All vikisHow Long Is Each Chapter
Chapters 4, 5 and 7 of Phantom Blade Zero hold half its story time. In Gamer's Little Playground's 100% True Ending run, timed from its own chapter markers, Snake's Reflection took 3h 29m, The Heart's Trail 3h 24m and Heartless Remnants 3h 1m of 19h 49m to the first ending, while the prologue and Chapter 1 together took 21 minutes. Scaled to HowLongToBeat's 24h 43m main story average of Nov 13, 2026, Chapter 4 is about 4h 21m.
Phantom Blade Zero's longest chapter is Chapter 4, Snake's Reflection, at about three and a half hours, and three chapters, 4, 5 and 7, hold half the story's play time. We timed every chapter from the chapter markers of Gamer's Little Playground's 100% True Ending run, a no-commentary recording uploaded on Oct 31, 2026 and 25h 6m long, which reaches its first ending, Annihilation, 19h 49m in. Snake's Reflection took 3h 29m of that, The Heart's Trail 3h 24m and Heartless Remnants 3h 1m, while the prologue and Chapter 1 together took 21 minutes. Scaled to HowLongToBeat's main story average of 24h 43m (16 timed runs, read Nov 13, 2026), Chapter 4 comes to about 4h 21m for a typical first run.
Most of those hours are optional. In gameranx's Oct 26, 2026 Before You Buy video, the host says "You can spend a lot of time on this one" and puts it at "40 hours easily", close to HowLongToBeat's main-plus-sides average of 43h 37m (41 runs) on Nov 13.
Next: the bosses and rewards that fill each of those hours, what to finish in the long chapters before a point of no return or the whole game's length by reviewer and by average.
Every chapter, timed
The "Video" column is the time between one chapter marker and the next in the recording; Chapter 10 runs to the start of the marker after the Annihilation Ending. The share is of the 19h 49m to that point. The two right columns are our estimate: the same shares applied to HowLongToBeat's averages of Nov 13, 2026.
| Chapter | Starts at | Video | Share | On a 24h 43m main story | On a 43h 37m run with sides |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue: Diverging Paths | 0:00:00 | 13 min | 1.1% | 16 min | 28 min |
| 1: Reckless Pursuit | 0:12:34 | 8 min | 0.7% | 10 min | 17 min |
| 2: Against the Flow | 0:20:30 | 1h 11m | 6.0% | 1h 29m | 2h 38m |
| 3: Steel and Steam | 1:32:22 | 1h 10m | 5.9% | 1h 28m | 2h 35m |
| 4: Snake's Reflection | 2:43:07 | 3h 29m | 17.6% | 4h 21m | 7h 41m |
| 5: Heartless Remnants | 6:12:53 | 3h 1m | 15.3% | 3h 47m | 6h 40m |
| 6: Town of Death | 9:14:50 | 1h 41m | 8.5% | 2h 6m | 3h 43m |
| 7: The Heart's Trail | 10:56:15 | 3h 24m | 17.2% | 4h 15m | 7h 30m |
| 8: The Four Serpent Houses | 14:20:44 | 52 min | 4.4% | 1h 4m | 1h 54m |
| 9: The Way Forward | 15:12:48 | 2h 21m | 11.9% | 2h 56m | 5h 12m |
| 10: A Soul's Worth | 17:34:35 | 2h 14m | 11.3% | 2h 47m | 4h 56m |
The recording labels Chapter 8 "The Lake", where Game8's chapter list (updated Nov 13, 2026) calls it The Four Serpent Houses; the start times match the chapter cards either way.
How we timed it, and what the hours include
Gamer's Little Playground publishes full no-commentary playthroughs and splits this one into 64 chapter markers: 11 for the chapters, 50 for boss fights, one for the Annihilation Ending and two for story stretches between fights. We took the chapter markers' start times from the video's own chapter list on Nov 13, 2026 and subtracted. The run is a 100% run, so every chapter's time includes the side quests, Memory Flowers and optional bosses the player took on inside it; that is part of why Chapter 4, which in this run holds six boss markers, the optional Hua, Deadly Betrothed and the Gold-Masked One among them, outweighs every other chapter.
The recording is also edited for watching, so it is shorter than a first run: its whole 25h 6m sits well under HowLongToBeat's completionist average of 45h 27m (53 runs). The proportions are what carry over, which is why the last two columns scale them rather than quote the video's clock.
After the Annihilation Ending, the video spends another 5h 17m on optional fights from the Mandate Encampment to the Mountain of Imprisonment, the Optional Bosses the run had left, and the True Ending's last fights. We think that is about the extra a story-first player should plan for to reach the True Ending, since several of those fights are on its path.
What the times mean for planning a session
- The first two hours are the tutorial stretch. The prologue to the end of Chapter 3 is 2h 43m of video, 13.7% of the story, and holds six of the run's boss markers, from Zuo Shang to The Hunt's second fight.
- Save a long evening for Chapter 4. At 3h 29m of edited video it is the longest chapter, and it ends with Bai Chilian, the game's biggest point of no return, so the Outpost's quests have to be finished inside it.
- Chapter 8 is short, Chapter 9 is not. The Four Serpent Houses took 52 minutes; The Way Forward, in Mirage Estate, took 2h 21m and three bosses. Do the True Ending's purple quests before Chapter 9 starts, since entering Mirage Estate closes them (Endings).
- Chapter 10 is mostly bosses. Ten minutes after its marker, the Crusher and the Saw start a run of fights, Leng Tu and Meng Hua after them, that fills the other 2h 4m up to the Annihilation Ending.
On Steam, the share of players who got past each stage, read the same day, is on Completion Rate.
Sources
- PHANTOM BLADE ZERO 100% Full Gameplay Walkthrough / No Commentary【FULL GAME】True Ending 4K Ultra HD, Gamer's Little Playground, Oct 31, 2026 (video; chapter markers read Nov 13, 2026)
- Phantom Blade Zero, HowLongToBeat, read Nov 13, 2026
- Story Walkthrough and List of All Chapters, Game8, updated Nov 13, 2026, read Nov 13, 2026
- Phantom Blade Zero - Before You Buy, gameranx, Oct 26, 2026 (video)
Moments
Phantom Blade Zero - Before You Buy
gameranx
Related
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A Soul's WorthA Soul's Worth is Phantom Blade Zero's tenth and last chapter, on Mount Soulrend: climb past the Mountain God Temple and the Frostcliff Cavern, beat the Crusher and the Saw, ring the Last Chance bell (the final point of no return), then fight Leng Tu's four phases and Meng Hua at the summit. With every True Ending step done, Zuo Shang, the True Long, follows. Game8 lists 24 steps.
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Against the FlowAgainst the Flow is Chapter 2 of Phantom Blade Zero in Weeping Creek Valley: follow the river upstream, get the Sanguine Twin, beat Jagged Steel, enter the Outpost and beat Peng Meng for the Dread Axe. Talk to Yu'er and the Outpost's people first, since five side quests start here.
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Banyan's Heart LocationsOne run of Phantom Blade Zero holds eight Banyan's Hearts. Five come from the Human-Faced Banyan trees in Crimson Forest, Pangzhen, Mandate Encampment, Meigu Lake and the Mountain of Imprisonment, and three are sold by Quick Hand Zhang for 100,000 Remnant Dust each. On Nov 13, 2026, 31.5% of Steam players had cleared all five trees.
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CollectiblesPowerPyx counts 564 collectibles in Phantom Blade Zero, plus 30 side Tales: 161 bells, 129 Memory Flower fragments, 80 accessories and medicines, 43 tempering materials, 42 weapons and Phantom Edges, 40 Sha-Chi Amber shards, 40 Blackstone shards, 16 Treasures and 13 challenge locations. Half of Steam players had 10 Memory Flowers by Nov 9, 2026; about one in seven had 10 Blackstones or 10 Ambers.
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Diverging PathsDiverging Paths is Phantom Blade Zero's prologue in Weeping Creek Valley: watch Soul and Zuo Shang's duel, learn to move and fight 16 years earlier, beat Zuo Shang twice, then take the Tainted Heart that gives Soul 66 days. It has one boss, Zuo Shang, and no rewards.
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EndingsPhantom Blade Zero has four documented endings: Final Battle (the True Ending), Long's Roar, Annihilation (the default) and Undying Grudge, which only the 66 Days mode reaches. The True Ending needs every purple-icon quest done, ten of them before you enter Mirage Estate, and leads to a last fight with Zuo Shang after Meng Hua.
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OutfitsPhantom Blade Zero has eight outfits for Soul. Two are worn from the start, two belong to the Digital Deluxe Edition, and four are tied to finishing the game: The Hunt, Kindred, Blizzard and Legacy. Guides disagree on which ending gives Blizzard, and one finished run got it with the True Ending. All eight are cosmetic and are changed under Character, Appearance.
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Reckless PursuitReckless Pursuit is Chapter 1 of Phantom Blade Zero: survive the wagon chase on the main road, fight The Hunt, Hunter of the Order, then learn in a flashback that the Flesh Sculptor wants a heart from Pangzhen. It is short, with one boss and no rewards, and 94.9% of Steam players had finished the chase by Nov 9, 2026.
See also
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Snake's ReflectionSnake's Reflection is Chapter 4 of Phantom Blade Zero in the Crimson Forest: Hua Qianxiao on the bridge, Jing Ye at the Outlaw Trap, the Thieves' Camp, Stone Hand Iron Fever, the Mirrorwood mist puzzle and Bai Chilian. Free Quick Hand Zhang and finish the Outpost and Thieves' Camp quests before Bai Chilian, the game's biggest point of no return.
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Heartless RemnantsHeartless Remnants is Chapter 5 of Phantom Blade Zero in the Village of Lu: secure the Mandate Encampment's outer gate, enter the village past Zhuo Bi or the cliffs, sever the red threads, and beat Master Bi Yuan, Master Bi Hai, Yuzan and Mu Xiaokui. Finish the Young Mistress ribbons first to unlock Mu Xiaokui's secret third phase.
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WalkthroughPhantom Blade Zero's story runs through 11 chapters, the prologue included, from Diverging Paths to A Soul's Worth, across nine regions from Weeping Creek Valley to Mount Soulrend. This walkthrough gives the order, the bosses and rewards of each chapter, and the two deadlines that lock content.
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MissablesPhantom Blade Zero's biggest point of no return is beating Bai Chilian in Chapter 4, which turns the Outpost and Thieves' Camp people into enemies. Entering Mirage Estate closes the True Ending, and leaving Quick Hand Zhang in his cage loses his shop and quests.
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How Long to BeatPhantom Blade Zero's main story averaged 24¾ hours and a run with side content 43½ on HowLongToBeat on Nov 13, 2026. Director Soulframe Liang had said about 20 to 30 hours for the main story in Dec 2025, and a full playthrough "around 25 to 30 hours" for an experienced player who does not get stuck on bosses (Oct 2026). One reviewer took about 40 hours, and the Platinum takes 30 to 40. The game has 11 chapters, four documented endings, a New Game Plus with no new story, and a Platinum trophy that can be earned in one run.