Is Phantom Blade Zero a Soulslike?
No. S-GAME has stated it directly and repeatedly: Phantom Blade Zero is a combo-driven action game, "Kungfupunk" is their own label, with optional difficulty and a parry-centred rhythm closer to Ninja Gaiden than to Dark Souls.
Why players compare it to Souls
The first reveal read as familiar: a dark setting, a lone swordsman, weighty animation, and boss fights framed as walls. English coverage reached for the nearest reference point, and "Soulslike" stuck before anyone had played it. The comparison is about visual grammar, not systems.
Why S-GAME says it is not
The studio coined "Kungfupunk" specifically to avoid the label. Their stated design goals of combo depth, selectable difficulty and cinematic wuxia choreography are all things Souls games deliberately do not do. They have repeated this in interviews across two years, not as a one-off marketing line.
What the combat rhythm actually is
Parry, chain, execute. Enemies interrupt on successful parries, which opens the window your combo is built for. There is no stamina-gated poke-and-retreat loop, and death does not tax you in the Souls sense. It is closer to a fighting-game rhythm than a survival one.
Closer comparisons
Ninja Gaiden Black for the chain-and-cancel structure. Action-cinema choreography for the framing of each exchange. Wuxia film staging for the way encounters are blocked out: long clean lines, dramatic pauses, decisive finishes. Those three describe the game better than Souls does.