Valor Mortis Review: A Napoleonic First-Person Soulslike That's Fresh But Rough Around the Edges

A Napoleonic Plague Dream You Haven't Played Before

Valor Mortis unfolds in an alternate history where Napoleon Bonaparte never met his defeat at Waterloo. Instead, he expanded his empire across Europe using Nephtoglobin, a supernatural substance that reshapes both his armies and the world around them. Players control William Dowsett, a British volunteer serving in the Grande Armée, who wakes with amnesia in a mass grave and must piece together who he is and what was done to him.

The cast is a genuine draw. Vincent Cassel voices Napoleon, Jennifer English (of Baldur's Gate 3 fame) plays the mysterious figure known as The Shrike, and James Alexander brings Dowsett to life. The original score comes from Arkadiusz Reikowski, whose credits include the Silent Hill 2 remake, The Medium, and Layers of Fear, alongside in-house composer Oskar Bała. The result is a soundscape that leans into dread rather than bombast.

What reviewers consistently single out is the mood. The creature designs are unsettling in ways that feel specific to this plague-ridden Napoleonic nightmare rather than borrowed from the genre's usual gothic or cosmic horror wells. Kotaku's review praised the atmosphere and creature work even while criticizing other elements, and that split is telling. The setting is the game's strongest asset, a vision of history warped by something inhuman that feels unlike anything else in the Soulslike space.

Ghostrunner DNA in a Soulslike Shell

The core pitch is simple to describe and difficult to execute. One More Level took the parkour, grappling hook, and fast combat that defined Ghostrunner and transplanted it into a first-person Soulslike. The result is a game that moves very differently from its peers.

Combat revolves around Transmutations, left-hand powers split across Fire, Shield, and Grapple. Catalysts serve as the upgrade currency spent at Lanterns, while Ambers handle build customization. Exploration follows a Metroidvania structure, with new abilities opening routes that were previously closed. It is a lot of systems layered on top of one another, and the interplay between them is where the game finds its identity.

The parries are well-tuned, and combat readability in first person is better than skeptics might expect. Rock Paper Shotgun called it "one of the freshest Soulslikes in years," a sentiment that captures why the game's best moments land so hard. That readability did not happen by accident. Lyrical Games CEO Blake Rochkind explained that the first-person camera required rebuilding the fundamentals of Soulslike design from the ground up, with heavy attention paid to parry windows, lock-on behavior, audio cues, and hit feedback. When it works, the result is a duel system that feels immediate in a way third-person Soulslikes rarely match.

Where the Ambition Outpaces the Execution

The critical reception is wide-ranging, and that range is itself the story. TheGamer scored the game a 90 and called it one of the most unique Soulslikes around. Wccftech was notably harsher, finding the experience "more frustrating than fun" after the first few hours. The Metacritic aggregate of 77 reconciles these positions: this is a broadly positive reception with real, acknowledged flaws, not a divisive game in the traditional sense. Almost no one walked away calling it bad. Many walked away wishing it had been given more time.

The specific criticisms explain why the aggregate lands where it does rather than higher. IGN scored the game a 70, praising its originality while flagging frequent crashes during boss encounters and describing the story as "more vibes than substance." That phrase has stuck for good reason. The world is richly drawn, but the narrative payoff does not always match the strength of its setup. Atmosphere carries a great deal of weight here, and when the plot needs to deliver, it can feel thin.

Build variety is another recurring complaint. DualShockers, which scored the game an 85, noted that the total arsenal amounts to just nine weapons: three swords, three guns, and three Transmutations. For a game built around customization systems, that ceiling arrives quickly. Enemy variety is similarly limited, and Wccftech pointed to first-person camera issues in tight spaces and a lack of encounter diversity. That review completed the game in 20 hours.

The Bonfire Revival: A Studio's Second Chance

The backstory matters here because it shapes how the game should be read.

One More Level built Ghostrunner into a franchise that sold over 2.5 million units by September 2023. Valor Mortis was originally set to be published by Private Division, Take-Two's indie label. In 2024, as Take-Two wound the label down, the deal fell apart. The studio was left without a publisher for its most ambitious project, a game built in Unreal Engine 5 and representing its first wholly owned IP.

Lyrical Games, the publishing arm of Lyrical Media, stepped in. Kotaku framed the studio's recovery as its own "bonfire revival," a thematic parallel to the game's resurrection premise that is difficult to ignore once you see it. A studio that lost its footing found a second chance, and the game it made is literally about a man climbing out of a grave.

The pricing decision reflects that context as well. At $39.99, Valor Mortis undercuts most of its genre peers. The developers explained the choice by pointing to a stacked fall release calendar and what they described as "high demand for your time and money." A $59.99 Deluxe Edition bundles cosmetic packs and a Major Story DLC planned for 2027. A New Game+ mode, which retains loot and character progression, is slated for Q4 2026.

Should You Play It?

Valor Mortis is a distinctive $40 Soulslike with day-one Game Pass availability, and that combination makes the recommendation easier than the review scores alone might suggest.

If you are a Soulslike veteran chasing the next hundred-hour build-crafting obsession, temper your expectations. Nine weapons and limited enemy variety mean the long-tail optimization loop is thinner than the genre standard. If you play for atmosphere, for the thrill of a setting you have never seen before, and for a first-person parry system that genuinely feels different, this is one of the more interesting $40 you can spend this year.

Completion time runs roughly 12 to 20 hours depending on how directly you push through. The developer's stated target is a 20-hour story; Kotaku's reviewer reached credits in 12 to 15. Either way, it is a focused experience rather than an endless one, and the announced New Game+ mode gives the studio room to deepen that experience after launch.

A Grave Worth Climbing Out Of

Valor Mortis is a flawed game that proves something worth proving. One More Level, after losing the publisher that was supposed to back its biggest swing, built a first-person Soulslike set in a Napoleonic plague dream that no one else would have thought to make. The parries land. The setting lingers. The creature designs get under your skin. The bugs and the thin story and the limited arsenal are real, and they are the difference between a good game and a great one.

At $40 and on Game Pass, from a studio that just staged its own comeback, the rough edges are easier to forgive, though it is worth noting that Game Pass availability makes a game easier to try, not better. A subscription can lower the stakes of a purchase, but it does not patch a crash or deepen a thin narrative. What it does is remove the barrier to discovering a genuinely original world.

This is a strong first step for a new IP, and it is the kind of step that makes a sequel worth anticipating.