The developers of Phantom Blade Zero have commented on the emerging rumors about the morality system that arose after the publication of a short interview with S-Game Creative Director Zivay Liang.
In the video, the developer discussed the impact of the player's actions on the story, which many fans took as a hint of a full-fledged honor system similar to the one implemented in Red Dead Redemption 2. In the Rockstar Games game, the player's actions — helping various characters or, conversely, violence — directly affected the behavior of the characters, prices at merchants, the quality of loot, and even the ending.
However, the official game account on X soon refuted these expectations. Phantom Blade Zero will not have a full-fledged morality system. Instead, the developers are betting on a more targeted impact: completing side quests in a certain way can indeed affect the development of the main storyline.
According to Liang, the side quests in the game are built around random encounters with characters, each of whom has their own story. The player acts only as a "passer-by" in their destinies, but his actions create a "butterfly" effect. Following one's own code of honor and "right" actions can indirectly change the course of the main story — love and revenge.
The developer described this approach as a kind of "Zen interpretation" of storytelling: the hero's personality is formed through the totality of all decisions, even if they seem unrelated. At the same time, the game does not impose an explicit system of karma or indicators of morality.