The Phantom Blade Zero trophy guide covers all 66 achievements, and they can be unlocked in a single playthrough, because no achievement is tied to a difficulty tier — the list can be completed on the easiest setting, Wayfarer, if that is where you started. The Steam build has 66 achievements and no platinum-style final trophy; the completionist goal is "Defy Destiny", which fires only once every other achievement is unlocked. The PS5 build has a separate list of 36 digital trophies with a platinum cup — 1 Platinum, 3 Gold, 14 Silver and 18 Bronze, with 19 of them hidden — and that list has its own one-run route below.
The six families in the Phantom Blade Zero trophy guide
| Family | Count | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Story progress | 13 | Automatic as you advance |
| Boss defeats | 19 | The longest part, because most are optional |
| Quests | 9 | Several expire if you kill the wrong boss first |
| Collectibles | 4 | The real long pole |
| Weapons and Phantom Edges | 20 | Cheap if you farm spare items |
| Final | 1 | Defy Destiny, last of all |
The order that works
- Collectibles first, because they are the long pole. Ten Blackstones means all 40 fragments, ten Memory Flowers means ten complete sets rather than ten single petals, and 30 Accessories means clearing side areas.
- Temper spares, not favourites. Tempering is cheap: temper ten spare weapons and ten spare Phantom Edges rather than saving them.
- Sweep the optional bosses. The multi-boss achievements are the fiddliest part of the run, and they all pull from the same pool of optional fights.
The multi-boss achievements
| Achievement | Needs |
|---|---|
| The Four Freed | Yuzan, Yubi, Yuding and Yucong — the four Great Puppets |
| Three Wardens Fall | Cavalrybane, Soulclaimer and Heartpiercer |
| The Two Blade Masters | Zhu Yuan and Commander Bi Feng |
| Master of the Misty Waters | You Loong, Yan Qiansui and the One-Eyed Archer in Meigu Lake |
You Loong is fought twice, once in Pangzhen and again in Meigu Lake, so killing him on the way through does not clear Turning the Tide.
The PS5 platinum checklist
The PlayStation list is a different, smaller set from the 66 Steam achievements above. It is 36 trophies: 1 Platinum, 3 Gold, 14 Silver and 18 Bronze, with 19 of them hidden. Of the 35 non-Platinum trophies, 26 come from boss kills and side quests — 17 from bosses and 9 from quests — and the other nine are upgrade and collectible tasks. The Platinum can be earned in one playthrough on any difficulty, because no trophy requires you to finish on the hardest setting.
Budget 30 to 40 hours for the Platinum, against 25 to 30 hours for the main story alone.
| Trophy type | Count |
|---|---|
| Platinum | 1 |
| Gold | 3 |
| Silver | 14 |
| Bronze | 18 |
| Hidden | 19 |
| From boss kills | 17 |
| From side quests | 9 |
| Upgrade and collectible tasks | 9 |
The seven missables, and when they expire
| Trophy | Requirement | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| With Heart and Blood | Unlocks the true ending | Finish every Journal quest marked with a purple icon, including the ones before Mirage Estate, before the final-boss sequence |
| Forbidden Arts Beneath the Lake | Complete Secrets at the Heart of the Lake | Before you enter Mirage Estate |
| The Last of Baishan | Complete Secrets of the Baishan Sect | Before you defeat Bai Chilian |
| Together Till the End | Complete The Journey Home at the Village of Lu hideout | Before the story cutoff |
| A Wanderer's Honor | Complete Young Master Lan at the Village of Lu hideout | Before the story cutoff |
| Spectral Blade | Accept A Severed Mindseal from the Shadow Warden at the Weeping Creek Valley Sha-Chi Summit Bell and finish its first objective | Before you leave the valley |
| The Healer's Legacy | Finish Apprentice Healer, A Healer's Mercy and Flesh Lily | Apprentice Healer before Jing Ye, A Healer's Mercy before Bai Chilian, Flesh Lily in Pangzhen |
The ending one matters most, because it is the same point of no return the endings page describes.
The six upgrade and collectible trophies
| Trophy | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Overwhelming Force | Upgrade one weapon to Level 30 |
| Skill Over Strength | Upgrade one Phantom Edge to Level 30 |
| A Tempered Ten | Temper 10 weapons |
| Phantom Arsenal | Temper 10 Phantom Edges |
| Listen to Every Flower | Collect 10 Memory Flowers |
| Collector's Notes | Collect 30 Accessories |
A Reforging Talisman resets a weapon's level and refunds its materials, so over-investing in the wrong blade does not lock a run out — the trophy stays unlocked.
The one-run order
- Choose the difficulty first. Wayfarer if the combat is hard for you. The Platinum does not require the hardest tier, so there is no reason to fight the run.
- Clear the opening. Escaping the pursuers on Main Road earns The Heart's Journey.
- Do the side quests in each region before you push the story forward. Quests marked red in the Journal are the ones that expire.
- Do the purple-icon quests for the true ending, plus the Mirage Estate quests, Mount Soulrend and the Last Chance bell, before the two points of no return.
- Sweep the optional bosses, including the multi-boss groups, then gather Memory Flowers and Accessories while you revisit the areas your new Phantom Edges open up.
- Upgrade one weapon and one Phantom Edge to Level 30, and Temper 10 of each, then check the Journal counters for every quest, boss and collectible before you finish the story.
Neither New Game Plus nor 66 Days mode is required, and you can change difficulty without invalidating trophies you have already earned.
The full list
Names and conditions for every achievement are on the trophy list page, grouped the same way. If you are planning a clean run, work through that list and tick it against your route, and use the collectibles page for where each material actually is.
If you are on PlayStation rather than Steam, this is the wrong list. The 66 achievements above are the Steam set. The PS5 set is the 36 trophies in the platinum checklist, and its names overlap only partly — the missables and the six upgrade trophies carry the same names, but the route is its own. The New Game Plus page covers the mode the game unlocks after the credits, which is separate from both trophy lists.