Early reviews of Valor Mortis landed Oct. 12, one day before the first-person Soulslike launches on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The verdicts range from enthusiastic recommendations to a much more qualified assessment, but they agree on one thing: developer One More Level has made first-person sword fighting work.
Combat and exploration draw the strongest praise
Saving Content rates the game 4 out of 5 and calls it a “First-Person Soulsvania,” praising its responsive melee combat, skill system and Metroidvania-style backtracking. The review says new abilities open shortcuts and hidden areas across interconnected zones, giving exploration a larger role than the genre label might suggest.
That enthusiasm carries across much of the review set. Game Informer describes combat as the game’s “beating heart,” while Rock Paper Shotgun says the first-person perspective rarely gets in the way because encounters and levels are designed around its narrower view. Destructoid gives the game a 9 out of 10, highlighting fluid parries, the alternate-history Napoleonic setting and interconnected level design. Insider Gaming also awards a 9, praising the movement and varied environments while arguing that the perspective opens a promising path for more first-person Soulslikes.
Difficulty is the main dividing line
The reviews disagree more sharply over whether Valor Mortis is demanding in the right ways. Saving Content warns that an early fight against Lothaire is a severe skill check, even though it finds the larger campaign rewarding. Game Informer goes further, calling the first half poorly balanced and describing both bosses and ordinary enemies as capable of sudden, unfair deaths.
Rock Paper Shotgun reaches a different conclusion. It finds most boss fights steep but fair, with losses more often tied to missed deflections or poorly timed abilities. Destructoid lands somewhere between those positions, praising the core combat while criticizing unfair enemy placement, confusing routes and a few frustrating traversal constraints.
A strong idea with uneven execution
GameSpot offers the most mixed assessment. Its review praises the fast parry-driven combat and stronger second-half environments, but faults the slow opening, limited enemy pool, underused weapons and abilities, and a protagonist arc it finds unconvincing. The result, it says, is an “uneven experience” with the foundations of a better, more focused game.
Other positive reviews still identify similar rough edges. Rock Paper Shotgun says build variety and miniboss variety are limited, and Push Square calls the campaign strong overall but finds its late stealth and platforming sequences frustrating. Saving Content also reports enemy and object pop-in on its Linux test system, though it otherwise found performance polished.
The clearest consensus is that Valor Mortis stands apart through its close-up combat, movement and horror-inflected Napoleonic setting. Whether its familiar Souls structure feels tightly focused or overloaded with half-used ideas depends on the reviewer. The game is scheduled to launch Oct. 13 for $39.99.
