Phantom Blade Zero Needs 300GB Free to Pre-Load, Double Its 145GB Install

Pre-loads for Phantom Blade Zero, the debut action game from Chinese developer S-Game, are now live, and the studio has published its final PC requirements. The game takes up 145GB once installed, but pre-loading it demands over double that: 300GB of free space. The extra room is returned after installation finishes.

S-Game explained the figure in a Steam blog post, saying that "temporary files and the complete game files must coexist during the unlock process". That points to the decryption and decompression step as the reason for the overhead.

A big ask on top of a big install

Needing temporary space during an install is nothing new. What stands out here is the scale: a 145GB game that wants 300GB free before it will unlock pushes past what many players have spare, especially on a single drive.

The game also requires an SSD. Memory and storage shortages driven by the global boom in generative AI have made drives harder to get and pricier, so buying a new one just to fit a single game is not an appealing option for many people.

Unlikely to hurt sales

The size is unlikely to slow the game down commercially. Phantom Blade Zero is already tipped as one of the year's biggest hits, and some estimates put its Steam sales at more than 500,000 copies before launch.

Critical reception is more mixed. In her review, Emma Kent praised the fluid, cinematic kung fu-style action but was critical of the game's underwhelming boss fights and its general lack of polish.

Release date

Phantom Blade Zero launches on 29th October on PC and PS5. If you plan to pre-load on PC, clear 300GB first, then expect to get roughly 155GB of it back once the install completes.