Valor Mortis, the latest project from Ghostrunner developer One More Level, is absolutely wonderful, though not without its flaws.

There have been so many soulslikes in recent years that the genre, which was once considered to be at the cutting-edge of melee-action game design, can inspire weariness more often than excitement. A lot of gamers are tired of the same old, FromSoftware-led dance, as even well-designed soulslikes can suffer from a lack of ingenuity. Valor Mortis, the latest first-person action game from Ghostrunner developer One More Level, arrives as a salve for this rash of derivativeness.

Valor Mortis is very much a soulslike—don't let its unconventional first-person perspective fool you. Enemy placement is meticulous and intentional, saving and fast-traveling are done through a functional equivalent to Dark Souls' bonfires, and levels are dense and labyrinthine. The game is very much a student of the FromSoft school of game design. At the same time, Valor Mortis is similar to One More Level's previous releases. Rather than feeling like a gimmicky genre mashup, the game uses its blended heritage to expand what a soulslike can be.

Valor Mortis encourages perfection and experimentation in equal measure, although it may come across as more restrictive than it really is at first. This isn't a game for those obsessed with build-crafting; Instead, Valor Mortis is a true-to-the-core soulslike experience stripped down to its most basic elements, then reconfigured by a team of expert craftspeople. Or perhaps "musicians" would be a better metaphor, because Valor Mortis comes together with the precision and elegance of an orchestra.

Source link