The trench-ridden battlefields of Napoleonic Europe were never going to be a nice place to wake up in. Turns out they’re much worse when mutated mashups of former soldiers and gruesome, blistered horrors also trudge through its mud. Valor Mortis places you right in the thick of it, and trusts that your skill with a blade, pistol, and superpowered palm will ensure you make it through alive. Despite being rooted in the fundamentals of the Soulslike genre, it adopts a non-conventional first-person perspective, which not only fully immerses you in this horrifying world but also adds an additional layer of precision and satisfaction to its parrying, slashing, and sharp-shooting combat. And while I found that its battles can be tough, during my time playing it at gamescom 2025, I found several signs this won’t be as punishing an exercise as can be found elsewhere in the genre.
Face down in mud, Valor Mortis’ protagonist William hears the words of his general, Napoleon Bonaparte, echoing in his ears and telling him to get up. Dozens of corpses line the forest path ahead as a tattered French flag droops in presumed defeat. No other context is given as to how we’ve ended up here, but the infamous emperor is insisting that I get up, so I do exactly that and trudge on ahead. Initially armed with a sword and the ability to perform a block, parry, dodge, and both light and heavy attacks, there’s nothing initially revolutionary about developer One More Level’s new project, which has slowed its Ghostrunner melee action to a much more deliberate pace here.
The swordplay may not be too different, but it remains incredibly enjoyable to take part in. Blocking doesn’t completely negate damage, so the timings of your parries become your best bet for quickly dispatching your opponent. There’s a wonderful metallic clang that rings out when you get it just right, followed by a momentary shift into slow motion that reminds me of Dishonored’s equally gratifying maneuver. I later find a pistol nestled in an ornate trunk decorated with a portrait of Bonaparte himself. Further adding to the Dunwall of it all, this centuries-old sidearm hands me a ranged option, albeit one with a limited supply of bullets.
But then things get a bit weird as a dash of the supernatural is added to my arsenal in the form of a burst of flames I can project straight out of my palm. This flamethrower ability will look familiar to anyone who has guzzled a shot of one of Bioshock’s tonics. It’s a delightfully explosive skill that helped me deal with crowd control, and even inflict a burning state on the demo’s boss (much more on him later). There are definitely aspects of the two aforementioned immersive sims here, but I wouldn’t go in expecting anywhere near the flexibility in its combat system as you may find in one of Arkane’s or Irrational’s games. This is fundamentally still a Soulslike that relies heavily on one-to-one melee encounters while delicately managing your stamina gauge, so I wouldn’t expect to be mixing elemental effects and creating chaos of your own design here. Aside from the odd opportunity to sneak up on one of your opponents and skewer them deliciously from behind, the demo’s options when entering combat rarely stretched beyond toe-to-toe duels.
The creatures I fought across this 45-minute sample can all, to varying degrees, be described as being rooted in some sort of humanity. What starts out as lowly infantry staggering around like the undead made way for more interesting enemies the deeper I pushed on. I found an optional area, unlocked via blasting a glowing structural weak point with the pistol, where I was greeted by a foreboding duelist who gracefully stepped towards, his haunted manner only emphasised by an emotionless metal mask. His attacks were fast and health bar-ravaging, and his parry windows tight – I quickly decided that he was a challenge for another day. I almost made it halfway through this preview without mentioning Bloodborne, but the speed and thrust of his blade did remind me of one of Yharnam’s Hunter threats. An elevated challenge, but not quite a true boss.
Fans of the genre’s traditional disgusting foes also appear to be well catered for, as there are also many more mutated, monster-like enemies. Though all still appear to be clinging onto their former selves — army uniforms hang off of them, or human heads (sometimes multiple) watch your movements closely — they are very much not of this world, or at least how early 19th century Europe is depicted in history books, at least. A mysterious plague has infected the battlefields, creating these aberrations that can pose quite a challenge. One such brute appeared to be two soldiers conjoined together, who also happened to have grown an extra arm and developed a massively oversized, meaty, clawed hand. He took swipes at me at close range, but enjoyed nothing more than throwing explosive cinders if I stepped too far back. Luckily, a big ol’ glowing red sack looked ready to pop where his elbow should be, so I aimed a few pistol rounds at it to take advantage of his weak point.
But he was outclassed by another, far more horrendous-looking entity. The demo’s final boss was General Lothaire, The Eagle Bearer, a man-mountain of a bastard with a comically normal-sized head that I would have laughed at more if it hadn’t been for the three guns pointing at me that emerged from his fleshy, contorted right shoulder. Dual-wielding a sweeping flagpole and slicing cutlass, his reach was vast and the hits heavy. I’ll freely admit it took me a fair few attempts to take him down, but after a few upgrades at a nearby rekindled Lantern (this universe’s version of the classic Dark Souls bonfire), I managed to take him down.
Well, his first form anyway. Yes, One More Level has decided to take the piss and give the very first boss of Valor Mortis a second phase. This version of Lothaire still has a deadly mix of ranged and close attacks that keep you on your toes, but also packs the ability to summon annoying minions and capture you in his clawed clutches. He’s tricky, but thankfully, nothing overly difficult for anyone trained in this genre of combat.
But to those who are relatively new to Soulslikes, or even find first-person combat a challenge, Valor Mortis is lenient… to a certain extent. Catalysts are your resource upgrade here, and you can use them to level up your stats at what seems to be a reasonably cheap cost. I pumped points into getting a bigger stamina bar, as a few quick stabs can quickly drain your initial meter, and it made overcoming the boss a much more manageable affair. Crucially, though, upon dying, your collected catalysts are dropped at the outside perimeter of boss arenas, not through the murky, smoky gate that precedes them. One More Level doesn’t want you to have to grind elsewhere in its world in order to progress, and this offer of saving you a little frustration, combined with special traits that can be unlocked through exploration that utilises a little of parkour design the studio perfected in Ghostrunner (you can swing from trees, for instance) all come together to help you feel more powerful more quickly.
My demo ended as I finally took down Lothaire, the words “Abomination Eradicated” filling the screen. I imagine there are many more abominations to be dealt with, though, if Valor Mortis’ reveal trailer is anything to go by. All in all, I had a very satisfying time with it, finding its blend of first-person swordplay and superpowered magic abilities an enjoyable power trip. I look forward to digging deeper into what secrets its combat suite may have in store and taking on more of those abominations with it when Valor Mortis arrives sometime in 2026.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
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