Souls-like has become a stuffy genre over the years. Most games in the genre have kept to a similar style, and it was starting to feel repetitive for someone like me who is a die-hard fan of anything souls-like. That’s why when I tried the Valor Mortis demo back during Steam Next Fest 2026, I felt it was something refreshing and much needed.
A couple of months later, I finally got my hands on Valor Mortis, and not only does it live up to my expectations, but it also exceeds them to quite a degree. Valor Mortis is a first-person souls-like set in a dystopian Napoleonic era on the surface.
Inside, it is a parkour-rich, gunslinging, and swashbuckling cinematic masterpiece that has been genuinely made with love for the genre. Here is my Valor Mortis review after playing well over 20 hours of it.
A Crisp, Swashbuckling, Fast-Paced Action Combat High on Adrenaline
Valor Mortis is a fast-paced game filled with incredibly polished parkour mechanics. Compared to other soulslike games that have sluggish enemies and movement, Valor Mortis lets you freely run past enemies at an extremely quick pace. This makes the game’s experience vastly different from other soulslikes.
I have spent most of my time in the game simply decimating one enemy after another. The quick-paced combat is mostly due to the masterfully crafted movement and parrying mechanics. Parrying in Valor Mortis is hugely satisfying.
The parry frames, impact, and the instant clang chime in my ears create the sensation of pure joy. I didn’t have nearly as much fun parrying in Sekiro, which is considered the gold standard.
What’s more satisfying about parrying is the finisher that comes after it. When you parry normal enemies, their stance breaks, and it allows you to perform a critical hit.
That’s normal for most games, but Valor Mortis also adds Doom-style finishing moves on top of it if you are executing an enemy with a critical attack. Each finisher is also very graphic and deeply enjoyable, and all my fellow Doom the Dark Ages players will definitely love it.
From cutting enemy arms and beheading them to using your pistol to blast their head at close range and blasting enemy heads by burning them with your magic. Never did I grow tired of performing the finishers.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the game is any easier. On the contrary, it gives a fairly good challenge. But mastering the system is very empowering, allowing players to dominate the game easily. Especially because the parry frames feel very authentic compared to many other soulslikes.
The game’s skill tree is also simpler, with very linear paths but enough variety to let players create their own builds. Certain levels have unlockable slots, which can be fitted with passive gems that give buffs like more parry window or recoverable health on critical hits.
Guns and Magic Add Another Dimension To Combat
If it were just swashbuckling, then the combat may not have felt as good as it does. Valor Mortis also adds guns and magic to the fold, letting players have complete freedom in how they want to deal with an enemy.
The very first magic the protagonist gets access to is a simple burning spell, which spews flame ahead, eventually burning the enemy. That’s not where it stops, as later down the line Williams gets spells that can stop time!
But if magic is not your thing, then there are always guns. The game features multiple gun types that players can shoot from the off-hand. From a basic pistol to long-range rifles, the game offers a ton of ranged combat options that are fun to use.
Enemies also have weak points that are much easier to target with gun shots. Certain skills also increase the damage of headshots, making a gun build quite viable.
This makes it worthwhile to use guns, especially the short-barrel shotgun. This weapon of mass destruction can take off a huge chunk of health when shot at close range.
I still remember absolutely decimating a boss in six rounds of shotgun bullets by risking going close and shooting at the weakness point at point-blank range.
The best part about all this is that you don’t need to choose which abilities or guns to equip, as all of them are kept equipped at the same time. This is even the case for the multiple sword types. Players can simply rotate between the weapons they want mid-fight with zero issues.
Parkour and Stealth Are a Match Made in Heaven in Valor Mortis
The movement in Valor Mortis feels like a mix of Titanfall 2 and Dying Light. As I mentioned earlier, the game is very fast-paced, and almost every level has different routes, albeit the same path, for players to run and vault over to avoid enemies. Later down the line, players can use grappling hooks and run on specific walls.
With more parkour abilities unlocked, Valor Mortis introduces entire levels designed for parkouring. I still remember the quick-time event level, where you sit on a moving cart underground and have to rotate between all your weapons to open walls, avoid enemies, and change the cart lane, all within seconds of each other.
It’s a mission style straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, something we used to see in many action games in the past. However, it wasn’t dumbed down as done in many modern games with time-slow button inputs. The game forces you to make decisions in quick time, making it much more intense and rewarding.
Similarly, parkour setups are also there where you have to run on walls, freeze a lever midway, use it to jump to the other side, and use the grapple to continue momentum. A lot similar to the old Prince of Persia parkour levels that I am sure many of you played growing up.
But when talking of parkour, you cannot ignore the stealth mechanics as well. The game also allows you to stealthily make your way through a camp, and players can also perform critical takedowns from behind enemies, like in Assassin’s Creed games.
Some levels are so stuffed with enemies that it becomes wise to stealth around rather than go guns blazing. This mix of playstyle makes Valor Mortis very much different from other games, especially as it is still a soulsike despite all of this.
A Decent Variety of Bosses and Enemies
The soulslike genre is largely popular due to the epic boss fights and enemy encounters, and Valor Mortis doesn’t shy away in that regard as well. Although it doesn’t compare to Elden Ring, the developers have still done a fairly good job.
Every boss in the game brings an entirely unique moveset, while also being drastically different in appearance. The normal enemies itself has a large variety.
From enemies that use guns to large monsters that chuck bombs to huge knight-style enemies that attack with grace, the game doesn’t shy away from variety. As you progress in the game, you continue to stumble upon new enemy varieties, including little slime blobs that are extremely annoying to fight inside closed-off caves.
However, the bosses are the real attraction. Although I must say they are not as challenging as many other soulslikes, they are equally enjoyable to fight. I definitely found more variety compared to Mortal Shell 2, which is a big achievement.
My favorite boss was an Egyptian Sphinx that you have to fight in the middle of a desert with Pyramids towering in the background. Why was I in the middle of a desert? You have to find out by playing the game yourself.
The Bonaparte Story and Enticing Quest Design
Although I have been speaking mostly about the gameplay and combat, do not think that the game’s story or quest design is any bad. The story takes place in the early 19th century, an era when all of Europe is set ablaze by the power-hungry ambitions of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The players take the role of a young British soldier named William, who has joined the Foreign Legion of the Imperial Guard. During his deployment, something happened, and he ends up losing his memory and even his identity.
William only remembers that he is a soldier and that both his allies and enemies have turned into mindless monsters. In the midst of everything, Napoleon’s speeches would suddenly shout in your mind as new story details are revealed.
Eventually, you learn about the Shrike, the enemy that is causing all the trouble, and realize that Napoleon is at war with it.
Eventually, you meet Lucjan, a mysterious figure in the middle of madness, who has designed the lamps that keep the monsters away, also acting as the game’s safe spot. He guides you towards two other allies, who become your only source of camaraderie in the war-torn dystopian land.
Although the story is very straightforward, the voice acting done by the characters is really good. A large reason for that is that the protagonist is not a silent character.
Interestingly, many NPCs have a French accent, and not in a funny way. It creates a distinction and makes the story setting feel more genuine. The game also has very few side characters, which acts as an advantage, allowing players to have much more memorable interactions with them.
Many of the side characters showcase distinct behavioral traits that keep you intrigued about them. For example, one of the characters named Louis appears as a crazy scientist who performs all types of experiments, but barely blinks twice when stuck between multiple enemies with the entire village burning.
But what’s truly outstanding is the side quest design. Along with the main story, every level has some side quests, and they require critical thinking and reveal more about the world’s story.
One example is the Scarecrow quest, where you have to find two missing items stolen from the Scarecrow. Upon returning, you get a very spicy detail about a love affair that might leave you giggling at first, but sad when you get the full picture.
Performance: Seamless with Stunning Visuals
My biggest worry about Valor Mortis was its performance. That’s because I remember the game dropping plenty of frames when I played the demo earlier this year.
However, my worries ended up being for nothing, as the game ran absolutely seamlessly. A big reason for the game’s fast-paced combat was the performance, as it never held me back from testing my combat potential in fights.
At High graphics settings, with DLSS enabled, I was getting well over 120 FPS. When maxing the graphics settings to Epic, I still achieved an average of 90 FPS. On turning off DLSS, I continued to get 100+ FPS at High settings and 70+ FPS at Epic settings. This clearly shows how well optimized the game is, as it runs so smoothly even without DLSS.
My Setup:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900x
CPU Cooler: CORSAIR H150 RGB
Motherboard: GIGABYTE B650M Gaming X AX
GPU: MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB
RAM: 32GB (32GB x 1) ADATA XPG DDR5 5600FSB LANCER
SSD: 1TB AORUS Gen 4 5000E NVMe storage
Monitor: 1080p @165hz
When it comes to graphics, Valor Mortis creates some of the best depictions of war-torn lands. There are missions with massive battlefields filled with dead bodies. On the other hand, the game doesn’t limit itself to that, as there is a huge variety of environments for players to explore. From abandoned mines underground to poisonous villages, the range of level design is truly impressive.
Verdict: Much Bigger than Just a Soulslike
Valor Mortis is a hugely new take on the soulslike genre, adding fast-paced combat with gunslinging action to the well-known, familiar dodge-or-parry formula of the genre. The game’s parkour elements are a fresh take previously overlooked by others, and its first-person view keeps things feeling personal during action encounters.
The Doom-style finishers are an absolute joy, and something other soulslikes should definitely add to their games. And on top of it all, parrying feels genuinely good in Valor Mortis. The combat is clearly the highest positive point of the game, and just that alone would keep you entertained throughout.
But the game story is equally intriguing, albeit a bit too straightforward. Put together Napoleon screaming at the top of his lungs in your ear now and then, and you have the complete cinematic experience.
Valor Mortis is not just a soulslike; it is basically an action game that almost any player can enjoy. The game is much easier to get into than most other soulslikes on the market, doesn’t stick to the clichés of the genre, and is much easier to play even if there is only one difficulty.
The game is meticulously crafted to not feel restricted to soulslike players, making it the perfect choice for action game players who want to try out the souls genre.