivered smoother shadows and roughly ten frames per second more than native TSR.

Performance results indicated that Path Tracing is resource-intensive. At native 4K with TSR, the RTX 5090 achieved 25-27 FPS; at 1440p, 46-47 FPS; and above 60 FPS at 1080p. Using DLSS Quality at 4K raised the RTX 5090’s frame rate to 54-60 FPS, and NVIDIA’s Frame Generation (MFG) modes further increased FPS, with MFG X2 reaching 100 FPS without noticeable input latency.

The reviewer observed that visual artifacts during fast motion were linked to the game's motion-blur setting; disabling motion blur eliminated the issue, a pattern also seen in other UE5 titles.

Without Path Tracing or Ray Tracing, the game performed well on high-end GPUs. At 1080p ultra settings, the top five tested GPUs consistently exceeded 60 FPS. At 1440p ultra, only the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 maintained steady 60 FPS, while the RTX 5080 required a G-Sync monitor for smooth play. At 4K ultra, only the RTX 5090 sustained 60 FPS, though occasional mid-50s dips suggested a G-Sync monitor would be beneficial.

The analysis concluded that Phantom Blade Zero is visually demanding but justifies its hardware requirements, offering strong scaling across graphics settings. The reviewer reported no major stutters after the initial shader compilation phase, describing the PC version as polished.

Overall, the game delivers high visual fidelity, supports major upscaling technologies, and runs smoothly on top-tier hardware, though the inability to toggle ray tracing or path tracing during gameplay was noted as a limitation.