Phantom Blade Zero has received its first major patch, and it includes a notable change to one of the game’s most divisive early bosses. Hua, the Deadly Betrothed, will use her powerful grab attack less often on the Wayfarer and Pathbreaker difficulty settings, though higher difficulties remain unchanged.

Hua has become a major point of frustration for some players because her lunging grab deals heavy damage and must be dodged rather than blocked or parried. The attack is telegraphed by a red flash, but it can be difficult to avoid when Hua follows it up after launching spectral lilies that fill much of the screen.

Hua is an optional boss, but many players see her as an early “filter” encounter designed to test whether they have mastered the game’s combat systems. Some fans have argued that her aggression is part of the challenge, while others say her teleporting movements and frequent grabs feel unfair rather than difficult.

The nerf only affects lower difficulty settings, which should give struggling players a smoother path forward without changing the experience for those who want a tougher challenge.

The patch also brings meaningful improvements for PC players. S-GAME says it has updated the shader compilation process to significantly reduce startup times, and ray tracing shaders will no longer compile by default when the game launches.

The update also reduces stuttering when using a Bluetooth controller on PC and fixes an issue that prevented NVIDIA Reflex from working with V-Sync set to Auto.

The update adds new audio settings for hit sound intensity and hit impact sound intensity, along with the ability to remap the Interact and Talk buttons on both keyboard and controller. S-GAME has also improved weapon hit feedback and adjusted the volume of certain sound effects and dialogue.

Other fixes address progression-blocking bugs, characters getting stuck in the environment, cutscene issues, combat problems, and incorrect hair rendering on certain AMD graphics cards.

The changes come after a hugely successful launch for Phantom Blade Zero, which sold four million copies in its first 72 hours and reached more than 833,000 concurrent players on Steam. With its first major patch, S-GAME is clearly trying to keep that momentum going by making the game smoother, more accessible, and less frustrating for players still finding their footing.