Valor Mortis
Guide, Bosses & Trophy List
Steam data snapshot verified Oct 8, 2026 · no review score published yet
11:00 AM PT on 13 October 2026 = 18:00 UTC. Your local time is shown on the release date page.
No early access. No preload head start. One instant.
The publisher has confirmed there is no way to play before the unlock, and Game Pass subscribers get the game at the same second as everyone who paid. The conversion table for thirteen zones is on the release date page.
The short version
What Valor Mortis actually is
A first-person soulslike from One More Level, the Kraków studio behind Ghostrunner. You play William Dowsett, a British volunteer in Napoleon's Grande Armée who dies on a battlefield and wakes up with the plague that killed him still moving through his veins.
It is a soulslike in structure and a first-person game in feel, which is an unusual combination and the main reason it does not play like anything else in the genre. You have Endurance, you have a Flask equivalent, you parry, and when you die you drop your currency at the spot where you fell. What is different is that you are looking through William's eyes the whole time, so spacing is a camera problem as much as a movement problem.
The publisher's own overview describes the loop as stamina management, light and heavy attacks, and parrying with counterattacks, and states that matching the right weapon to the right enemy is rewarded. Pre-release coverage adds the friction: a long hands-on session found only two swords, one pistol, one blunderbuss and a handful of powers, and described the skill tree as close to linear. This is a fixed-kit game in the Sekiro mould, not a loot game, and knowing that before you buy is worth more than any build guide.
The setting is alternate-history Napoleonic Europe, twenty years into a war that has gone wrong. A plague called Nephtoglobin has swept the continent, Napoleon shares a mysterious link with William that leaves the Emperor's voice inside his head, and a resistance fighter called The Shrike wants him for something. The whole game is built around one question: stay loyal, or follow her.
At a glance
- Developer
- One More Level
- Publisher
- Lyrical Games
- Genre
- First-Person Soulslike, single-player
- Released
- October 13, 2026
- Standard price
- $39.99
- Deluxe price
- $59.99
- Rating
- Mature 17+ · PEGI 18
- Platforms
- PC (Steam) · PC (Epic Games Store) · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X|S
Where to buy
Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Day one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Three defensive tools, three different economies
Valor Mortis does not have a difficulty setting. It has a parry. Everything the game asks of you routes back through posture, and the three ways you avoid damage spend three different resources.
Parry and posture
ConfirmedParrying fills the enemy's posture meter, and a full meter opens a critical attack. The publisher states this directly in the gameplay overview, and every hands-on report independently reaches the same conclusion: the demo's two bosses cannot be beaten by trading hits. Both of them are, functionally, exams on whether you have learned the timing.
The practical consequence is that block and dodge are not alternatives to parrying, they are the fallback when you miss it. Blocking still costs Endurance and can still be broken. Dodging spends Endurance too. Only the parry converts your defensive action into progress.
Block
Costs Endurance and can be broken outright by heavy attackers such as the Risen Sapeur. Safe, but it advances nothing.
Dodge
Costs Endurance, and is the correct answer against attacks that punch through a guard. Commits you to a direction in a first-person camera.
Parry
Costs nothing but timing, and builds posture damage. This is the only defensive action that ends a fight faster.
Every boss, including the eight nobody has fought yet
Two encounters were playable in the demo. The other eight were named by the published trophy list on 5 October 2026, which is why they appear here with a Reported tag: the name and the trophy are facts, the tactics are our reading of them.
- General Lothaire, the Eagle-BearerChapter II · Torn Banner
- High Justicar Aurelius, Last of the FaithfulChapter VII · True Oath
- The Iron MarshallFull game · Ultima Ratio Regum
- The SphinxFull game · Not a Cat Person
- The SlaughtermillFull game · Quixotry
- The BrideFull game · My Dying Bride
- Experiment 83Full game · Lament of the Limbs
- The OrphanFull game · Coup de Grâce
- Nephtis SuperiorisLate game · Behemoth
- The EntityEndgame · In His Own Image
Straight from the developer
The Steam news feed is where this game's open questions get settled, and almost nobody archives it. Three of these posts changed facts this site had published.
New Gameplay Overview Trailer and Official Voice Cast Reveal
The gameplay overview trailer lands, narrated by James Alexander in character as William, alongside the full voice cast reveal. This trailer is the source for most of what this site knows about the combat loop, the weapon philosophy and the Catalyst and Amber progression.
This is the single best nine minutes of official material. It is embedded on our homepage and its breakdown is cited throughout the combat, weapons and progression pages.
Revealing the price of Valor Mortis
The publisher states the price for the first time, confirms the Deluxe Edition contents, rules out pre-orders entirely, pegs the story at twenty hours, repeats the free-update commitment, and mentions an accessibility feature nobody had reported: dynamic FOV scaling.
Three facts we did not have: no pre-orders, a confirmed 20-hour story, and dynamic FOV scaling as a readability system.
The Final Stretch - Development Update
The most consequential post in the feed. It sets the demo's offline date, states that the demo chapters were bespoke reconstructions rather than the retail chapters, and directly addresses the most common complaint about the demo boss, including where he actually sits in the retail game.
We had to correct two things about ourselves after reading this. See the corrections note below the post list.
Where to go next
Nine guides that cover the whole game
- Official updates & dev logEvery developer post, dated and quoted. The only place that records where the studio corrected the record, including two things we had wrong.Read →
- Walkthrough & progression orderHow Valor Mortis is structured, what the chapter numbering actually means, and the order that keeps you from entering the endgame under-geared.Read →
- Combat, parry & postureThe parry and posture loop, what Endurance really costs, and why the Rapier has no block at all.Read →
- Weapons & TransmutationsEvery confirmed melee weapon, firearm and left-hand power, with the relative profile that decides which one answers which enemy.Read →
- Catalyst, Lanterns & AmberWhere Catalysts come from, what dying costs you, and why the Amber system is the least generous thing in the game.Read →
- All 39 trophiesThe complete list with risk ratings and a local tracker, including the six missable side quests and the combat stunts that need setup.Read →
- Enemy bestiary & countersSearch by the problem rather than the name. Blade-immune, guard-breaking, ranged, pack hunters: pick the symptom, get the answer.Read →
- Known issues & crash fixesThe four problems reported in the demo with a fix path for each, plus what is and is not documented about DRM and offline play.Read →
- How long to beatTwenty hours is the official figure. What it is spent on, what a thorough run really costs, and why the demo estimate was misleading.Read →
The one video worth watching before launch
Narrated by James Alexander, the voice of William, this is the publisher's own systems walkthrough. If you only watch one thing, watch this: it explains the combat loop, the weapon philosophy and the Catalyst and Amber progression in nine minutes.
It confirms the resource split
Catalysts are spent at Lanterns for permanent stats, and they drop where you die. Ambers are found in the world and equipped at Lanterns. Both are stated plainly.
It names the weapons officially
The Claymore is described as slow with high impact; the Musket beats the pistol on range and power. Those are publisher words, not inference.
It shows Grapple as traversal
The third Transmutation is movement, not damage. Given the game has no map screen, that is the tool that stops you being lost.
How we got here
From announcement to launch
Ten milestones, each with a date and a source. Worth reading if you are trying to work out how much of the marketing material is pre-delay and therefore out of date.
Announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live
One More Level reveals its first wholly owned IP as a first-person soulslike set in an alternate-history Napoleonic Europe.
- partial
First Steam playtest
An invite-style Steam playtest lets press and players sample the combat loop before the demo goes public. Player accounts of it describe roughly an hour of content, one area, two elite enemies and one boss.
Public Steam demo goes live for Next Fest
Free, Steam-exclusive. It peaks at 1,886 concurrent players on its first day (SteamDB) and places among the showcase's top demos. Note for later: the studio has since confirmed the demo levels titled Chapter I and Chapter VII were bespoke reconstructions built for Next Fest, not the retail chapters.
Release date announced at the Xbox Games Showcase
Dated for September 24, 2026 with day-one Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere support.
Delayed to October 13, 2026
Lyrical Games and One More Level push the date back roughly three weeks.
Steam Next Fest begins
The studio's welcome post already flags the design risk it will spend the whole project fighting: the first-person perspective causing problems with spatial awareness and combat readability.
Demo returns for the summer showcase season, and the Rapier arrives
The studio's post introduces the Rapier and states its mechanic outright: unlike the Sabre it has no block at all, defending only through perfectly timed parries, and in exchange it can break enemy weak points without using a firearm.
The studio answers the demo's four biggest criticisms by name
A development log commits to four areas: combat readability, hitbox range and enemy staggering; boss variety and the difficulty curve caused by skipping from Chapter I straight to Chapter VII; CPU optimisation and enemy performance cost; and the balance between platforming and combat.
Gone gold
The disc version is ready for printing. The same post names the first-person readability problem again, in the studio's own words: environmental awareness, field of view and sense of depth perception are all harder to convey in first person.
Story trailer at gamescom
Establishes William's dilemma, Napoleon as a voice rather than a presence, and The Shrike as the other pole of the loyalty choice.
Final stretch update: demo offline date, and what the demo actually was
The studio announces the demo goes offline on September 8, states that the demo chapters were bespoke reconstructions that could not receive retail fixes, and confirms that in the full game General Lothaire is the Chapter II boss rather than a Chapter I wall.
Demo goes offline
The free demo is delisted from Steam. There has been no trial since and none has been announced.
Price revealed, pre-orders ruled out, 20-hour story confirmed
The publisher states $39.99 standard and $59.99 Deluxe, confirms the game is a 20-hour story, commits to multiple free post-launch updates, answers the pre-order question with a no, and mentions dynamic FOV scaling as a readability system for large bosses.
China region pricing announced
¥168 standard and ¥248 Deluxe, reported identically across Chinese outlets.
Press hands-on embargo lifts
Preview coverage lands from Fextralife, WayTooManyGames, Game Rant and others, generally framing the combat as closer to Bloodborne than Dark Souls.
Full voice cast revealed
Vincent Cassel as Napoleon, Jennifer English as The Shrike, James Alexander as William Dowsett, plus the supporting cast.
Gameplay overview trailer
A nine-minute narrated walkthrough of the combat loop, the weapon philosophy and the Catalyst, Lantern and Amber progression. Still the best single piece of official material about how the game works.
Full trophy list published
39 trophies appear across trophy trackers, naming ten encounters that the pre-release footage never showed.
Launch
Unlocks at 11:00 AM PT across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Day-one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. No preload exists, so the 50 GB download begins at unlock.
Steam data snapshot verified Oct 8, 2026 · demo all-time peak 1,886 concurrent players
Straight answers to what people are actually searching
What does Valor Mortis mean?
It is Latin. Valor is worth or value, and mortis is the genitive of mors, death, so the title reads as the value of death or the worth of death. That is not a fan translation: the game's own official site carries the line The Value of Death as a subtitle under the logo. It fits the premise exactly, since William dies for Napoleon, is resurrected with the plague in his veins, and the whole combat loop revolves around dying and spending what you gained.
When does Valor Mortis release?
October 13, 2026, at 11:00 AM PT. That is 2:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM BST, 8:00 PM CEST, and 2:00 AM on October 14 in China. The full conversion table for thirteen timezones is on the release date page.
Is Valor Mortis on Xbox Game Pass?
Yes, on day one, as part of Game Pass Ultimate. There is no early access tier and no paid head start, so the Game Pass version unlocks at exactly the same moment as a purchased copy. Game Pass on PC also includes it, and digital purchases support Xbox Play Anywhere.
How much does Valor Mortis cost?
$39.99 for the standard edition and $59.99 for the Deluxe Edition, which adds a major story DLC planned for 2027 plus a set of cosmetic packs. The publisher announced $39.99, €39.99 and 149.99 zł specifically as a deliberate price point rather than a discount.
Can I still play the Valor Mortis demo?
No. The demo was a limited-time Steam exclusive that went live on June 7, 2026 and went offline on September 8, 2026. It is no longer downloadable and there is no other free trial. It contained two levels, Chapter I — Revival and Chapter VII — Witch Hunt, two bosses and roughly three hours of content at the pace a press player took.
Can I pre-order Valor Mortis?
No, and that is deliberate. The publisher answered the pre-order question directly, saying they wanted the finished game to make the argument rather than a trailer. Two practical consequences: there is no pre-order bonus to miss, and there is no preload. Because pre-orders do not exist, there is no preload window either, so the 50 GB download starts when the game unlocks rather than before it.
Does demo progress carry over to the full game?
Assume not. The demo is a separate store app (Steam appid 4641840) from the retail game (appid 2828710), and no carry-over has been announced. Demo saves live in their own container, so treat everything you earned there as practice rather than progress.
Is Valor Mortis on PS5 and Xbox Series X?
Both, and on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S get native versions with disc-based physical editions. PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch 2 are not supported or announced.
Everything here is tagged by source
Four tiers of evidence back this site: the publisher's own releases, the published trophy list, hands-on press coverage, and community documentation. Nothing is presented as verified unless it is. Where we are guessing, the tag says so, and where the game has not shown something yet, we say that instead of filling the gap.