- Key Takeaway: Valor Mortis officially launches on October 13, 2026 on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
- It’s the first wholly original IP from One More Level — the Polish studio behind the acclaimed Ghostrunner series.
- The game flips soulslike conventions by putting the camera in first-person, a rare and bold choice for the genre.
- Standard Edition is priced at $39.99, while the Deluxe Edition at $59.99 includes a major story DLC coming in 2027.
- It launches day one on Xbox Game Pass and features a star-studded voice cast including Vincent Cassel as Napoleon Bonaparte.
- One More Level has already committed to free post-launch content updates.
Soulslikes aren’t exactly in short supply right now. Every few months something new tries to take on FromSoftware’s crown, and while a handful of them genuinely land the formula, most feel like familiar ground with a fresh coat of paint. Valor Mortis is something a bit different. Developer One More Level — the Kraków-based studio responsible for the Ghostrunner series — is taking everything they know about precise, punishing first-person gameplay and dropping it straight into the soulslike genre. The result is one of the most genuinely intriguing releases of the year, and it’s almost here.
Valor Mortis officially launches on October 13, 2026 for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, alongside PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It also lands day one on Xbox Game Pass, which makes trying it out a pretty low-stakes decision for subscribers.
Who’s Making It and Why That Matters
One More Level is best known for the Ghostrunner games — tight, ultra-fast, first-person slashers where one hit kills you and you’re expected to learn through repetition. That description might sound familiar if you’ve spent any time in soulslike territory. The studio has essentially been training for this genre shift without most people even realizing it.
Both Ghostrunner titles were critically well-received, praised for their satisfying movement, ruthless difficulty, and the way they rewarded players who learned to read enemies rather than just button-mash through them. Valor Mortis is built on those same instincts, but applied to a completely different world with far more depth in its systems. This is also the studio’s first wholly owned IP, which makes it clear how seriously they’re taking this one.
Publisher Lyrical Games is backing the project — an independent publisher that’s been steadily building a roster of ambitious titles from studios who have something distinct to say about their genre.
What Actually Happens in Valor Mortis
You play as William Dowsett, a soldier of Napoleon’s Grande Armée who gets dragged back from death on a battlefield grave. When you come back, Europe is not the continent you sacrificed for. A mysterious plague has swept across the land, and you’ve returned with the corrupting power of it pulsing through your veins — not as a curse, but as a weapon.
The setting is an alternate history version of 19th-century Europe where Napoleon won the Battle of Waterloo and pushed his campaign eastward. That pivot from real history into something darker gives the game a distinct identity — it’s not just “Napoleonic era” as an aesthetic choice, it’s a world where that extra military conquest unleashed something far worse than war. Historical figures show up throughout the story, and the game weaves them into its supernatural conspiracy in ways that should keep the narrative genuinely interesting rather than just decorative.
Haunting the whole experience is the voice of Napoleon himself — voiced by César Award-winning French actor Vincent Cassel — who speaks to William as a voice inside his head. It’s a strange, unsettling relationship at the center of the story, and Cassel is exactly the kind of casting choice that elevates a game’s atmosphere immediately. Also in the voice cast are Jennifer English as The Shrike, James Alexander as William Dowsett, and Adam “Nergal” Darski as Captain Raphael.
The First-Person Soulslike Twist
Here’s the thing that sets Valor Mortis apart from basically everything else in the genre right now. Soulslikes are almost universally third-person. The camera sits behind your character, you read enemy animations from a wider view, and spatial awareness is a key part of how you survive. One More Level is throwing that out entirely.
Valor Mortis is played entirely in first-person, and that’s not just a gimmick. It fundamentally changes how threatening enemies feel, how much tension a parry attempt carries, and how disorienting combat can get when things go wrong. You’re not watching Lara Croft get hit from a safe cinematic distance — the blade is coming at your face. That immersive pressure is the whole point, and One More Level’s history of building first-person games that feel physically responsive gives them real credibility here.
The combat system covers all the soulslike staples — stamina management, parries, well-timed dashes, and brutal finishers once you’ve broken through an enemy’s guard. Alongside that, William’s plague-given powers add a supernatural dimension to fights. These Transmutation abilities let you channel dark energy to augment your attacks, and building out your character means deciding which playstyle to lean into. Each death isn’t just a setback — it’s the game’s way of asking you to rethink your approach and come back stronger.
Previews from SGF 2026 and TGS 2026 have been largely positive, describing the core loop as satisfying and the world design as genuinely atmospheric. One preview from Game Informer did flag some uneven difficulty balance — noting that pacing felt inconsistent in places — though that preview noted there was still time for tuning before launch. Whether those adjustments made it into the final build is something we’ll know on October 13.
Pricing, Editions, and What’s Coming After Launch
Here’s where Valor Mortis makes an argument for itself beyond just the gameplay. The standard edition is priced at $39.99, which is a pretty refreshing number in a market where $70 is now the standard ask for anything with a major publisher behind it. You’re getting a full soulslike experience — not an Early Access build, not a shorter AA title — at a price point that’s hard to complain about.
The Deluxe Edition at $59.99 adds a major story DLC planned for 2027 alongside cosmetic packs. Even at the higher tier, that’s still cheaper than the standard price of most AAA releases right now, and getting post-launch story content included upfront is a solid offer.
On top of that, One More Level has already committed to releasing free content updates in the weeks and months following launch. For a game at this price point to also promise additional free content is the kind of thing that shows a studio that’s thinking about player goodwill, not just the day-one checkout number.
Is Valor Mortis Worth Watching?
Every soulslike has to answer the question of why it exists alongside Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Lies of P, and everything else that’s come before it. Valor Mortis answers that pretty clearly — it’s offering something the genre hasn’t done well before. First-person soulslike combat in a dark Napoleonic alternate history, with a strong voice cast, a reasonable price tag, and a developer that has genuine credentials in the first-person action space.
Earlier previews have compared it to a mix of Lies of P and BioShock, and honestly that’s a combination that earns immediate attention. If it delivers on that pitch, it’s going to be one of the more interesting genre entries in a while.
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