Valor Mortis Preview – Bloodborne But Make It French

Polish studio One More Level made a good name for itself with the Ghostrunner franchise, and now it's taking a stab at the ever-popular soulslike formula with its own twist. Enter Valor Mortis, which was revealed just weeks ago at Gamescom.

This upcoming game keeps the first-person perspective that One More Level is known for, but it swaps out the cyberpunk-ninja aesthetic for something a little more 19th century. You play as an English soldier in the French military (for story reasons), but there's some supernatural, bloodcurdling spooky stuff going on.

The combat feels intense and enjoyable, and the world presents this intriguing mystery that I want to learn more about when Valor Mortis releases in 2026.

Shoot, Slice, Spark

A majority of soulslikes, as you probably know, are in a third-person perspective, to account for the rapid movements of certain enemies and the endless dodge rolls you'll be doing. They can be frantic at times, so I was a little worried about how it'd feel in first person.

Valor Mortis, however, threads the needle perfectly. Motions are clear, and I found a lot of clarity in the hitboxes between me and the enemies. Swinging the sword feels great, and the visual and audio feedback when you land a hit or parry is satisfying.

This game goes for the dual-wielding approach to combat, where your right hand is your sword while your left hand deals ranged attacks. I got a flintlock pistol early in the demo, but later, I found a power up that let me shoot magical fire. In some screenshots, I saw a full-on rifle too that requires two hands to wield.

If you keep up the pressure, you can break an enemy's stance, though parries do more damage to their stance meter. Once they're broken, you can do a critical hit that does massive damage, similar to other soulslikes.

I found that the dodge feels great, as well. It reminded me of the quick dash in Doom Eternal, and it was easy to position myself to wherever I needed around the enemies.

Otherwise, you've got all the usual soulslikes trappings here, too. There are totally-not-flasks to heal you, and they get replenished at totally-not-bonfires that also respawn all the enemies.

At the lamps, which are Valor Mortis's bonfires, I could also upgrade my stats using a currency that enemies dropped. Most of them seemed a little boring at first, with basic upgrades like +6% endurance. I imagine in the long run, it'll add up nicely, but for a short 20-minute demo, there wasn't much to play with there.

The most exciting thing about the skill tree was that after you unlock a certain tier of it, you can equip something called an Amber into your tree. These can be found around the world, and they provide more powerful passive upgrades. I get the sense that in the full game, these will play a core part in crafting a build.

Alt-History Europe That Isn't World War 2

Aesthetically, Valor Mortis combines the grotesque body horror of Bloodborne with 19th-century French military garb. In fact, this game takes a stab an alternate history, but instead of tackling the trodden paths of World War 2, it looks at the Napoleonic Wars.

In this universe, Napoleon clinched the victory at Waterloo, continuing his conquest across Europe. Of course, there's more going on here—your character seems to have some sort of telepathic link to Napoleon, implying all sorts of supernatural spooky vibes. It's an intriguing story setup that makes me curious about the ramifications of a magical super Napoleon.

Where it really came together for me was when I ran into the first boss in the demo. It was a giant, fleshy mass of a formerly human soldier—or really, more like a group of soldiers mushed together.

It had three arms on its one shoulder, like a twisted pauldron. Each hand had a flintlock pistol, giving it a ranged attack, while its main arms twirled and thrusted a giant spear. In the second phase, it swapped the spear for a giant claw. In terms of design, it felt like the perfect mix of a From Software boss with the world that One More Level has crafted.

Valor Mortis Preview | Final Thoughts

Valor Mortis brings a unique premise to the well-worn soulslike formula, both in terms of gameplay and narrative. The moment-to-moment combat feels good, with just enough challenge to keep you on your toes.

The addition of magical powers and supernatural vibes adds a level of intrigue here, as well. It's not a straightforward alt-history romp. Instead, there's something more insidious at play here, and we'll learn more when Valor Mortis releases some time next year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Valor Mortis was previewed on a PC at PAX West courtesy of the developers.