Polish studio One Extra Stage made a great identify for itself with the Ghostrunner franchise, and now it is taking a stab on the ever-popular soulslike system with its personal twist. Enter Valor Mortis, which was revealed simply weeks in the past at Gamescom.
This upcoming sport retains the first-person perspective that One Extra Stage is understood for, however it swaps out the cyberpunk-ninja aesthetic for one thing somewhat extra Nineteenth century. You play as an English soldier within the French army (for story causes), however there’s some supernatural, bloodcurdling spooky stuff happening.
The fight feels intense and pleasing, and the world presents this intriguing thriller that I wish to study extra about when Valor Mortis releases in 2026.
Shoot, Slice, Spark
A majority of soulslikes, as you in all probability know, are in a third-person perspective, to account for the speedy actions of sure enemies and the limitless dodge rolls you will be doing. They are often frantic at occasions, so I used to be somewhat apprehensive about the way it’d really feel in first particular person.
Valor Mortis, nevertheless, threads the needle completely. Motions are clear, and I discovered a whole lot of readability within the hitboxes between me and the enemies. Swinging the sword feels nice, and the visible and audio suggestions while you land successful or parry is satisfying.
This sport goes for the dual-wielding method to fight, the place your proper hand is your sword whereas your left hand offers ranged assaults. I bought a flintlock pistol early within the demo, however later, I discovered an influence up that permit me shoot magical fireplace. In some screenshots, I noticed a full-on rifle too that requires two fingers to wield.
In case you sustain the strain, you’ll be able to break an enemy’s stance, although parries do extra injury to their stance meter. As soon as they’re damaged, you are able to do a important hit that does large injury, much like different soulslikes.
I discovered that the dodge feels nice, as effectively. It jogged my memory of the short sprint in Doom Everlasting, and it was simple to place myself to wherever I wanted across the enemies.
In any other case, you have bought all the standard soulslikes trappings right here, too. There are totally-not-flasks to heal you, they usually get replenished at totally-not-bonfires that additionally respawn all of the enemies.
On the lamps, that are Valor Mortis’s bonfires, I may additionally improve my stats utilizing a foreign money that enemies dropped. Most of them appeared somewhat boring at first, with primary upgrades like +6% endurance. I think about in the long term, it will add up properly, however for a brief 20-minute demo, there wasn’t a lot to play with there.
Probably the most thrilling factor concerning the ability tree was that after you unlock a sure tier of it, you’ll be able to equip one thing known as an Amber into your tree. These could be discovered around the globe, they usually present extra highly effective passive upgrades. I get the sense that within the full sport, these will play a core half in crafting a construct.
Alt-Historical past Europe That Is not World Warfare 2
Aesthetically, Valor Mortis combines the grotesque physique horror of Bloodborne with Nineteenth-century French army garb. In actual fact, this sport takes a stab an alternate historical past, however as a substitute of tackling the trodden paths of World Warfare 2, it seems on the Napoleonic Wars.
On this universe, Napoleon clinched the victory at Waterloo, persevering with his conquest throughout Europe. In fact, there’s extra happening right here—your character appears to have some type of telepathic hyperlink to Napoleon, implying all kinds of supernatural spooky vibes. It is an intriguing story setup that makes me curious concerning the ramifications of a magical tremendous Napoleon.
The place it actually got here collectively for me was once I bumped into the primary boss within the demo. It was an enormous, fleshy mass of a previously human soldier—or actually, extra like a gaggle of troopers mushed collectively.
It had three arms on its one shoulder, like a twisted pauldron. Every hand had a flintlock pistol, giving it a ranged assault, whereas its essential arms twirled and thrusted an enormous spear. Within the second section, it swapped the spear for an enormous claw. By way of design, it felt like the right mixture of a From Software program boss with the world that One Extra Stage has crafted.
Valor Mortis Preview | Closing Ideas
Valor Mortis brings a singular premise to the well-worn soulslike system, each by way of gameplay and narrative. The moment-to-moment fight feels good, with simply sufficient problem to maintain you in your toes.
The addition of magical powers and supernatural vibes provides a stage of intrigue right here, as effectively. It isn’t a simple alt-history romp. As a substitute, there’s one thing extra insidious at play right here, and we’ll study extra when Valor Mortis releases a while subsequent yr on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X|S.
Valor Mortis was previewed on a PC at PAX West courtesy of the builders.
