The Rainblood story so far: what came before Phantom Blade Zero
The developer describes Phantom Blade Zero as “the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood”. Read the earlier Rainblood games as background: nothing from them counts for the new game until a current source says so. Official PlayStation Blog, 24 May 2023
Everything on this page about the earlier games is prior canon. It is what those games established, not a spoiler for the new game, and it is not confirmed for Phantom Blade Zero unless a current source says so. Official
The earlier games
Before Phantom Blade Zero came three Rainblood games for PC, the Phantom Blade games for mobile and Phantom Blade: Executioners. The timeline below lists the earlier titles in order, with the years and formats recorded for them. Only the Steam listing for Mirage comes from a store. The rest come from a Chinese Wikipedia series page and a fan wiki, with 3DM for one row. Unconfirmed Wikipedia and fan wiki entries. Store data Steam listing for Mirage.
The Rainblood games and related titles
Year: 2008 first build; 2010 release
Rainblood: Town of Death (Chinese Wikipedia: “Rainblood 1: Town of Death”)
雨血1：死镇 (also 雨血之死镇)
RPG Maker XP, PC, about 3 hours; an English version was released.
Year: 2011
Rainblood 2: City of Flame
雨血2：烨城
RPG Maker XP, PC, 20+ hours.
Year: 2013 (Steam: 11 Nov 2013)
Rainblood Chronicles: Mirage (Steam lists it as “Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage”; Chinese Wikipedia gives “Rainblood Prequel: Castle of Mirage”)
雨血前传：蜃楼
Unity side-scrolling action; a prequel; two playable heroes.
Year: 2014 onward
Phantom Blade 1–3
影之刃, 影之刃2, 影之刃3
Mobile, China.
Year: 2023
Phantom Blade: Executioners
影之刃：断罪者
Free-to-play side-scroller built on 影之刃3, released with English text.
The same year, on 24 May 2023, the PlayStation Blog carried the developer’s words about the new game: “the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood”. Official PlayStation Blog
A hooded figure in a polished silver mask with a curled moustache. Frame from the official announce trailer, Phantom Blade Zero on YouTube, pueXBkFMK7Q, 1:14 · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME Year: 2026
Phantom Blade Zero
影之刃零
This game. Release time in your time zone.
A figure in a wide hat crouches with a red-edged blade in an ochre haze; a second dark figure stands behind. Screenshot from the official media library, screenshots/combat_desert.jpg · © PARAWULIN PRODUCTION LIMITED / S-GAME
Unconfirmed The years, formats and English titles for the first three rows and the mobile and Executioners rows come from a Chinese Wikipedia series page, a fan wiki (as read on 10 October 2026) and English Wikipedia. The Steam date for Mirage was read from Steam on 11 October 2026. Unconfirmed The Executioners row also cites 3DM.
No official images of the earlier games are in the sources we use, so only the Phantom Blade Zero entries carry pictures.
A reboot, not a continuation
“the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood”
A Gamersky guide page calls the new game a 故事重启, a story reboot. The developer’s own word is the “spiritual rebirth” quoted above. Taken together, the earlier games are prior canon: names and events from them are listed here as the earlier games set them, and none is treated as part of the new game’s story until a current source states it. Official PlayStation Blog, 24 May 2023. Press-reported Gamersky, in its introduction to a fan-made video on the series.
What the new game’s style is called and where the word comes from: What is kungfupunk?
The earlier cast and factions
The table below is taken from a fan compilation of the earlier games, republished by Gamersky. It is not from the developer. For how the new game spells these names, see the names page. The English names come from a fan wiki for the Executioners-era games unless a row says otherwise. Read every row as unconfirmed for the new game. Unconfirmed Gamersky fan compilation, the Order’s chronicle. Unconfirmed Fan wiki for the English names.
| Chinese | English used before | Who or what |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese: 魂 (魔魂) | English used before: Soul | Who or what: Second son of the Bastion’s lord, born the night The Order destroyed it. His surname was erased and he was raised by The Order. Later title 黑伤 (roughly “Black Scar”, our gloss) after his weapon. |
| Chinese: 左殇 | English used before: Zuo Shang | Who or what: Soul’s sworn brother. Title 紫冥. Both were adopted as foster sons by the patriarch. |
| Chinese: 沐天邈 | English used before: Mu Tianmiao | Who or what: Founder and first leader (冥主) of The Order. Killed by Soul in year 40 of The Order, in the old canon. |
| Chinese: 沐小葵 | English used before: Mu Xiaokui | Who or what: His daughter. |
| Chinese: 万巧茹 | English used before: No English name found | Who or what: His wife, a general’s daughter who wields the greatsword 钢铁女皇. |
| Chinese: 玄玉 | English used before: Xuanyu | Who or what: Intelligence chief who founds the 酒馆 network (roughly “the Tavern”, our gloss) and fakes her death. |
| Chinese: 虚空 | English used before: Inanis | Who or what: Illusionist, former master of 金玉阁 in 南城. |
| Chinese: 魔天 → 魔渊 | English used before: (old) — / (new) Mó Yuan | Who or what: Last lord of the Bastion, imprisoned beneath 烨城. |
| Chinese: 魔剑 | English used before: No English name found | Who or what: Soul’s elder brother. He fell from a cliff with the family sword 血涡. |
| Chinese: 组织 | English used before: The Order | Who or what: Ranks 冥使 / 人使 / 鬼差 (envoys, agents, and re-engineered corpses used as tools). The older English localisation has “Wills”, “Hands” and “Instruments”, and also calls Zuo Shang a “Nether Envoy”. Which Chinese rank maps to which English word is our guess, not confirmed. |
| Chinese: 暗魔天堡 | English used before: Dark Castle of Mo → Bastion of Mó | Who or what: The great outlaw house in the north-east. |
| Chinese: 龙家 | English used before: No English name found | Who or what: The great “righteous” house, broken by The Order. |
| Chinese: 十一人阁 | English used before: No English name found | Who or what: Cabal behind the 蜃楼 (Mirage) airship and the 怪面之乱 (masked uprising). |
| Chinese: 蛇屋 | English used before: No English name found | Who or what: The Order’s research houses (赤蛇屋, 紫蛇屋). |
| Chinese: 杀气改造 | English used before: Sha-Chi Mod → Transcension | Who or what: Forbidden body modification spreading through the Wulin. |
| Chinese: 里武林 | English used before: ParaWulin → the Discordance (likely, our match) | Who or what: The spirit-side mirror of the Wulin. |
Unconfirmed Gamersky fan compilation for every Chinese name and description. Unconfirmed Fan wiki for the English names, as read on 10 October 2026. The arrows show the older English name and the name this game uses, where a source records one.
How Phantom Blade Zero connects
Our comparison, not a source’s: the new game’s premise closely follows the first game. English Wikipedia summarises the new game this way: Soul is framed for the murder of The Order’s patriarch, hunted by its members, and given a fatal heart wound in a duel with Zuoshang, once his blood brother. A fan wiki’s page for Rainblood: Town of Death, read on 10 October 2026 and not re-opened since, describes the first game in the same terms, with Soul arriving at Pang Town with assassins behind him. Unconfirmed Fan wiki, Rainblood: Town of Death. Unconfirmed English Wikipedia.
The developer’s 2023 blog says Soul is framed for killing the patriarch of The Order. A fan compilation says that in the old canon Soul killed the founder, 沐天邈 (Mu Tianmiao in an older English localisation), in year 40 of The Order. Official PlayStation Blog, 2023. Unconfirmed Gamersky fan compilation.
“You’ll play as Soul, once the oldest, most feared blade. After being set up for your leader’s murder, you are betrayed by the people you once fought beside.”
The same narration goes on: “In a final duel against your childhood blood brother, Zuo Shang, the blade is driven through your heart.” Then: “A mysterious healer, the Flesh Sculptor, restores your life, but with a fatal condition: you have exactly Sixty-Six Days to live.” Official State of Play deep dive, 3:23–3:29 and 3:43–3:50
A Chinese preview of the new game says these earlier elements return: a girl from Pang Town who seeks medicine for her father, The Order (组织), 蛇屋, 正道联盟, 十一人阁, 暗魔天堡 (the Bastion of Mó), and three old soundtrack themes, 《雁字归川》《辰虫木楼》《跋扈万里》. The preview does not name the girl. Press-reported Gamersky preview, October 2026.
The new game adds several things. The developer’s store text gives Soul a wound to the heart and sixty-six days to live. The Flesh Sculptor, a sorcerer or healer who gives Soul what previews call a tainted heart, is described in two previews. Donnie Yen provides the face and motion capture for Mó Yuan. Official Steam store and PlayStation Blog. Press-reported RPGFan, CGMagazine.
Gamersky reports that the earlier games named the last lord of the Bastion 魔天, and that the developer gave him a new name, 魔渊, in this game. The developer’s 2026 Steam announcement names Mó Yuan (魔渊 in its Chinese version) as leader of the Bastion of Mó, and the PlayStation Blog of 11 August 2026 calls him Soul’s father. Press-reported Gamersky, 13 August 2026, for 魔天 and the rename. Official Steam announcement, its Chinese version, and the PlayStation Blog.
See also: What is kungfupunk?
Where English sources are thin or differ
The gaps below are stated as they stood on 10 and 11 October 2026. They describe the sources, not the earlier games, and each can change as those pages are edited.
| Gap | What the sources show | Level |
|---|---|---|
| No English Wikipedia article | No article for Rainblood, Rainblood: Town of Death, Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage, Phantom Blade: Executioners or S-Game, from a title lookup on 10 October 2026. | Unconfirmed (our lookup of a wiki) |
| Fan wiki for the new game | When we read it on 10 October 2026, its Phantom Blade Zero page listed “Multiplayer” and “multiplayer dungeons”. The Steam store page lists the game as single-player. We could not re-open the wiki on 11 October to check again. | Unconfirmed (fan wiki); Official (Steam) |
| Fan wiki for the earlier games | When we read them on 10 October 2026, its Rainblood pages were short, with empty biography sections, and two of its pages differed on whether the first game had an English release. | Unconfirmed (fan wiki) |
| Changed terms | Sha-Chi Mod and Transcension; ParaWulin and the Discordance; Dark Castle of Mo and Bastion of Mó. Spellings also vary for Pang Town, and for Ghostep and Ghoststep. See the names page. | Official for the new terms |
| Names and numbers that differ from the official text | PSU’s October 2026 preview says “100 days”; the official store text says sixty-six. Wccftech prints “Mo Yen” and “Pengcheng”; the official announcement prints Mó Yuan. | Press-reported |
| Earlier accounts of the 66 days | IGN’s 2025 demo write-up says each death costs one day. Chinese Wikipedia reports an earlier statement by the director that running out of days leads to a bad ending. Both predate the October 2026 previews; see the time limit page. | Press-reported (IGN); Unconfirmed (Wikipedia) |
| The chronicle exists only in Chinese | The year-by-year chronicle of The Order, its houses and the geography of the earlier games appear only in a Chinese fan compilation. | Unconfirmed (fan compilation) |
Official Steam store. Press-reported PSU. Press-reported Wccftech. Press-reported IGN. Unconfirmed Chinese Wikipedia, read 11 October 2026. The fan wiki rows describe its pages as read on 10 October 2026.
What is not yet known
- Whether the new game keeps any other earlier character, faction or placeOnly the preview’s list is recorded so far.
- How the new game names the patriarch of The Order, if it names himThe only name we have, Mu Tianmiao, is from the older English localisation.
- What part Zuo Shang plays in the new gameThe only role we have is that he deals the heart wound.
- What the English version of Rainblood: Town of Death was, and whether it can still be playedOnly the release of an English version is recorded.
- What Baidu Baike and 萌娘百科 say about the earlier gamesBoth refused automated access on 10 October 2026, so neither was read.
FAQ
Is Phantom Blade Zero a sequel to Rainblood?
The developer describes Phantom Blade Zero as “the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood”. A Gamersky guide page calls the new game a 故事重启, a story reboot.
What were the earlier games?
Before Phantom Blade Zero came three Rainblood games for PC, the Phantom Blade games for mobile and Phantom Blade: Executioners.
Does the new game follow the first Rainblood?
Our comparison, not a source’s: the new game’s premise closely follows the first game.
Who is Soul?
“You’ll play as Soul, once the oldest, most feared blade. After being set up for your leader’s murder, you are betrayed by the people you once fought beside.”