Valor Mortis attempts to carve its niche in the crowded Soulslike genre by shifting the perspective to first-person. This change imbues the combat with a unique immediacy, rewarding parries and patient engagement, though the experience is ultimately uneven, struggling with a weak narrative and a sluggish opening.
The game casts players as William Dowsett, a Napoleonic soldier resurrected to find his former allies corrupted by a sinister force sweeping across Europe. This corruption manifests in grotesque transformations, turning soldiers into boils-covered riflemen and mangled, dog-like infantrymen. While the premise offers a novel backdrop for a Soulslike, the narrative itself is frustratingly straightforward. William's gradual realization that Napoleon's war is not noble is a predictable arc, and his character, defined by vocalizing disgust for a war he once supported, fails to inspire investment. Supporting characters fare no better, offering little in the way of memorable interactions.
The game's setting, a war-torn Europe twisted by supernatural corruption, holds significant potential, but it takes Valor Mortis too long to fully explore its more compelling narrative elements. The initial hours are spent in largely linear, forgettable battlefields that blend together. However, the experience improves significantly around the halfway point, as players transition to more intricately designed areas like besieged villages, burning cities, and labyrinthine catacombs. These later environments function more as interconnected hubs, featuring clever shortcuts to resting points—lanterns that replenish healing vials and respawn enemies, in typical Soulslike fashion.
Valor Mortis' combat is where it makes its boldest departures. The first-person view is the most immediate distinction, but the blend of melee and ranged combat, alongside a variety of weapons, is equally impactful. Core mechanics revolve around stamina management and precise parrying. The narrower field of view necessitates careful enemy selection, though off-screen indicators help mitigate potential frustration. Melee combat is responsive, and landing a parry is particularly satisfying due to the tight timing required. Critical hits, triggered by stealth attacks or by breaking an enemy's posture, are accompanied by visceral, weapon-dependent executions. Ranged combat also plays a more prominent role than in many Soulslikes, frequently challenging players to manage distant threats alongside those in close proximity.
Players have access to multiple weapon types, including three distinct swords: a rapier for parries and posture damage, a two-handed claymore for slow, powerful attacks, and a balanced saber. Firearms include a fast-firing pistol, a close-range blunderbuss, and a long-range musket. Additionally, three magical 'transmutations' allow players to hurl fire, freeze enemies with stasis, or reflect damage. Wall-running, reminiscent of the developer's Ghostrunner series, is also featured. Each weapon and ability has its own upgrade tree, requiring specific materials. The game's design seems to encourage experimentation, as finding upgrade materials is relatively easy, allowing players to nearly max out trees without dedicated farming.
Despite this freedom, players may find themselves sticking to a favored loadout. The starting saber, for instance, proved so effective that switching to the rapier or claymore was rarely considered necessary. The rapier's additional posture damage did not compensate for its lack of a block function without perfect parries, and the claymore, introduced late in the game, sacrifices the satisfying parry mechanic entirely. Similarly, the fire transmutation was often the go-to for its effectiveness, while stasis consumed too much mana and the damage reflection ability felt clunky compared to the more fluid parrying system. These latter abilities are primarily used for environmental puzzles early on, but are largely ignored afterward, failing to build on the established gameplay.
Enemy variety is another area where Valor Mortis feels underdeveloped for a significant portion of its runtime. The game features a limited pool of foes, and it takes a considerable amount of time before enemies are combined in ways that necessitate strategic adaptation. Players will frequently encounter the same basic infantrymen from start to finish, diminishing the satisfaction of combat. This issue begins to resolve as more weapons and abilities become available, leading to more varied enemy encounters in conjunction with more open level design. However, the prolonged repetition saps some of the tension from runbacks after death, as enemies are often sparse and familiar. Character progression, guided by a non-branching upgrade tree, primarily serves to buff attributes rather than fundamentally alter playstyle, making it difficult to tailor builds to specific new threats.
Boss fights offer a welcome reprieve from the repetitive enemy encounters, typically featuring a diverse range of foes that inject a sense of challenge and tension into the combat. The game's initial stages are also preoccupied with introducing numerous weapons and abilities, leading to a somewhat disjointed and unfocused experience. Moments range from practical demonstrations of firearms near explosive barrels to extended platforming sequences requiring wall runs and grapples. These disparate elements feel at odds with the game's strongest aspect, its first-person combat, contributing to a sense of directionlessness.
Valor Mortis ultimately betrays the potential it showcases in its latter half. While its first-person combat is engaging, a limited enemy selection, underutilized mechanics, and an inconsistent challenge curve prevent it from truly shining. The unique historical setting is undermined by a weak central story, only salvaged by emotionally resonant vignettes that effectively convey the devastating consequences of war. The game contains the foundations of a stronger experience, one that could benefit from a tighter focus on its core combat and a trimming of superfluous mechanics. As it stands, Valor Mortis delivers an uneven journey, marked by moments of brilliance interspersed with significant disappointment.