Gaming How-To

How to Remove the Red Thread Barrier in Phantom Blade Zero

Browse every region of Phantom Blade Zero, from Weeping Creek Valley to Mount Soulrend. Switch on bells, chests, weapons, Phantom Edges, accessories, remedies, bosses, merchants, characters or quest targets to see where they are, search by name, and share the view with the link in your address bar.

Browse every region of Phantom Blade Zero, from Weeping Creek Valley to Mount Soulrend. Switch on bells, chests, weapons, Phantom Edges, accessories, remedies, bosses, merchants, characters or quest targets to see where they are, search by…

by AllThingsHow StaffAllThingsHow Staff
Soul by the waterfall at the Red Thread Barrier in Phantom Blade Zero

Quick answer: Defeat the enemy guarding the campfire where the red threads meet, a short walk from the Broken Puppet Valley bell. The game then confirms “The threads blocking the mountain path have vanished.”

What the Red Thread Barrier is

Early in Chapter 1 of Phantom Blade Zero, Soul reaches a bell in Weeping Creek Valley called Red Thread Barrier. It sits beside a waterfall gorge, and right next to it a curtain of red threads hangs across the path.

The curtain of red threads beside the Red Thread Barrier bell in Phantom Blade Zero
The thread curtain hangs across the path beside the bell

Ringing the bell reveals more of the map and brings Map Completion to 9%. On the map, red threads are drawn over the gorge at that bell’s location, which marks the blocked route.

The Weeping Creek Valley map with the Red Thread Barrier bell and red threads over the gorge in Phantom Blade Zero
Red threads drawn over the gorge at the Red Thread Barrier bell

A lone red strand provides a useful trail: it floats away from the curtain and continues above the route in front of you.

A single red thread running off through the air from the barrier in Phantom Blade Zero
One thread runs off along the route ahead

How to remove the Red Thread Barrier

Leave the barrier behind and continue to the next bell, Broken Puppet Valley. This is your starting point for tracking down the source of the threads.
Pass the wooden stilt house after leaving the Broken Puppet Valley bell, then look across the gorge for the large bundle of red threads visible from this area.
The bundle of red threads strung across the gorge near the Broken Puppet Valley bell in Phantom Blade Zero
The bundle of threads across the gorge
Trace the red strands across the ground until they reach a crate-ringed campfire, the point where numerous threads converge.
Get ready to fight as soon as you arrive. An enemy carrying a spiked round shield and a club guards the campfire and attacks on sight, and the game shows this tip: “Attacks from the front cannot easily break shields! Parry Blue-flash Attacks to trigger Ghoststep and move behind enemies.”
The shield and club enemy at the campfire with the shield tip in Phantom Blade Zero
The campfire guard and the shield tip
Bring down the shield-bearing foe. A brief cutscene then reveals the threaded tunnel stair on the mountain path.
The threaded tunnel stair of the mountain path shown in the cutscene in Phantom Blade Zero
The cutscene shows the mountain path’s tunnel stair

When the cutscene ends, the message “The threads blocking the mountain path have vanished.” appears on screen, and red thread rings lie on the ground around Soul. That message confirms the Red Thread Barrier is gone and the mountain path is open.

The message that the threads blocking the mountain path have vanished in Phantom Blade Zero
The barrier is gone once this message appears

Before you leave the campfire, check the chest standing by the fence next to it. It holds a Sha-Chi Amber Shard.

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