Valor Mortis

Valor Mortis is a Soulslike action role-playing video game played from a first-person perspective. It is set in an alternate 19th century Eastern Europe where Napoleon's endless war has unleashed a supernatural plague. The game follows William, a French soldier in the Grande Armée resurrected by Napoleon, as he fights to survive against his former comrades who have now turned into undead monsters and unravels the mysteries and conspiracies behind the plague and his own resurrection.

William's primary weapon is a cutlass. To avoid damage, players can block incoming attacks at the cost of a small amount of health, dodge unblockable attacks, or parry at the right timing to deal devastating damage to enemies. He is also equipped with a flintlock pistol, which can be used to target enemies' weak points and stagger them, though ammunition is scarce. As William progresses, he gains access to magical abilities known as "transmutations", allowing him to perform feats such as unleashing bursts of flame on enemies.

In an alternate history where Napoleon Bonaparte won the Battle of Waterloo, he begins marching his vast armies through Europe to unify the entire continent under his rule. A soldier in Napoleon's army, William Dowsett, apparently awakens from death to find he now wields supernatural abilities. He also discovers some type of plague has begun sweeping across the land, and that Napoleon's army has become a horde of undead monsters. He also hears Napoleon's voice in his head attempting to direct him, while another voice from a rebel leader called the Shrike tries to convince William to turn against Napoleon. He eventually meets a mysterious man named Lucjan Skawinski, who directs him to find his surviving comrades.

William reunites with two of his friends, James Stewart and Louis Moreau, who have survived the plague. Louis directs William to investigate a nearby salt mine, where he finds a mysterious, sealed door. Upon learning about the door, Louis then directs William to head to the university at a nearby city to retrieve his research notes. Arriving in the city, William witnesses the destruction and atrocities Napoleon has committed in the course of his war, and grows increasingly disillusioned.

Valor Mortis was developed by One More Level, which is based in Poland. The team used their experience working on first-person games (Ghostrunner and its sequel, Ghostrunner 2), and applied it on the Soulslike genre. While the game features firearms, it was not intended to be played as a first-person shooter. The team first decided on the core gameplay formula (a three-way mix between melee combat, ranged combat and magical abilities), before determining the game's setting.

According to game director Radosław Ratusznik, "the theme of horror is very important" in both its monster design and its story, and the game tells a "universal story about soldiers in the war". The team also drew inspirations from Metroidvania games, in which players can use newly unlocked abilities to discover new pathways and shortcuts.

Valor Mortis received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. OpenCritic determined that 84% of critics recommended the game.