Valor Mortis: Napoleon’s Dead Army Has an HR Problem
Valor Mortis launched on October 13, 2026, and apparently dying in Napoleon’s army is no longer sufficient grounds for discharge. You play William, an English soldier resurrected into a nineteenth-century Europe where the Crimson Plague has transformed soldiers and civilians into grotesque monsters. It’s a first-person action soulslike built around sword combat, parries, firearms and supernatural powers, with a rather unpleasant twist: the same corruption responsible for the monsters also fuels your abilities.
Early Steam reception is positive, with approximately 85% favourable reviews from the first 321, although critics have raised concerns about difficulty balance and frustrating encounters. So there’s something worth investigating here. Just don’t expect traditional survival horror. William has a sword and absolutely no intention of hiding behind a cupboard.
Apparently, fighting supernatural monsters now requires a medical degree. Guns of Eschaton makes you study enemy anatomy and shoot weak points in the correct order. Because simply putting a bullet through something's skull was getting far too convenient.
Napoleon has apparently declared death optional
William enlisted in the Grande Armée, died and somehow returned to find that Europe has become considerably less habitable. The Crimson Plague has been busy turning the population into biological experiments, and Napoleon himself communicates with William as the mystery surrounding the outbreak unfolds.
I have several questions, beginning with why an Englishman would join Napoleon’s army in the first place. But that seems insignificant compared to discovering that your former comrades have developed entirely new skeletal arrangements. Some soldiers have been twisted into canine creatures, while settlements are consumed by grotesque organic growths. These creatures were once people, many of them soldiers fighting the same war as William. The uniforms and ruined environments are reminders of what existed before everything went spectacularly wrong.
Napoleon spent his career commanding enormous armies, and now some of his troops appear to have misplaced the distinction between infantry and veterinary specimens. I imagine morning roll call has become rather complicated. Private Dupont? Present, sir. Corporal Bernard? Currently eating Private Dupont. Excellent. Carry on.
The disease is also your ammunition supplier
William fights primarily with a sword, using attacks, blocks, dodges and parries to overcome enemies. Breaking their posture creates openings for devastating follow-up attacks, while firearms and elemental abilities provide additional ways to deal with particularly stubborn abominations.
There’s also a resource called Nephtoglobin, which powers William’s supernatural abilities. Striking enemy weak points replenishes it, meaning accurate, aggressive fighting actively funds your next supernatural attack. An enemy’s vulnerable spot becomes both an opportunity to inflict damage and a refill station. Suddenly, that enormous mutated horror charging toward you is also a walking resource dispenser. A deeply unpleasant one, admittedly, but still.
Ambers modify combat behaviour further, including an effect that can convert successfully parried gunfire into ammunition. So an enemy shooting at William may inadvertently help him shoot back. This is the sort of military strategy that would have Napoleon throwing his hat onto the floor and demanding to know who appointed the enemy as quartermaster.
The connection between corruption and power is especially interesting. William is essentially fighting the plague with abilities derived from the plague. I’m not convinced this would receive unanimous approval from the nineteenth-century medical profession, although their alternative probably involved leeches and an aggressive bloodletting session.
Outside combat, Valor Mortis features interconnected environments, shortcuts, secrets and movement abilities including wall-running. Developer One More Level previously made Ghostrunner, so its interest in first-person movement and precise combat has some pedigree.
William borrows power from the plague to fight monsters. The Blood of Dawnwalker takes that delightful moral disaster further by letting you become the monster yourself. We investigated just how much of a bastard the game actually allows you to be.
It looks horrifying, but can it actually scare you?
The horror identity is genuine. Mutated soldiers, diseased landscapes, disturbing environmental details and stories of people consumed by the plague give the setting considerably more substance than throwing a few zombies into France. But the gameplay is primarily about confronting these horrors and learning how to defeat them.
There’s a difference between being terrified of a creature because you cannot stop it and being terrified because you know perfectly well how to stop it, but keep screwing up the parry.
The first-person perspective makes encounters particularly intimate. You’re staring directly into whatever anatomical disaster the plague has prepared, often from a distance at which one would normally offer somebody a handshake. Unfortunately, early reviewers have criticised fights involving multiple enemies, where attacks outside your immediate view become difficult to follow. The camera makes individual monsters imposing, but being surrounded is rather less entertaining when your peripheral vision has apparently been requisitioned for the war effort.
Critics have also questioned difficulty spikes, platforming sections and restricted weapon variety. These concerns matter because Valor Mortis depends heavily on satisfying combat. A grotesque monster might be fascinating the first time you meet it. By the fifteenth attempt, its interior decorating becomes considerably less interesting.
What does the early reception tell us?
October 14 recorded 4,647 peak concurrent players, 321 Steam reviews and 272 positive reviews, giving Valor Mortis a raw positive rate of approximately 84.7%.
SteamDB’s adjusted rating stood at 78.63%, which uses a different calculation. The game also appeared at #7 on SteamDB’s top-sellers ranking in the recorded snapshot. That’s substantial launch visibility, although it establishes neither long-term satisfaction nor copies sold.
Professional reception is encouraging but mixed on individual systems. Combat, atmosphere and creature designs have attracted praise, while balance, encounter design and technical roughness have drawn criticism. A launch patch reportedly introduced stability improvements, but it’s too early to establish how thoroughly those concerns have been resolved.
Valor Mortis is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with access through supported Game Pass subscriptions. At a $39.99 Steam launch price, prospective buyers have something to consider, particularly if demanding melee combat isn't their idea of a relaxing evening.
What interests me most is William’s relationship with the plague. He returns from death to destroy monsters created by a corruption he now uses to survive. The disease creates the problem, provides the means to solve it and apparently expects everyone involved to be grateful.
Napoleon wanted an unstoppable army. He may have been rather more successful than intended.
Had enough of Napoleon's medically questionable infantry? Explore CRIMENET's horror coverage, where the monsters are revolting, survival is negotiable and humanity continues its impressive record of making absolutely everything worse.
Valor Mortis FAQ
Is Valor Mortis a horror game or a soulslike?
Both, although its gameplay leans heavily toward first-person soulslike combat. Expect grotesque monsters, oppressive environments, sword fights, parries and supernatural powers rather than traditional survival horror.
When did Valor Mortis release?
Valor Mortis launched on October 13, 2026.
Is Valor Mortis available on Game Pass?
Yes. Valor Mortis is available through supported Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
Who developed Valor Mortis?
Valor Mortis was developed by One More Level, the studio behind Ghostrunner.
Is Valor Mortis difficult?
It's designed around demanding combat, including precise parries, dodges and enemy attack patterns. Early reviews have also criticised some difficulty spikes and frustrating encounters.
Is Valor Mortis worth playing?
Early reception is encouraging, with approximately 85% positive Steam reviews on October 14. Its combat and body-horror setting have attracted praise, although balance and technical concerns make a definitive recommendation premature.
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