Valor Mortis is a first-person Soulslike built around an alternate version of Napoleon’s return from exile. One More Level, the Polish studio behind Ghostrunner, swaps cyberpunk parkour for supernatural body horror, military history and a Europe devastated by imperial ambition.
The game launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 13, 2026. After a publisher backed out of a publishing deal with the studio in 2024, One More Level has returned with a considerably different project.
An alternate Napoleonic nightmare
Valor Mortis imagines that Napoleon succeeded after escaping exile on Elba, defeating the Sixth Coalition and winning at Waterloo before continuing his conquest of Europe. His supernatural advantage is Nephtoglobin, a mysterious substance that grants extraordinary abilities and links him telepathically with his followers.
You play as William Dowsett, a British volunteer in Napoleon’s Grande Armée. William awakens in a mass grave with much of his immediate memory missing, but his loyalty to the emperor remains intact. His devotion is so deep that he has never properly confronted the destruction caused by the army he served.
The first-person viewpoint makes that indoctrination especially direct. When Napoleon speaks through the Nephtoglobin connection, William receives his commands with the force of religious revelation, even as he advances across the bodies of allies and enemies.
A world built from the dead
Death dominates nearly every location. Corpses form the ground beneath William’s feet, block routes through ruined spaces and return as enemies determined to tear him apart. The story uses this constant presence to examine how war strips people of identity, reducing them to nameless remains or grotesque imitations of life.
William’s gradual rejection of his fanaticism gives the narrative its strongest thread. The writing can be blunt, but it handles the relationship between devotion, violence and Napoleon’s complicated legacy with more ambition than might be expected from a game of this size.
Too many ideas competing for attention
The gameplay is less consistent. Valor Mortis combines Soulslike combat with influences from BioShock, nonlinear exploration and platforming. Each component is serviceable, but the overall design feels stretched across too many competing systems.
Combat follows the familiar rhythm of dodging, parrying and attacking, yet the strikes lack the physical impact that makes the best games in the genre so satisfying. Platforming provides a change of pace during larger set pieces, although it rarely feels important enough to justify its presence.
This makes Valor Mortis unusual: its individual parts are competent, but they do not combine into a consistently compelling whole. The game often recalls stronger, more focused experiences without fully developing its own mechanical identity.
Atmosphere keeps the journey moving
Despite those shortcomings, each new checkpoint creates a genuine urge to continue. The game understands the Soulslike balance between apprehension and curiosity: unfamiliar areas look dangerous, but their mysteries are difficult to resist.
That tension comes largely from the atmosphere and creature design. Safety is scarce and temporary, while the surrounding world remains visually coherent through its blend of 19th-century European architecture, French military imagery and grotesque mutation.
Across an estimated 12 to 15 hours, William encounters Nephtoglobin-infused peasants who detonate themselves, giants with cannons for faces, and dog-human hybrids capable of vomiting poison. Rain-soaked villages, damaged fortresses and lightless laboratories all belong to the same diseased version of Napoleonic Europe.
Verdict
Valor Mortis is frustrating because its strongest qualities sit beside mechanics that never reach the same level. Its art direction is unsettling and memorable, and its examination of fanaticism turning people into monsters is persuasive. However, the combat, exploration and platforming often feel like disconnected reminders of more deliberate games.
Even so, the project’s ambition is worthwhile. One More Level has created a distinctive setting where historical conquest, supernatural horror and personal disillusionment reinforce one another. The result is an uneven but genuinely interesting Soulslike that suggests the studio’s future work could be stronger still.
Valor Mortis at a glance
- Developer: One More Level
- Genre: First-person Soulslike
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S
- Review platform: PlayStation 5
- Release date: October 13, 2026
- Estimated playtime: Approximately 12 to 15 hours
- Strengths: Unsettling atmosphere and memorable creature designs
- Weaknesses: Back-half bugs and gameplay that lacks a clear speciality
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