Valor Mortis review – a first person Soulslike with a Sharpe edge

The Napoleonic Wars are the backdrop for a new fast action Soulslike from the makers of Ghostrunner, that sees 19th century Europe overrun by zombies.

Despite the success of Assassin’s Creed, historical video games remain uncommon. There’s always a goodly supply of games set in Medieval Europe, and various periods in Japanese and Chinese history, but that’s generally it. No doubt publishers are worried about portraying controversial situations and people, but movies always seem to manage fine and it’s not as if being set in the past means the game has to be a history lesson.

There’s also the issue of weaponry, given the reload times of early guns, but that’s why people were still using swords as well and that, clearly, is not a problem for video games. We’ve always liked the idea of a game based on the Sharpe TV series, starring Sean Bean, given the rich potential for storytelling, the varied forms of combat, and the fact that Napoleon is an unequivocal villain.

It’s never happened – certainly not as an action game – but Valor Mortis may end up the closest we ever get, since it’s pretty close to what we always imagined, in its mix of ranged and melee combat. It’s just we never thought to include zombies and wall-running as well.

Polish developer One More Level is best known for the two Ghostrunner games and there are certainly a few similarities with this game, including the first person viewpoint. You play as William, an Englishman in Napoleon’s Grande Armée who is killed but unexpectedly resurrected, as what is essentially a zombie plague rips across the Continent.

Valor Mortis means the value of death in Latin and as far as Napoleon is concerned an army of the undead comes in very handy. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan, as William tries to piece together what has happened while he was dead and work out some way to stop it all. Sadly, storytelling is not one of the game’s most compelling aspects, though, and William’s belated distaste for warfare comes across as simplistic and obvious.

Given how peculiar the set-up is, the game’s plot is disappointingly straightforward and the setting only really manages to impress visually, with its portrayal of a war ravaged countryside – some of it destroyed through normal means and some not. Coming across ordinary citizens left to suffer in squalor only increases our feeling that the Napoleonic Wars, and similar conflicts, would be a rich vein for video game inspiration, but the game doesn’t seem interested in it as anything but window dressing.

Despite the first person view, Valor Mortis has all the elements of a traditional Soulslike, complete with the equivalent of bonfires, collecting lost resources when you die, and a rock hard difficulty level when it comes to combat. Although, it’s not up there with the toughest in the genre, so it is still quite approachable.

Strangely, the first few hours of the game are largely linear in terms of level design, but thankfully they open up into something more interesting later. In fact, the first third of the game is disappointing all round, as it constantly interrupts itself for new tutorials or introductions of new weapons and abilities. The variety is welcome, but it makes everything feel very inorganic and stilted until you get all that out of the way.

There are some odd design decisions in Valor Mortis, but what definitely does work is the combat, despite the inherent problem of judging distance for melee combat, with a first person view. The game tries to compensate by having big warning signs appear when something is attacking from off-screen and together with distinctive sound cues it works very well.

As you’d expect of a Soulslike, stamina (sorry, endurance) and parrying are vitally important but, much more than usual, so too is ranged combat. Just as there are multiple sword types there are also multiple different guns, from a pistol to a blunderbuss, that are all useful in different situations.

The action plays out at such a fast pace, often with different enemy types in play, that it almost feels like a Soulslike take on Doom. The emphasis on speed and manoeuvrability is hammered home further by the Ghostrunner style wall-running and a grappling hook, with several platform sections helping to break up the action as you progress.

Inevitably, being a reanimated corpse in a video game also grants you magic abilities, including fireballs, the ability to freeze enemies in place, and the chance to absorb and reflect their attacks back at them. Each weapon and ability has its own upgrades, unlocked by collecting resources as you go, and you can get most of them done in a single playthrough.

Enemy variety is a bit disappointing and given the sensibly mid-budget price it probably would’ve been a better idea if the game was a bit shorter and more focused, and spent less time dithering about with tutorials at the beginning. However, just as a Soulslike demands, the boss battles are great, in terms of the cleverness of the challenge and the disgustingness of the designs.

Some games are frustrating because of the flaws that keep them from greatness, but Valor Mortis isn’t really like that. Instead, it feels like the sort of game the demands a sequel, not simply because the original was good but because it needs a little more polish, refinement, and content to fulfil its potential.

We’re not sure if it’ll get that chance but we hope so. A 19th century zombie apocalypse doesn’t seem as obvious a seller as a parkour cyberpunk game, but Valor Mortis is almost equally as fun and even though it shares so many features with other Soulslikes it still manages to feel impressively unique and interesting.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: TBC
Publisher: Lyrical Games
Developer: One More Level
Release Date: 13th October 2026
Age Rating: 18

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