Beyond the Soulslike: Valor Mortis Blends Dark Souls’ Brutality with Dishonored’s Fluidity

The “Soulslike” label has become so pervasive that it’s now applied to almost any game with a stamina bar and a challenging boss. However, the latest project from One More Level, the developers behind the ultra-fast, first-person slasher Ghostrunner, defies easy classification. Their new game, Valor Mortis, is being heavily marketed as a first-person Soulslike, and while it certainly has the punishing difficulty and methodical combat of the genre, early previews suggest it’s far more than a simple imitation. It’s a game that borrows as much from the fluid, acrobatic stealth and combat of Dishonored as it does from the brutal boss fights of Dark Souls, and if anyone can make this strange hybrid work, it’s the developers who built one of the fastest action games on the market.

A First-Person Gauntlet

Early gameplay footage from Gamescom 2025 has given the gaming world its first real look at Valor Mortis‘s core loop. Set in a plague-ridden, mutated version of Napoleonic Europe, the game puts players in the shoes of a resurrected French soldier named William. The first-person perspective is the game’s most significant departure from the traditional Soulslike formula, which is almost exclusively played in third-person. This change fundamentally alters the experience. The intimate camera angle makes every duel feel more intense and every parry more personal. As one hands-on preview from IGN noted, the first-person perspective “adds a level of urgency” and makes every single action feel “riskier.”

This is where the Dishonored comparisons come into play. While the combat is far more deliberate than the “one-hit-one-kill” action of Ghostrunner, it shares a number of design philosophies with Arkane Studios’ classic stealth series. The combat in Valor Mortis is not a simple war of attrition; it’s a “deadly dance,” as IGN describes it. The game emphasizes precision and timing, with a gratifying metallic “clang” and a momentary shift into slow motion upon a successful parry—a mechanic that is a direct visual and aural nod to the highly satisfying parry system of Dishonored. Furthermore, the game’s blend of swordplay, a supernatural left hand that can cast fire and other abilities, and a ranged pistol feels more like the creative, improvisational combat of Corvo Attano than the stat-based, stamina-draining duels of a traditional Soulslike.

The DNA of Two Genres

Despite the comparisons, Valor Mortis is not abandoning its core Soulslike identity. The game has all the hallmarks of the genre: brutally difficult bosses, a “stagger bar” for enemies, and a system for losing and reclaiming a resource upon death. Players can use “Catalysts” to level up their stats at what appears to be a reasonably cheap cost, and there are Metroidvania-inspired elements that allow players to revisit earlier levels with new abilities. The game’s aesthetic, with its dark, gothic horror and its monstrous enemies, also has a clear lineage to games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The developers have stated that they’ve intentionally slowed down the frantic pace of Ghostrunner to create a more methodical and challenging combat experience, one where every death is a lesson in enemy patterns and parry timings.

Ultimately, Valor Mortis represents a bold fusion of two distinct genres. It’s a game that takes the punishing difficulty and satisfying progression of a Soulslike and marries it to the fluid, first-person combat and acrobatic movement of a game like Dishonored. For a studio with a track record of creating unique, high-quality, and challenging games, this is an incredibly promising sign. One More Level is not simply following a trend; they are attempting to redefine it by taking the best of both worlds and blending them into something entirely new. The result is a game that is both an homage to its influences and a daring vision for the future of the first-person action genre. If anyone is going to be able to pull off this hard-as-nails hybrid, it’s the developers who taught us how to dance on the edge of a blade.

The game is a clear and powerful statement that even in a crowded market, there is still room for innovation, and that sometimes, to create something new, you have to look at the past in a brand-new way.