Everything We Know About Valor Mortis (as briefly as possible)

At the opening ceremony of gamescom 2025, Valor Mortis was announced, a new game from One More Level, the creators of the Ghostrunner duology. This is a first-person soulslike set in the early 19th century, but with elements of dark fantasy. We have collected all the information that is known about the project at the moment.

Many soulslikes combine historical realities with mythology and fantasy. Usually, they are based on Medieval Japan, as in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or China, as in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Valor Mortis takes place in Europe in the early 19th century, or to be more precise, during the Napoleonic Wars. You play as one of the soldiers of the French army, who died and rose from the dead. The world is engulfed in plague, the survivors are forced to participate in endless battles, and terrible monsters roam the battlefields. We have to figure out what happened and save the world from an even more terrible threat.

At the very beginning of the story campaign, the main character wakes up in a pit with rotting corpses. In his head, the voice of Napoleon Bonaparte sounds, which demands to get up and move forward in the name of the Empire. To the melancholic music, he wanders along dirty roads past burnt redoubts and other traces of the past war, shudders from flocks of crows flying past, and also fights with maddened warriors of the Grand Army in characteristic uniforms, but with disfigured faces. At the same time, with one blow you can cut off their head or even half the body, and each successful hit is accompanied by splashes of blood.

Gradually, what is happening becomes more and more strange. For example, the main character is attacked by fighters with unnaturally arched backs, who move on all fours and behave more like dogs. Later, we encounter mutants. They are several soldiers fused together like Siamese twins. And the first boss is a general who has turned into a three-meter giant, just like the monster from Resident Evil 4. As a result, the game resembles a full-fledged horror. But it doesn't scare with screamers, but with a dark atmosphere.

Usually, when we talk about soulslike projects, we remember FromSoftware games and their imitators. In Valor Mortis, everything is the same, but from a first-person view. Associations arise with the action Dark Messiah of Might and Magic from Arkane Lyon.

At the same time, the combat system here is really similar to those we saw in Hidetaka Miyazaki's projects. At your service are saber strikes, blocks and dodges. Successful counterattacks can restore some of your lost health, like in Bloodborne. In addition to melee weapons, a revolver is used in combat, as well as supernatural abilities, such as a stream of flame that bursts out of the protagonist's hand. Something similar was in the first Bioshock. Vulnerable points on the bodies of some enemies, which are marked in orange, are another reminder of the Resident Evil series.

Instead of bonfires from Dark Souls, there are tall pillars with hourglasses. They serve as a respawn point after death, their activation restores health, and also resurrects all ordinary enemies nearby. There, artifacts with special properties are installed and basic skills are pumped up. If you die, you will lose experience points. But they can be returned. To do this, you just need to get to the place of your death. All this is familiar to anyone who has ever launched a modern soulslike.

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