The game in one paragraph
Valor Mortis is a first-person soulslike: demanding melee and firearm combat, learning enemy patterns, dying and returning to a checkpoint. It's set in an alternate 19th-century history of the Napoleonic Wars, in Eastern Europe, where a plague has halted Napoleon's campaign. Demo players praised exactly that blend of first-person action and soulslike combat, and many compare it to BioShock and Dishonored.
Who you play as — and do you play as Napoleon?
You play as William Dowsett, a British soldier who volunteered for Napoleon's army because he believed in the Emperor's ideal of a unified Europe. Everyone thought he died after a great battle. He wakes up in a battlefield grave, with the same plague that killed his comrades running through his veins — and it grants him supernatural powers.
You don't play as Napoleon. The Emperor is a voice in William's head who guides him and gives orders. The first line you hear is "Scrub the bloody muck from your eyes." Before launch the studio has not revealed whether Napoleon also appears as an enemy. The best-known boss from the demo footage is General Lothaire.
The plague and the world
- The Crimson Plague spread across the continent in the wake of Napoleon's campaign. It killed most soldiers and transformed the survivors — they're who you fight.
- The deadliest foes are Napoleon's mutated Eternal Guard, once the Emperor's loyal soldiers.
- William travels through war-torn villages, vast battlefields, caves and catacombs, laboratories and strongholds.
- The big questions, in the studio's words: where the plague came from, how William survived and why he can't remember his past, and who the rebel leader the Shrike is — and whether she can be trusted.
Characters and voice cast
| Character | Who they are | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| William Dowsett | protagonist, resurrected legionnaire | James Alexander |
| Napoleon Bonaparte | the Emperor, a voice in William's head | Vincent Cassel |
| The Shrike | rebel leader fighting the Empire in occupied Eastern Europe | Jennifer English |
| Captain Raphael | — | Adam "Nergal" Darski |
| Lucjan Skawiński | lamplighter, one of the survivors | Mars Lipowski |
| James Stewart | William's fellow soldier | Will de Renzy-Martin |
| Louis Moreau | — | Yvan Chamoiseau |
A dash (—) means the studio hasn't described the role before launch. Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve, Black Swan, La Haine) has Corsican roots on his mother's side, just like Napoleon. Jennifer English is Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3 and Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Nergal is the frontman of the Polish metal band Behemoth.
Is it a Polish game?
Yes. Valor Mortis is developed by One More Level in Kraków, Poland — the studio behind Ghostrunner and Ghostrunner 2. That shows in the cast too: the lamplighter Lucjan Skawiński and Nergal. Prices, languages and release times: everything about the launch.
What does "Valor Mortis" mean?
The studio hasn't given an official translation. Mortis is the Latin genitive of mors ("death"), so "of death". Valor means courage or worth in Late Latin and the Romance languages. The title reads as "the valor of death" or "the worth of death" — fitting for a soldier who comes back stronger after every death.
Story after launch
The studio puts a lot of weight on the story: about 20 hours of campaign, fully voiced in English, with a well-known cast. A separate story DLC (part of the Deluxe Edition) is planned for 2027 — a complete side story outside the main campaign, in the same world and with the same characters. We'll add endings and bosses after launch, once we can verify them in the full game.
