Phantom Blade Zero’s official soundtrack launched on November 6, bringing together 81 tracks by Caisheng Bo. Milan Records, a Sony Music Entertainment label, released the album under licence from S-GAME. Bo has worked with studio head Soulframe Liang for around 18 years, including on Rainblood 2: City of Flames. Some melodies from earlier games were developed further for Phantom Blade Zero.
Bo blends traditional Chinese instruments with pop, trap and metal. The erhu accompanies heroic moments and evokes the image of red threads controlling enemies. The pipa conveys danger and distorted spaces, while the xun wind instrument provides mournful tones.
Music also helped shape playable sequences. When an area was around 60 percent complete, Liang would send the composer roughly four hours of video footage. Bo divided the action into sections and planned musical transitions. The development team then used his demos to refine the environments, enemy encounters and boss battles around the music.
