Valor Mortis’ Napoleonic Soulslike Hook Lands With Style — Public Playtest Runs Oct 6–13

A Napoleonic soulslike that actually feels different

Soulslikes are everywhere right now, and most of them blur together into a fog of parry windows and poise break bars. Valor Mortis caught my attention because it doesn’t just copy FromSoftware’s homework-it splices in the slick, kinetic DNA of Ghostrunner and dumps it into a blood-drenched Napoleonic nightmare. After going hands-on at Gamescom, I walked away thinking: okay, there’s something here beyond the usual grimdark cosplay.

You play as William, a soldier yanked back from death during Napoleon’s campaigns, with the Little Corporal’s disembodied voice burrowing into your skull while Europe rots into a crimson hellscape. It’s a great premise, and the tone is properly vicious: shambling ex-comrades, hulking abominations, and that eerie red magic that looks like it hurts to wield. If Steelrising flirted with the era’s aesthetics, Valor Mortis bathes in it.

Key takeaways

• The Oct 6-13 PC playtest includes the intro chapter: one boss, one mini-boss, ten progression levels, and the first section of William’s upgrade tree.
• Combat mixes saber, pistol, and red magic with fluid weapon swapping-more hybrid hunter than pure turtle-and-parry.
• Ghostrunner’s momentum shows up in smart platforming between fights, breaking the usual soulslike plod.
• Big questions: tuning of parry i-frames, checkpoint cadence, and whether ranged options feel meaningful rather than gimmicky.

Breaking down the announcement

One More Level is throwing open the gates for its first public playtest from Monday, October 6 through Monday, October 13. It’s PC-only for now, and it’s focused: the game’s opening chapter, a proper boss fight, a mini-boss, and a chunk of the buildcraft with ten progression levels and the initial branch of William’s upgrades. That’s enough runway to judge the combat loop, encounter variety, and whether the upgrade tree offers real choices or just incremental stat drips.

I like this move. Soulslikes live or die on feel-wind-ups, hit confirms, the “I deserved that death” factor—and you can’t sell that with a trailer. A public test is the quickest way to let players poke the systems and for the devs to tune the pain where it belongs.

The Ghostrunner factor—why it matters

Ghostrunner thrived on a simple truth: speed is a puzzle. Every room was a lethal riddle solved by movement, timing, and clean execution. On paper, soulslikes swing the other direction—deliberate pacing, stamina management, patience. Valor Mortis feels like a calculated middle ground. Between arenas you get brief platforming stretches—wall runs, gap jumps, traversal that resets your brain before the next duel. It’s not Demon’s Souls’ clunky mineshaft flashbacks; it’s closer to a momentum palate cleanser that keeps you in a flow state.

In combat, the hybrid kit stands out. William’s saber handles close-quarters commitment, the pistol tags weak points, and the red magic has that flamethrower-adjacent bite for pressure and crowd control. The boss I fought—General Lothaire—telegraphed weak spots you could pop with a shot to open windows for saber pressure or a brutal magic burn. It encourages cycling tools rather than one-note turtling, and that’s refreshing. Think less “circle the knight for 90 seconds, fish for a backstab” and more “prioritize, exploit, swap, finish.”

What to watch for in the playtest

• Parry timing and dodge i-frames: The line between fair and cheap is razor-thin. If your perfects feel earned and dodges clip reliably through big swings, we’re in good hands.
• Ranged relevance: The pistol has to be more than a pull tool. If weak point hits and stagger setups meaningfully alter fights, the kit’s promise holds.
• Checkpoint cadence: Too far apart and the platforming becomes a chore; too close and tension evaporates. The intro chapter will reveal their philosophy.
• Upgrade tree clarity: The first branch should showcase identity—aggressive spellblade? Debuff shooter? If it’s all +2% edges, that’s a red flag.
• Camera and readability: Large enemies plus tight spaces can get messy fast. Watch how the lock-on behaves near walls and during boss lunges.
• PC controls: Does mouse aim make the pistol indispensable? Are controller layouts sensible out of the box, with proper remapping?

I’m also curious about encounter variety. Early soulslikes love to throw “big guy, slow swing” at you repeatedly. Valor Mortis’ setting practically begs for musket lines gone rotten, cavalry nightmares, and siege-engine horrors. If the test hints at that imagination, we could be cooking.

Why this could stand out in a crowded year

We’ve been drowning in “Soulslike but X” pitches: clockwork Paris, puppet noir, cosmic rot. The difference here is execution pedigree. One More Level knows how to make actions feel crisp and readable at speed, and they’ve already shipped two Ghostrunner games that demanded precision. Translating that expertise to a slower, heavier combat rhythm is the gamble—but the Gamescom slice suggested they understand tempo as a design tool, not just a marketing word.

Skepticism check: the danger is tonal whiplash. If platforming pace and duel pacing don’t harmonize, you’ll feel either rushed into mistakes or bored between spikes. And any game courting the “Soulslike” label must respect failure. Cheap deaths, janky collision, or input buffering that eats a dodge will get exposed immediately in a public test. That’s the point—better to take those lumps now with player feedback than at launch.

TL;DR

Valor Mortis blends Ghostrunner’s momentum with a grim Napoleonic soulslike twist, and the hybrid combat kit actually works. The Oct 6-13 PC playtest gives enough content to judge feel, flow, and early buildcraft. If you’re burned out on me-too soulslikes, this one is worth your week.