I don’t know how many Soulslikes exist in 2026 but I’d comfortably claim to have played most of them, and while new entries usually introduce at least one or two innovations to the genre, they don’t often push the bloodstained envelope too far. It feels especially noticeable to a veteran of the genre that they’re all becoming a little homogenised. Take Valor Mortis, for example, the new first person Soulslike from Ghostrunner devs One More Level, which has you “rekindle” lanterns to create save points. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone “kindle” a lantern, but Soulslikes gotta Soulslike, right?
It’s something of a prevalent theme in Valor Mortis, an otherwise pretty competent and brutally unforgiving offering. It feels at times as though this studio only comfortable with first person action, has forcibly combined what they know with From Software’s template and achieved somewhat mixed results. A Soulslike lacking proper spatial awareness feels incredibly restrictive, and it’s something that really hampered my enjoyment of the game.
Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Valor Mortis casts you as William, a soldier thrust into an occult nightmare as the Emperor of France appears to be tinkering with powers beyond his understanding. Awakening on a corpse-strewn battlefield, William is empowered by mysterious energies to rise each time he dies, resurrecting at special lanterns dotted around the bloodied countryside. The power comes with the ability to wield magic, too, and thus armed with blade, gun, and spell, William sets off to… Actually it’s mostly unclear what the goal is for most of the game.
Again, this being a Soulslike means it must be obscure and poorly explained, eking out its plot in tiny spurts of dialogue and backstory. As you traverse the world you’ll come across residual memories of the dead that give some context to what you’re doing, and scraps of paper or letters to various characters you won’t meet. Now and then you’ll meet NPCs, often hidden, who will request William’s help. Oh, and there’s an enigmatic benefactor who might as well wear a placard that says “I am secretly Evil”.
Thankfully, Valor Mortis is a gorgeous game and drips with atmosphere. Picking your way across a smoke-wreathed battlefield as groaning zombie soldiers patrol a few feet away, or some four-armed monstrosity hurls bombs at you, is tense, even scary at times. As with Ghostrunner, One More Level nails the sense of place here. There’s an element of horror that remains keenly felt throughout, and often makes Valor Mortis feel almost oppressively bleak.
What works a little less well in this setting is the parkour. It’s all contextual at first, so William will grab onto ledges and swing across chasms on tree branches easily enough, but it doesn’t always feel precise. And if there’s a clear line of sight to any obstacle you’re trying to jump to, jump from, grab onto, or tightrope your way across, the dev will stick one or more sniping soldiers opposite you. It’s maddening at times, but I guess that’s Soulslikes for you, right? Later you will unlock some useful, if genre-standard, tricks, and William’s supernatural abilities will grant him gifts that slot more neatly into One More Level’s wheelhouse, such as wall-running and a kind of magical grapple. It’s here that Valor Mortis starts to feel more like Ghostrunner, but without the lightning pace and insta-kills.
It might be unfair to knock a game like this for not being overtly “fun” but that’s my main complaint with Valor Mortis, especially when compared to this studio’s previous output. It’s undoubtedly well made, the intricate levels folding in on themselves with unlockable shortcuts and secret passages, and again, it looks lovely (even if the framerate struggled at times even on Medium settings), but I wasn’t really having a good time with it for a good stretch of the first half of the game.
Combat in a Soulslike is always about how you position, which enemies you focus down first, how quick your reflexes are, and how well you use your surroundings to make the most of limited stamina and resources. Despite the abundance of tricks and weapons at William’s disposal, I was killed more often than not while back peddling into scenery I couldn’t see, or falling off a cliff I forgot was there because a first person viewpoint naturally gives you tunnel vision.
While I struggled with what felt like an inconsistent parry window, I knew I could overcome that by simply “gitting gud”, but contending with the inability to see anything but enemies directly in front of me was incredibly frustrating. Even when facing single enemies like bosses, it’s tough, because their massive levels of aggression means you’re often moving back, parrying and waiting for an opening, and I just hit walls all the time and got mulched.
So I gritted my teeth and persevered, and yes I eventually began to get used to not sidestepping willy-nilly, and trying to make the most of my arsenal in each encounter, which is admittedly easier early on when the lanterns are fairly close together. Later they’re more spread out, and you spend a lot of time running back to your corpse after each death.
William is also incredibly squishy, and even small enemies do massive damage to him. The skill tree seems great at first, offering more HP or mana (or whatever this game calls mana), and granting more stagger damage for each perfect parry. But I rarely felt it was making me actually stronger, and the difficulty stayed pretty static for much of the adventure. I don’t know if it was my dulled reflexes or the change of PoV, but I struggled for a long time with the parry timing, particularly when faced with more than one enemy.
But as with most games in the genre, your mileage may vary greatly from mine. Coming to Valor Mortis after Mortal Shell 2, and Lies of P, and Elden Ring on Switch 2, I expected to be better primed for the experience, but I just couldn’t fully click with One More Level’s game, and I found myself dreading the next boss fight, despite the visual spectacle that each one is. Also, like many games in the genre, Valor Mortis does begin to load you with weapons, bombs, spells, and trinkets by the back half, and while the challenge raises in tandem, you will wonder how you ever struggled with the early game by the time you’re into the final third.
There’s also a great cast, including Vincent Cassel himself as Napolean, which feels like a massive get for One More Level. If you can reckon with the first person melee and find your feet with the parkour, you will have fun here. Valor Mortis is beautifully grim, the atmosphere is palpable, and there is an intriguing narrative to pick apart when it starts to reveal itself, but be prepared to modify your tactics, even if you’re a veteran of the Soulslike genre.
