Hands-on with the Valor Mortis Pre-Alpha

Among the many games announced this year, Valor Mortis confidently stands out as one of the most intriguing. A first-person souls-like is already something fresh and unconventional — especially one with such a unique setting and premise about Napoleon Bonaparte’s (Napoleon Bonaparte) army turning into monsters. However, the project is undoubtedly risky: there’s a reason why souls-likes are almost never made in first-person. The developers surely understand the skepticism from players, which is probably why they released a pre-alpha build on Steam — to prove the concept actually works. Let’s see if it does in practice.

Valor Mortis begins with the main character, William, a soldier of the Grande Armée, awakening among the corpses of his fallen brothers-in-arms. He himself died under mysterious circumstances, yet a voice — that of Emperor Bonaparte — calls to him from beyond the grave, bringing him back.

It’s unclear what’s happening. French soldiers are either dead or behave like zombies — groaning incoherently and attacking William on sight. Most infantrymen appear normal, but some display strange crimson growths on their bodies. Others are full-blown grotesque abominations. And it’s not just people — even the surrounding landscape seems to be mutating, covered in some kind of biological mass.

The unique setting was the first thing that caught everyone’s eye in the trailers, and it truly remains one of Valor Mortis’ most striking aspects. The art direction and atmosphere are both superbly handled. There’s a moment in the pre-alpha where the player reaches an open battlefield — essentially a war-torn no man’s land between two armies. You march forward, saber in one hand and pistol in the other, through smoldering fires and scattered corpses, trying to make out what horrors lie ahead in the fog — only to encounter a soldier who suddenly lets out a shriek, bends backward unnaturally, and rushes toward you on all fours.

The focus on early 19th-century militaristic aesthetics fused with body horror gives Valor Mortis a distinct identity. Still, one can’t help but wonder how long this setting will stay fresh. If the entire game mostly unfolds in rural European environments, the scenery may grow repetitive. It could benefit from more urban environments or surreal fantasy zones to add the variety any long adventure needs.

Valor Mortis closely follows the structure typical of most souls-likes. You progress through levels, occasionally resting at checkpoints where you can spend the local equivalent of souls on attributes like health and stamina. After each rest, enemies respawn.

In combat, both your health and stamina bars matter — forcing you to think carefully about every move: when to go for a light or heavy attack, and when to dodge. Enemy strikes can also be blocked, though even a successful block deals minor chip damage. However, counterattacking immediately afterward lets you recover some lost health.

Healing primarily relies on restorative flasks that refill at checkpoints — a classic souls-like mechanic. However, there are alternative ways to heal. In the pre-alpha, for instance, you can equip a talisman that disables flasks but restores health through melee attacks — not just after blocking, but with any successful hit.

Valor Mortis also includes a parry system: pressing block at the last possible moment completely negates damage and builds up an enemy’s stagger bar, opening them up to a powerful riposte. Not every strike can be parried, though — if an enemy glows red, the only safe response is to dodge.

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it is — we’ve seen these mechanics countless times before. The real differentiator here is the first-person perspective.

And it does make a big difference. The camera greatly enhances immersion and even slightly simplifies parrying, since you can clearly follow enemy movements when they’re right in front of you.

However, first-person melee combat also introduces serious problems — the main reason most souls-like developers avoid it. The biggest issue, also present in Valor Mortis, is depth perception. You can’t easily judge the distance to an enemy or tell exactly when your weapon connects, which often leads to frustrating miscalculations. A good example is the pre-alpha boss wielding a massive banner: even after dodging back, his swings still manage to hit you.

First-person melee games are also notoriously difficult to balance. If there are too many fast enemies or group encounters, players won’t be able to react to threats outside their limited field of view — which quickly becomes overwhelming. But if most fights are slow one-on-one duels designed to compensate for that narrow vision, the difficulty drops too much, undermining the core souls-like challenge.

The Valor Mortis pre-alpha doesn’t fully resolve these concerns, as it focuses on the opening area. Whether first-person souls-like combat can truly work will only become clear in the late game. For now, it’s hard to tell if the final version can avoid either extreme — overly punishing fights or ones that feel too easy.

One of the most intriguing aspects is the inclusion of firearms and magic. William wields a saber in his right hand, while his left is used for ranged and magical attacks — a pistol and a fire-based spell reminiscent of the plasmids from BioShock.

You can switch between gun and magic on the fly — in fact, you’re encouraged to combine them. The most efficient way to regain spent mana is by destroying the red growths on enemies’ bodies, which is easiest to do with well-placed pistol shots. The loop becomes: burn enemies with fire, then replenish your mana with bullets.

More importantly, both fire and gunfire unlock new paths. For instance, you can shoot a growth on a tree to collapse it and create a makeshift bridge. Similarly, flames can burn away organic barriers blocking your way. In other words, Valor Mortis subtly incorporates Metroidvania-like progression — where new abilities grant access to previously unreachable areas. Hopefully, the full game will expand on this idea.

The Valor Mortis pre-alpha doesn’t fully sell the idea of a “Dark Souls in first-person.” Still, credit where it’s due — the developers are at least trying something bold and experimental. The potential is undeniable, thanks in large part to the setting. Whether they can realize it remains to be seen, but for now, it’s far too early for any definitive conclusions.