Valor Mortis is the first soulslike I've immediately enjoyed, and not just because it's in first-person

I've tried a lot of soulslikes over the years. I enjoyed Elden Ring once I got to grips with the lack of direction; I found Sekiro overwhelmingly difficult, and I've always wished I enjoyed Bloodborne because the tone and setting are brilliant. In just 30 minutes of hands-on time with Valor Mortis at SGF, I fell in love with the game faster than I have with any other in the genre.

A large part of this is down to the game's first-person perspective. I've played more than my fair share of third-person games, but as someone who's put thousands of hours into the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield over the years, I'm comfortable in first person. I feel more in control of my movements and more aware of my enemies in the more zoomed-in perspective. The combat in Valor Mortis just feels right in first-person.

The hand-to-hand combat is pretty standard first-person action stuff mixed with soulslike staples. Swinging swords, dodging attacks, and stamina are all core to the encounters, with parrying more important than anything. It is soulslike action, as you'd expect, but it feels more claustrophobic. You're close to your foe, managing your position in relation to them really carefully. You don't have to worry too much about your surroundings, but success is down to learning your opponent's attacks and countering them at the right time, much like in many third-person soulslikes.

More first-person staple aspects are woven in, too. There are guns, which feel immensely satisfying to shoot, and a fire magic attack that's essentially a flame-thrower directly from the palm of your hand. You can dual-wield and mix-and-match, with different weapons being useful in different situations. I can see it giving inexperienced soulslike players a comfort blanket.

Valor Mortis makes soulslike features feel natural in first-person, without abandoning what first-person shooter fans would expect to see. Guns and Bioshock-style elemental attacks lay a familiar foundation for those who may struggle with the parry and counter mechanics.

I spoke to Radosław Ratusznik, the game's Director, about the combat variety, and he said: "I think the freedom of choice is a big factor here. If you want, you can just play with your saber, but if you wish, you can rely more on your shooting ability, and swapping between them is, of course, the most efficient way to deal with the enemies, but I think we created something that's a bit different, and that's what I really like."

I think that's all helped by One More Level's unique first-person experience. As the developer of the Ghostrunner games, movement and fluidity have always been key to their titles, and that has translated well to Valor Mortis. That's not just in the central combat, but in how you get around the world. There are parkour-style traversal sections, swinging across branches and leaping over caverns, and none of it feels out of place. One More Level is good at making things feel fast and fluid, and they've managed it again with Valor Mortis.

I asked Ratusznik why they decided to make a soulslike in first-person, and he also put it down to their experience and wanting to create something new. He said, "Switching the perspective, it gives us a lot of new opportunities. It plays a bit differently than the rest of the soulslikes, like it's not also a regular first-person shooter. It's a mix of different things, so it wasn't like we were taking all these soulslike features blindly, just to tick all of the features on the list to just become a soulslike, it's more like what fits the best for our vision for creating this game to still have this kind of DNA of our games."

You also don't feel quite as weak as you often do at the start of soulslikes. Playing the game's opening, I was quite powerful quite quickly, which stops the world from becoming overwhelming. I asked if that was an idea from early in Valor Mortis' development. "Yes, yes, I think so," he said, "I think that in our case, from the very beginning, you feel that you are a special entity." I think that's something else that'll make the game feel more welcoming than its traditional competition, hopefully interesting players who've stayed away in the past.

Valor Mortis' setting is unique, too. "Actually, that's the reason, I think," Ratusznik said when I commented on the lack of games set in the Napoleonic era and why the studio settled on it as the setting for Valor Mortis. Of course, it's not entirely historically accurate, even beyond the fire powers and respawning.

It's set in an alternate universe where Napoleon won the Battle of Waterloo, and his troops are taking over. The world is strewn with enemies wearing the iconic blue and red outfits, but there's something a little off. Once I started fighting enemies with glowing orange pustules on their heads, or enemies bent over backwards to the point they're acting like a dog, I knew there was more freaky stuff on the way.

I'm not sure what is causing these grotesque feats of contortion, but it grabbed me immediately and is an interesting tweak on an already underused time period. Some of the enemies are genuinely creepy, too, not only visually but in how they move. Valor Mortis is gorgeous, and it has a distinct style that plays into everything you do.

One More Level's first-person soulslike has more than enough quality and personality to stand out in a busy genre. Not only that, but it seems to be making perfect use of its alternate perspective, grabbing me from the get-go, unlike any soulslike before it.