Valor Mortis' first-person perspective opens up "new opportunities" within the soulslike genre

There's a lot to get excited about with Valor Mortis. Aesthetically, it's gorgeous - the eerie juxtaposition of 1800s France with weird, mysterious red magic; the intense violence of a world at war, enveloped in smog. It's easily one of the most interesting soulslikes I've seen in a while - and let's be real, they're a dime a dozen these days. But beyond its looks, Valor Mortis is also first-person; something we don't really see in the genre. It's perhaps to be expected - One More Level created parkour hack-and-slasher Ghostrunner, which is all first-person, with faster action than the traditional soulslike. It's a new approach, but it works.

I was bowled over by Valor Mortis at Gamescom last year, expecting to hate every minute of it (I'm not very good at soulslikes), but eventually placing it in my top three games of the show. It was the first-person perspective that caught my eye, as well as areas of parkour that felt reminiscent of One More Level's hardcore sci-fi romp, yet somehow uniquely Valor Mortis.

My colleague Tom was also impressed by his Summer Game Fest playthrough (more on that later), and took the time to ask Game Director Radosław Ratusznik why the team went for a first-person approach.

"The decision was pretty easy for us because we made both Ghostrunners, and we want to get better and better at creating first-person action games. [Valor Mortis] is another step on this road to create the best first-person action game that we can. It's a huge step forward for us; it's a game that's way more complex in a genre that's very popular. But switching the perspective gives us a lot of new opportunities.

"Valor Mortis plays a bit different from the rest of the soulslikes, but it's not a regular first-person shooter. It's a mixture of different things. It wasn't like we were taking all of these soulslike features blindly to tick all of the [boxes] on the list to become a soulslike. It was more, what best fits with our vision of creating this game to still have the DNA of our games like Ghostrunner. You have the powers and a bit of parkour mechanics, you get to wall run - it adds a bit of variety.

"It's a soulslike, but it's not a first-person soulslike, it's a soulslike from the first-person," he highlights. "There are some features that are expected from soulslikes - stamina management, the bonfire checkpoints. But it's pretty cool to merge it with our own dual wielding, switching between guns, and superpowers. You can swap between weapons and how you approach the enemy. The freedom of choice is a big factor here.

"I think we've created something that's a bit different from the other soulslikes, and that's what I really like about Valor Mortis."

Valor Mortis launches on PC and console on Tuesday October 13, 2026. This is slightly later than expected, as the team had initially locked in a September launch date ahead of Summer Game Fest.

As every videogame and its dog attempts to avoid the GTA 6 release date, however, September has become pretty hectic, with the likes of Insomniac's Wolverine, Konami's Silent Hill: Townfall, and Rebel Wolves' debut title Blood of Dawnwalker all releasing that month - and that's to name but a few. Moving Valor Mortis was the right call, and hopefully it'll get the attention it deserves.

Additional reporting from Summer Game Fest by Tom Hopkins.