The credits roll, the save drops you back into the Wulin, and two different things are now true at once: almost every region is open for cleanup, and the game is offering to erase that progress for a harder cycle. Those are not the same decision. New Game Plus is optional, no trophy requires it, and the reset is permanent for that save. This guide separates the free-roam checklist from the reset button.
What actually unlocks after the credits
Three things open up, and they are easy to confuse:
- Post-story free roam. Most regions reopen after the credits, so non-missable collectibles, optional bosses, and Banyan trees can still be cleaned up. Regions that were closed by the story reopen; the final area’s own content is not repeatable.
- New Game Plus (New Cycle). A fresh run with your gear and training, harder enemies, and reset quests and maps.
- 66 Days. A separate mode with a 66-life limit, its own save, and a permanent failure ending. It is not a difficulty slider you can turn off.
What does not unlock is a boss rush or a boss-select menu. There is no Remembrance-style refight system at launch. The only rematches are the five Human-Faced Banyan Trees, which run enemy waves into a boss fight and sometimes a duo. If you want to refight a campaign boss, New Game Plus is the route.
How to start New Game Plus
- Finish the final boss and let the credits play out.
- Load the post-credits save. Do not start a fresh file.
- Fast-travel to the Puppet Cell in the Mountain of Imprisonment.
- Speak to Inanis.
- Confirm the New Cycle.
What carries over and what resets
| Carries over | Resets |
|---|---|
| Weapons and their upgrade levels | Story progress and chapter state |
| Phantom Edges and their upgrades | Side quests, Tales, and purple Mysteries |
| Accessories, medicine, and materials | Maps and bell fast travel — bells must be relit |
| Skill tree / Ability Training and unspent points | Key items and quest items |
| Archives, lore, and collectibles | The remaining days counter |
| Remnant Dust and upgrade resources | Enemy and boss kills |
The high-confidence version is simple: equipment and progression systems carry; world state and quest state reset. That is why the cleanup checklist below matters more than any carry-over bonus.
Hellwalker in New Game Plus
New Game Plus is tied to Hellwalker, not to a fresh Wayfarer run. The mode keeps the 8-frame deflect window but removes the block discount entirely: blocking instead of parrying takes full Sha-Chi damage. Enemy patterns are more aggressive, and boss and elite HP is identical to the other modes. You are not fighting damage sponges; you are fighting less forgiving timing and smarter pressure.
That distinction matters for expectations. If you want a victory lap with your finished build, post-game free roam is the victory lap. New Game Plus is for players who want the campaign again with the training wheels off and a reason to use the gear they spent 40 hours building.
There is no New Game Plus story, region, boss, or ending. The FAQ is explicit that enemies are harder and there is no new story content. If you are replaying for a different ending, you are replaying for the flags, not for new scenes.
66 Days rules
66 Days is the other post-clear mode, and it is not New Game Plus with a counter attached. It is its own run.
| Rule | 66 Days |
|---|---|
| Unlock | After one clear |
| Save | Separate save; no manual saves; autosave at bells |
| Lives | 66 total; each death costs a day |
| Deflect window | 6 frames — the tightest in the game |
| Enemy AI | Hellwalker |
| Switchable | No; cannot be changed mid-run |
| Failure | Counter reaches zero; Undying Grudge ending; run ends |
| Trophy | None required |
Post-game activities worth doing before the reset
This is the part most players mean when they say “post-game.” Almost all of it is cleanup, not new story.
Yucong and the Four Great Puppets
The Four Great Puppets are Yuzan (No. 3, Village of Lu), Yubi (No. 21, Mandate Encampment), Yuding (No. 12, Mirage Estate), and Yucong (No. 34, Crimson Forest return). They feed the The Four Freed trophy. Yuzan and Yuding are on the main path; Yubi is the optional one, and Mandate Encampment has no strictly mandatory boss, so confirm it before you reset.
Yucong is the fight people miss. The unlock chain is Triple Threat → defeat the Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet → reach the Mirage Estate chapter → return to the Threadbound Great Tree with the Blazing Edge equipped. Without the Blazing Edge, phase 3 never triggers and the Chaos Twin Daggers are lost for that playthrough. Yucong has four forms — base, Steel, Frost, and Chaos — then a three-puppet split. Kill order is Steel → Chaos → Frost. Fire is efficient; Bleed is weak. The reward is Freezing Chaos.
The five Banyan trees
The Human-Faced Banyan Trees are the only boss rematches in the game. Each runs waves of enemies into a boss fight, sometimes a duo. Death resumes at the last wave or boss checkpoint, so these are low-risk practice even on a finished save. All five complete Heart of the Banyan and award Banyan’s Heart plus the Even Trees Know Sorrow trophy.
| Banyan | Region | End fight |
|---|---|---|
| Burial Grounds | Crimson Forest | Jing Ye + two bandits |
| Green Serpent House | Pangzhen | Master Bi Yuan |
| Sunset Path | Mandate Encampment | Stone Hand Iron Fever + Iron Fiend |
| Lake Banyan Dock | Meigu Lake | Cavalrybane + Soulclaimer |
| Shrine Outer Gate | Mountain of Imprisonment | Jagged Steel + Iron Butcher |
The three Shadow Wardens
Cavalrybane (Armybreaker), Soulclaimer (Parting Hooks), and Heartpiercer (Sundering Dual Axes) are the three elite Shadow Wardens behind Three Wardens Fall. All three sit on the story path, so most players have them already. The Banyan rematch at Lake Banyan Dock pairs Cavalrybane and Soulclaimer, which is a useful final check if one of the three is missing from the trophy list.
The Misty Waters trio
Master of the Misty Waters is not a single boss. It requires three kills: You Loong at Meigu Lake in its frenzied form, Yan Qiansui, and the One-Eyed Archer. The Pangzhen You Loong does not count. Yan Qiansui is gated behind the six Yan’er Memory Flowers, and the One-Eyed Archer is a Meigu Lake encounter, so this is a natural late-cleanup route rather than a quick checklist stop.
General cleanup
The broad post-game sweep is: 10 Memory Flowers for Listen to Every Flower, 30 accessories, temper 10 weapons and 10 Phantom Edges, push one weapon and one edge to Lv30, defeat Zhu Yuan and Bi Feng, collect the four Acolyte Masks and both Crystal Eyes, finish the five Long Pillars, complete Quick Hand’s 16 Lost Treasures, and close out the seven missable trophies.
The 100% checklist before you reset
This is the checklist to run in free roam, not in New Game Plus. If an item is missing after the reset, you have to replay to its region.
Endings and story flags
- Violet Blossom: all ten pre-Mirage purple Mysteries, then speak to Inanis in the Realm of Mirage.
- Bloodline Awakening: all five Long Pillars, including the fifth inside Mirage Estate.
- Four Acolyte Masks, both Crystal Eyes, and the Phantom Illusionist Ruins ritual.
- Zhu Yuan and Bi Feng defeated — the most commonly missed true-ending pair.
- All 16 Quick Hand’s Lost Treasures; the last three are in Mirage Estate.
- Every regional Tale finished before its boss gate. Use the missables checklist rather than memory.
Trophies and collections
- The seven missable trophies. PowerPyx lists seven; a quest-data read disputes the list, so use the seven as the safe checklist.
- At least 10 Memory Flowers for Listen to Every Flower. The full set is for max HP, not the trophy; totals are contested at 37 flowers and 129–130 petals.
- 30 accessories.
- All five Banyan trees.
- All four Great Puppets.
- All three Shadow Wardens.
- All three Misty Waters kills.
Gear and tempering
- Temper 10 weapons and 10 Phantom Edges.
- Push one weapon and one Phantom Edge to Lv30.
- Finish any weapon-specific temper you intend to keep. Soul Temper is permanent and cannot be reverted, so do not start one you are unsure about.
Should you start New Game Plus immediately?
| Situation | Verdict |
|---|---|
| You have finished every Tale, collectible, and post-game boss you care about | Start now |
| You want harder combat with your finished build | Start now |
| You are missing any of the seven missables | Wait — replay the region, not the cycle |
| You still need Banyan trees, Great Puppets, Wardens, or Misty Waters | Wait — do them in free roam |
| You want the true ending and have not claimed both flags | Reload a manual save or plan a new run |
| You are curious about 66 Days | Do not start it yet |
The honest answer is that New Game Plus is optional content for people who want the combat again. If you are a completionist, the free-roam cleanup is the real post-game, and the reset is a separate project. If you are a combat player, the reset is the point: the campaign is the only place where the harder AI and the full gear set meet.
What New Game Plus does not give you
- No new story chapter, region, boss, weapon, Phantom Edge, Tale, or ending.
- No boss rush or boss-select menu.
- No difficulty trophy and no NG+-only trophy.
- No shortcut to a missed Tale; the quest resets with everything else.
- No reason to skip the cleanup checklist if you care about 100%.
For the ending flags themselves, see the endings guide and the true ending checklist. For the final region’s point of no return, see the Mount Soulrend walkthrough. For the trophy list and the seven missables, see achievements and trophies.
Sources & confidence
The unlock flow, carry-over list, reset list, and 66 Days rules are high confidence: they are consistent across the official FAQ summary, PowerPyx’s trophy roadmap, Fextralife’s NG+ page, and the Mount Soulrend walkthrough. The Hellwalker framing is also consistent, though the exact interaction between New Game Plus and the standard difficulty selector is not documented by S-GAME. The weapon cap, shop inventory, and accessory polish changes are community-reported and should be treated as medium confidence. The Yucong unlock chain is high confidence, but the Freezing Chaos location is contested between late Crimson Forest and Mirage Estate in some sources. The seven-missable list is PowerPyx’s; Kungfupunk’s quest-data read disputes it, so the checklist intentionally errs on the safe side.
Sources & further reading
- Steam store page — Valve
- Trophy guide and roadmap — PowerPyx
- New Game Plus — Fextralife
- Phantom Blade Zero New Game Plus guide — PCGamesN
- All bosses and rewards — KeenGamer
We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.
By the PBZ Guide Team · Reviewed by the editorial desk Written in English from primary sources and cross-checked play routes. Spot an error? Tell us and we will update the guide. We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.