You awaken in a field of dead. This version of the Napoleonic War has gone frightfully wrong. You play as William, a French soldier who fought in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grande Armée. Now . . . you’re something else.

After dying on the battlefield, you – as William – awaken in a world transformed by a supernatural plague. Napoleon’s military campaigns have become intertwined with something far more sinister, and soldiers and civilians alike are being transformed into grotesque monsters that you will need to battle your way through using blades, guns and magic. Monsters who you will have to kill over and over again, since this is yet another “Souls-like” game, this time in first rather than third-person.

William himself has been changed by his resurrection, gaining supernatural abilities that allow him to battle the creatures terrorizing Europe. These are a little bit reminiscent of Corvo’s powers in Dishonored, especially since that game is also in first-person and takes place in a similar (though totally different and fictional) world.

  • Developer: One More Level (Ghostrunner)
  • Released: October 13, 2026
  • Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
  • Genre: First-person Soulslike action RPG
  • Critical average : 77/100 on MetaCritic
  • Steam : 80% positive from 390 user reviews at the time checked

As he searches for answers, William uncovers the horrifying truth behind the plague, Napoleon’s ambitions, and the mysterious forces responsible for his resurrection. The story combines Napoleonic history, Gothic horror, and supernatural conspiracy, with obvious parallels to Bloodborne and its Rally/Regain health system that rewards aggressive play, and Sekiro with its emphasis on parrying (though parrying is obviously quite common in video games nowadays).

I’ve seen people call this BioShock meets Dark Souls , but I think Dishonored meets Bloodborne is more accurate, with the emphasis on verticality and supernatural mobility and the setting itself. The swordplay is also distinctly reminiscent of Dishonored , though I found myself missing that game as I played this one. I’m a huge Dark Souls fan but the Souls-like genre is oversaturated and frustratingly stale, both in terms of combat and level design. (Though no game has been more derivative than the recent Lords of the Fallen reboot; at least first-person perspective gives Valor Mortis something to distinguish itself from the majority of these games).

You could throw in Lies of P , another popular Souls-like, to the mix of comparisons and inspirations, both in terms of structure and setting / time period. This is not an open-world game like Elden Ring , but rather consists of interconnected levels spread across 11 chapters with ten major levels and fast travel that opens up early on. The full game should take you around 20 hours to complete depending on how completionist you are.

Like the Souls game, you can rest at glowing blue Lanterns, the bonfire equivalent in this game, where you can upgrade and level up. Enemies will respawn after a rest, making it a risk/reward calculation. There are 49 Lanterns to unlock, including the central hub.

The game looks great (I played on Steam on a pretty high-end gaming PC) and has a ton of atmosphere. Shooting and swordplay and your arsenal of magical powers all give combat plenty of variety, and the boss fights (for the most part) are quite unique, including one against a sentient windmill (how Quixotic).

But comparison is the thief of joy, and I often found myself comparing this game to its often much better inspirations. Dishonored’s powers are more unique and more useful with that game’s better-designed levels. No Souls-like has ever been as good as FromSoftware’s games, and every time I play one I find myself thinking, “I’d be having more fun replaying Bloodborne or Demon’s Souls or Elden Ring ,” and that’s almost always the case. Actually, I think it is literally always the case. The BioShock comparison is also apt, but that’s a game with such tremendous ambiance and mood and such a killer story, this doesn’t really even come close. Valor Mortis is fine, and I recommend it, but the game never quite achieves what its inspirations did: true greatness. Maybe it’s not fair to expect that, but when you make a game with such obvious inspirations, you invite comparison.

Partly this is down to some systems just not working all that well. Parkour, in particular, can be agonizing. Hit boxes also seem off, and this can make the parry-strike loop rather frustrating at times. I think the first-person perspective makes this worse, especially when AoE boss attacks are in play. But precision is incredibly important in this kind of game, and here it is lacking and inconsistent.

Performance issues also hound the game (much like the game’s twisted human-canine hybrid horrors) including crashes and other bugs. But if you can handle some jankiness, there are plenty of fun surprises in store.

Valor Mortis isn’t a bad game, by any means, it’s just more of the same. That could work in its favor if you can’t get enough of the genre. On the other hand, if you’re like me and feel that the Souls-like genre is played out, this might be one to skip. I thought One More Level’s previous game, Ghostrunner , was much more unique and interesting.

What did you think of Valor Mortis? Let me know on Twitter , Instagram , or Facebook . Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog . Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.