Reviewed on:
PC
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher:
Lyrical Games, One More Level
Developer:
One More Level
Release:
Rating:
Mature
Valor Mortis is a brave new game from developer One More Level. It competes not only against the studio’s excellent Ghostrunner series, but also the ever-expanding Soulslike subgenre of action games. Fortunately, Valor Mortis largely succeeds on both counts, creating a new world I hope to see more of from this team and a unique first-person stab at its action. It is too often unfairly challenging, largely because of brutal balance issues in the first half, and it doesn’t take its compelling narrative premise anywhere unexpected. But its beating heart is the combat and how it intersects with exploring this nightmarish 18th-century France, and that provides an enticing playground for trying, dying, and trying again.
William is just another soldier in Napoleon’s continent-stretching army, but when he dies, he somehow reawakens on a destroyed battlefield with the Emperor speaking directly to him, seemingly telepathically. He moves forward at Napoleon's command and, over 25 hours, gains BioShock-like control over fire, time, and more that you control with your left hand. These powers are few, but they complement your combat kit nicely, which relies primarily on swords and guns to get the job done. By the end, you’ll have multiple firearms, like a pistol and long-range musket, to use alongside different blades and psychic powers to kill the zombie remnants of Napoleon’s army and the ravaged and cursed citizens of the land his war has left behind.
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