I vividly recall having a conversation with someone in early 2025 about why there weren’t any first-person soulslikes. Everyone was so desperately imitating FromSoftware’s remarkable success, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. So when Opening Night Live 2025 rolled around, one trailer stuck in my mind—as you may have guessed, it was Valor Mortis.
Developer One More Level had a decision to make after its cult-smash hits, Ghostrunner 1 and Ghostrunner 2: Make a third game and do more of the same and what fans had come to know, or fire off like a loaded Flintlock into new territory.
I personally hyped up Valor Mortis as one of the most promising games of 2026. I’ve had two hands-on previews, and like any game you get excited for, you wonder if the real thing can live up to the lofty expectations.
A Lost Catalyst For Change
Valor Mortis basically wipes the slate clean. Ghostrunner’s flashy neon and cyber themes are swapped for a 19th-century stroll through Napoleonic times, as soldier William tries to figure out why his left arm can now become a flamethrower and why he’s being resurrected more than Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Meanwhile, Napoleon’s army is now an amalgamation of undead horrors, also plagued by constant rebirth, trying to kill William.
You eventually learn why it’s all happening, and I appreciate how on-the-nose the story is. I get why devs love to shroud souls games in mystery and ambitious lore, but sometimes, simple storytelling is the most effective. I connected with William’s change in demeanor as the story unravelled. He’s well voice-acted, along with everyone else in the game, and the conclusion is satisfying, with a final boss reveal that took me off-guard.
To get there, you must navigate a handful of chapters across Valor Mortis’ semi-open world. Think of it as interconnected biomes, but big ones. Each sprawling level carries a different vibe that makes every area feel special: A nighttime village leaning into the game’s low-key horror flavor, a submerged town, a trudge through infested sewers, and ominous caverns with danger lurking around every corner, although I could say that about most corners in Valor Mortis.
If you are a souls fan, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Valor Mortis does a clean sweep of the usual souls DNA: Respawning enemies, currency lost on death that can be recovered, lanterns, shortcuts, and bosses. Unfortunately, I’d say bosses are one of the game’s weaker aspects. I didn’t encounter many during my 20 hours, and I would say only four left a lasting impression. The ones that are good are VERY good, and live up to the big-arena, big-fight feel.
The difficulty also surprised me. I died a lot more throughout the main levels than I did to the bosses. The opening boss is where I struggled the most (even then it was only about 15-20 minutes), because my arsenal was so limited in the beginning. After this, I think only one boss took me more than about five attempts, and several I honestly one-shotted. I’ve been informed that bosses are receiving a difficulty balance ahead of launch, hopefully to make my palms sweat more.
Can’t Run From Your Past
I imagine one of the biggest obstacles for a first-person soulslike is balancing perspective, peripheral complications, and the limited nature of combat. If you can’t see behind you, then it negates a lot of attacks and means everything needs to be head-on. For the most part, Valor Mortis nails this with movement, speed, and forethought for the latter stages of the game.
Ghostrunner bleeds over into Valor Mortis, as William can nimbly backpedal with successive dodges, eliminating the lack-of-roll issue, and it creates a lot of intense 1v1 battles of attrition. Later chapters see multiple hard-hitting enemies gang up on you, and a skill check is asked of you. You need to pull off Perfect Parries to weaken an enemy’s defences to land huge critical blows, and most enemies have weak points you can exploit.
Another example of the developer’s roots working in Valor Mortis’ favor is in environmental parkour. Once you acquire certain abilities, you can run across walls, swing across chasms, and leap from great heights to deliver devastating blows. The platforming isn’t always precise, but I had so few issues that I didn’t think twice most times.
I love the attention to detail in the level design, too, with sneaky holes in the walls and climbable objects allowing me an edge on my opponents. Swiftness can be serenity at times, as you glide through mobs, cutting and clearing your path forward, but you also need to know when to rein it in.
Valor Mortis has many giant, elite enemies that hit hard, and in combos. Thankfully, you find enough weapons and Transmutations to fend them off. Well, I think there’s enough, but this could be a bone of contention for some souls players who love experimenting with builds and finding new ways to break the game. You can count on both hands the number of tools you’ll have at your disposal once the credits roll, but I prefer this Sekiro-like gameplay—It’s an ‘each to their own’ kind of situation.
The enemy types run out of ideas toward the end, as it becomes a succession of some of the main bosses you actually fought earlier in the game, and retreading the same elite foes over and over. Fights are enjoyable, thanks to the soundtrack and the game’s breathtaking locales, and I personally never tired of the gameplay loop, carrying over what I loved from Ghostrunner into Valor Mortis.
Even the final sequence leading up to the game’s end boss is a nice little nod to the company’s recent work!
Valor Mortis Review Verdict
I was tempted to call the police after completing Valor Mortis, as One More Level offering Valor Mortis for only $39.99 is a crime. This game is genuine class and exudes AAA quality across the board. It has side quests, collectibles, upgrades to find, and even more I haven’t been able to cover in my review.
Its bosses aren’t on the level and scale of an Elden Ring, although I will argue that might always be difficult in first-person, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more enemy variety in the run-in.
There was great valor in One More Level trying something new, and mortis can be used to dispel the notion that a first-person souls game doesn’t work.
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For more Insider Gaming reviews, check out the following:
- Hellraiser: Revival Review
- Marvel’s Wolverine Review
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer Review
- Silent Hill: Townfall Review
- EA SPORTS FC 27 Review
Valor Mortis
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Valor Mortis
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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