Valor Mortis overview
Timing and stamina management sit at the center of Valor Mortis, a single-player first-person Soulslike set in an alternate Napoleonic Europe. A plague has spread behind the emperor's stalled armies and twisted his Eternal Guard into abominations. William Dowsett, a Grande Armée soldier who has come back from the dead, carries the same corruption and channels it into supernatural abilities, while cold steel and black-powder firearms back those powers up across battlefields and cities.
Top 3 Reasons to Play
- Two voices in one skull. Napoleon talks to William in the tone of a father addressing a son and urges him to take over The Shrike's rebel resistance. Partway through the story, The Shrike's voice joins the one already in his head.
- Movement doubles as a way to explore. Dashes let William slip past or flank the Eternal Guard, and the Metroidvania-style layout hides environmental secrets that can improve his odds of surviving.
- Body horror sits among the studio's stated design pillars. One More Level CEO Szymon Bryła has named the horrors of war, expressed through body horror and narrative elements, as one of them.
Story and Lore
In this version of history, Napoleon's victory at Waterloo opened the road east, and then the advance stopped in Eastern Europe. Behind the front, a plague spread across the continent, corrupting land and people alike, and the war ceased to resemble an ordinary campaign.
William wakes on a battlefield that seems to have left him as the only soldier still thinking clearly. His memory of the past is thin. Survivors who say they were his comrades approach, and he has to judge whether to believe them. The plague that wrecked the continent now runs through his veins: it powers his abilities, and it lets him hear Napoleon's voice.
Real historical figures share the stage with horror and the supernatural. The thread William follows leads to a conspiracy behind the plague and behind his own return from the dead.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Combat is first-person and stamina-based. Parrying and dashing anchor the defense, finishing moves are part of the kit too, and the arsenal includes a sabre for general damage and blocking, a rapier that targets weak points but cannot block, a heavy two-handed claymore, a pistol, a musket that outranges and outhits the pistol, and a blunderbuss. Swords can be dual-wielded.
Supernatural abilities are called Transmutations, and the official gameplay overview shows three:
- Fire, which sets enemies burning.
- Shield, which absorbs incoming damage and then releases a shockwave.
- Grapple, for moving through the environment by attaching to grapple points.
Transmutations can also strengthen William or weaken the enemy.
Progression revolves around Lanterns. Defeated enemies drop Catalysts, the upgrade currency, and a Lantern is where William converts them into better health, stamina and parry. Ambers turn up during exploration and are equipped at Lanterns as he levels, which is how a build takes shape. A death returns him to the last Lantern he used, and any unspent Catalysts are left where he fell. The campaign is split into chapters, with major boss fights closing them.
Characters and Factions
- William Dowsett (James Alexander) is a young Englishman, disillusioned with the monarchy, who volunteered for Napoleon's vision of a unified Europe.
- Napoleon Bonaparte (Vincent Cassel) commands the largest army Europe has seen. A trailer has him asking players what they would sacrifice for power.
- The Shrike (Jennifer English) fights for the people living under occupation. She moves with a strength no ordinary soldier has, answers to no authority and has plans of her own for William.
Supporting roles include James Stewart, William's closest friend in the Legion: a blacksmith's son from the Scottish Highlands and a skilled weaponsmith who enlisted for glory and Scotland's freedom, and who professes total devotion to the Emperor. Lucjan Skawiński, a Polish craftsman and veteran, marks safe havens in the ruined countryside with a lamp that never runs out of oil, and the survivors he helps find him unsettling. Captain Raphael is voiced by Adam "Nergal" Darski, frontman of the black metal band Behemoth.
The Grande Armée is the army William served, and the Legion is his unit within it. The Eternal Guard are Napoleon's troops and the clearest enemy. Opposing the Empire in the occupied east is The Shrike's resistance, a movement drawn from the commonfolk.
Editions
- Standard Edition: the full base game. A disc version is also sold for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
- Deluxe Edition: the base game plus the story expansion planned for 2027 and several weapon skin packs. The first, La Grande Armée, reskins the pistol, blunderbuss, musket, claymore, rapier and sabre; more packs have been announced.