Presented at gamescom 2025 in Cologne in August, Valor Mortis immediately attracted the attention of fans of soulslikes and hardcore games. The project looks unusual, but still raises some questions. We will try to answer them in this material!
The game takes place in an alternate 19th-century Eastern Europe, ravaged by endless war and a mysterious plague. Players will take on the role of a Napoleonic army soldier named William, who first fell in battle for his commander, but then rose from the dead to fight grotesque monsters from the so-called "Eternal Guard of Napoleon."
Valor Mortis does not rush to overwhelm the player with exposition, giving him the opportunity to get to the truth on his own, exploring the sights and reading the notes of soldiers, whose corpses are lying around under almost every tree.
At gamescom 2025 in Cologne, the developers from One More Level stated that the project has a relatively large production budget, which allowed the studio to focus much more attention on the script. It's nice to see that the money from the sales of the Ghostrunner dilogy was spent on the cause.
Although the developers presented only a tiny segment of Valor Mortis during the testing, it was quite enough to understand exactly what atmosphere the game is trying to create and into what world of horror and pain the main character will have to plunge.
The main feature of Valor Mortis, which distinguishes it from other soulslikes, is its first-person perspective. The view from the hero's eyes makes the fights more intense, and every blow to the body of poor William almost echoes with pain in his own body. The hero skillfully wields a saber, can cut off the limbs of enemies or dissect them from ear to groin with one precise blow - everything looks cruel and very realistic. In terms of visuals and violence, the game is really impressive.
The combat system of Valor Mortis is based on nimble and fast attacks, parrying and dodging - everything is as it should be in soulslikes. A quick attack after taking damage can restore some health, forcing the player to be more aggressive in battle, and not sit on the defensive, waiting for the enemy to open up for a strike. However, the enemies do not allow you to be passive, trying to constantly press, not giving respite.
There are perfect parries and perfect dodges. The first does not consume stamina, completely blocks damage and unbalances the enemy, and the second significantly enhances the next attack.
The difficulty of the game is also added by the first-person view: sometimes enemies simply disappear from the field of vision in order to vilely attack from behind. Problems with perspective will be especially noticeable during the battle with one of the bosses, a huge monster stitched together from a mountain of corpses. The size of the monster does not allow it to fit into the screen completely, which is why some attacks had to be literally predicted, because they are simply not visible. It only remained to try to keep the distance and wait for a convenient moment to attack. The monster lost the right to a fair fight when it became the size of a bulldozer.
The hero also has a pistol in his arsenal, which he can use simultaneously with a saber. Firearms have shown high efficiency in combat with the aforementioned boss. There were some purulent growths on the monster's body, which burst disgustingly after successful hits, causing high damage to the beast. Simple opponents are not particularly afraid of bullets, and Valor Mortis does not give out cartridges very willingly, so the pistol outside of that particular fight was used only to open passages and knock down trees.
Spells will definitely be much more effective in combat, but there was only one in the playtest, which turned the hero's hand into a flamethrower. Dousing mutants with fire seriously consumes mana, but, judging by the skill tree, it is quite possible to turn William into a combat mage.
Analysis
Valor Mortis is intriguing. The game offers an interesting setting and its own interpretation of soulslikes, which lately are not very different from each other.
It has its problems, of course, like bosses that don't fit on the screen - so far only one, but there will obviously be others. Let's hope that the developers will find a way to make the fights with them more fair.
