S-GAME has announced a roughly 5 GB day-one patch for Phantom Blade Zero that improves ray tracing and path tracing performance while addressing several bugs. The developer has also warned PC players about instability with NVIDIA’s GeForce driver 621.01, recommending an older driver version for the best experience.
The update was confirmed on October 28, 2026, in an official Steam announcement titled “Reason and Madness” by S-GAME creative director and CEO Soulframe Liang. The announcement outlines several last-minute performance improvements ahead of the game’s launch on PC and PlayStation 5.
According to Liang, the approximately 5 GB update significantly improves performance when ray tracing and path tracing are enabled. Players who have already preloaded Phantom Blade Zero will need to download and install the additional patch before starting the game. Those downloading the game without preloading will automatically receive the latest version.
S-GAME has not provided specific frame-rate improvements or detailed benchmarks for the update. However, the optimizations are particularly relevant to players enabling the game’s advanced lighting effects, which can substantially increase GPU demands.
The improvements arrive after early Phantom Blade Zero PC benchmarks highlighted differences between Radeon and GeForce performance, including the impact of path tracing and several technical issues.
Alongside the patch, S-GAME issued an unusual recommendation concerning NVIDIA graphics drivers. The studio says its internal testing identified performance instability with GeForce driver 621.01, which NVIDIA released as part of its Game Ready support for Phantom Blade Zero.
Instead, S-GAME recommends NVIDIA driver 617.42, which it says currently provides the best experience with the game. Players who have already installed a newer version are advised to roll back to 617.42 using the clean installation option.
The recommendation conflicts with NVIDIA’s own launch guidance, which promotes its newer Game Ready driver for Phantom Blade Zero. The game supports DLSS 4.5, Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, and DLSS Ray Reconstruction alongside its path-traced lighting effects.
Driver 621.01 has also been associated with black screens and video playback freezes affecting certain GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards. NVIDIA subsequently released hotfix driver 621.12 to address several reported issues, although compatibility with Phantom Blade Zero was not identified among its specific fixes.
S-GAME recommends remaining on driver 617.42 until NVIDIA releases another update. The developer expects a newer driver to arrive soon but has not provided a confirmed release date.
Beyond ray tracing improvements, Liang explained that the development team has invested considerable effort in optimizing Phantom Blade Zero’s conventional rasterized graphics. The goal is to preserve the game’s intended visual presentation even when ray tracing is disabled.
The studio also confirmed extensive testing on mid-range and lower-end PCs, as well as gaming handhelds. Phantom Blade Zero supports multiple display aspect ratios, including 16:9 monitors, 16:10 laptop and handheld displays, and ultrawide configurations exceeding 3:1.
These optimizations could be particularly relevant to players running the game without high-end graphics hardware. However, S-GAME has not published new performance figures for handheld devices or lower-end GPUs following the day-one update.
Phantom Blade Zero launches on October 28 in North America, with the release falling on October 29 in some other regions. The game is available for PC and PlayStation 5, with the approximately 5 GB patch forming part of its launch preparations.
