ok so if you're coming from a Souls game like I did you probably expect NG+ to just be the same thing with bigger health bars and honestly I thought that too but Phantom Blade Zero does it differently. NG+ remixes enemy placements adds entirely new attack strings to bosses and unlocks weapons that literally don't exist in a first playthrough, it's closer to what Nioh does with its NG+ cycles than what Dark Souls does and ngl I kind of love that about it. Because it actually makes the second run feel fresh instead of just being a stat check you know. And that's pretty rare these days tbh.
What Carries Over to NG+
here's the complete checklist and tbh some things carry over that kind of surprised me and some things don't that really should imo. So definitely read through this before you hit that NG+ button, or you might regret it later. Anyway here goes.
What Changes in NG+
NG+ isn't just the same but harder tbh S-GAME actually put work into making the second run feel different, and I honestly appreciate that. Because I've played too many games where NG+ is just a lazy damage multiplier and nothing else you know. But this one actually has some thought put into it.
- Enemy damage scales to +40% across the board and health pools go up about 25% but it's not a linear multiplier early-game enemies get a bigger boost than late-game enemies so the difficulty curve flattens out. And honestly this makes the pacing feel way better than your first run did, the early zones actually stay challenging instead of becoming a cakewalk.
- Bosses get new attack strings and every major boss has 1-3 new moves that only appear in NG+. I've died to these so many times lemme tell you. The Commander of the Iron Steed for example gets a delayed follow-up to his charge attack that punishes the dodge timing you drilled into muscle memory on your first run. Ngl it got me like 4 times before I figured out the new rhythm.
- Enemy placements shuffle so some early zones have late-game enemies mixed in and the Abandoned Garrison now has a Crimson Phantom patrolling the courtyard. Which is an enemy type you didn't see until Zone 4 on a first playthrough btw. That first encounter caught me completely off guard I literally walked right into it like an idiot.
- New Phantom Edge drops and certain enemies drop Phantom Edge variants in NG+ that simply don't exist in the base game's loot table. So definitely check every corpse and boss drop you come across, you never know what might show up.
NG+ Exclusive Weapons
there are weapons you can only get in New Game Plus and here are the confirmed ones. Soulrender alone makes NG+ worth it imo. But here's the full list so you know what to hunt for.
- Soulrender (Sword): Drops from the final boss on NG+ and has a unique passive that converts 10% of damage dealt into Sha-Chi. Honestly it's arguably the best sword in the game, I've been using it for basically everything since I got it and it's kinda broken.
- Ashen Reaper (Greatsword): Found in the prologue area on NG+ and replaces the Jagged Steel pickup with faster swing speed than any other greatsword and only slightly reduced damage. Which is kind of insane for a weapon you get that early tbh.
- Twin Fangs (Dual Blades): Reward for completing the NG+ version of Yuelin's quest chain and she has an extended quest in NG+ that reveals more of her backstory. I honestly loved the extra story content and the blades themselves are pretty much amazing for dual blade builds.
Before You Start NG+, Completion Checklist
Some things are much harder or basically impossible to do after you reset. So take care of these first. Trust me I learned this the hard way on my first playthrough and had to redo stuff I really wish I'd done before resetting, and it was painful lol.
- Farm rare evolution materials because the final boss arena has respawning elite enemies that drop +3 evolution stones, so farm them until your main weapons are maxed. And those enemies are replaced in NG+ with much tougher versions so it's way harder to farm them later, don't make the same mistake I did.
- Finish all NPC quest chains even if you're going for a different ending on NG+ complete every available quest first. Because some NPCs give accessories that carry over and the quest knowledge will save you time on your next run and stuff like that. Also some of the quest rewards are actually really good.
- Collect all Phantom Edges because the achievement for full Phantom Edge collection requires base-game versions and NG+ exclusive variants don't count toward it. Which is kind of annoying. But whatever at least you know now instead of finding out the hard way.
- Unlock all bell checkpoints because fast travel points carry over and this makes NG+ routing dramatically faster. So spend like 30 minutes running through every zone and ringing every bell you missed. You'll thank yourself later I promise.
- Buy out merchant inventories because coins carry over but merchant stock resets so spend your extra currency on consumables and upgrade materials before restarting. Basically empty out every shop you can find and stock up on whatever looks useful.
NG+ Ending Routes
NG+ is your chance to see the endings you missed and since NPC relationships reset you have a clean slate for faction choices. The most common approach is to use your first playthrough for whatever natural ending your choices lead to then target the True Ending on NG+ using a guide. But the True Ending requires specific relationship thresholds with three NPCs and two faction decisions that are easy to miss without planning ahead. Tbh I missed one of them on my first NG+ run and had to do a third playthrough, which honestly was kind of painful. But worth it for that ending imo.