At Poznań Game Arena, we had the opportunity to try out many interesting games – one of which was Valor Mortis. Produced by One More Level, the studio behind the Ghostrunner series, this title has quickly attracted the attention of gamers, the media, and other developers. Will the game turn out to be the hit of 2026?
Valor Mortis is a first-person soulslike with a single-player campaign, in which the developers combine combat elements and dynamics representative of the studio’s games with a dark, atmospheric narrative. Players take on the role of a soldier in the French army in an alternate version of 19th-century Europe ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte.
During the French emperor’s march eastward, an unexplained phenomenon halted the Great Army’s advance. In addition to the horror of war, players will encounter monstrosities and supernatural phenomena that they will have to face in battle. It is a brutal, demanding story in which gameplay is based on a balance between fencing, the use of firearms, and the use of superhuman abilities.
Valor Mortis dominated the IGN poll at this year’s Poznań Game Arena – this dark production from the creators of Ghostrunner gained recognition both from the editors of IGN Poland and the audience, winning Best PGA Game 2025 and Best Polish PGA Game 2025 awards. Therefore, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to talk to the developers about their promising title – our questions were answered by Michał Kaźmirczak, marketing specialist at One More Level.
We were hoping that a lot of people would come, but the length of the queues – and the fact that sometimes people had to wait even 2–3 hours – completely surprised us. We even had a situation where someone who had taken part in our playtests two weeks earlier came to us again. They had a weak computer at home, so they stood in line for two hours just to try the same thing on a better machine. They were one of roughly 30 people who managed to defeat the final boss and complete the entire demo during PGA. It gives us incredible joy that at the very beginning of our marketing campaign, we already have fans excited about the title.
We were surprised by the number of responses, and the vast majority of them were positive. We’ve even started implementing some of the interesting suggestions we received from players. That was the whole goal of these playtests – not only to show the game, but also to see how fans would react to a first-person soulslike. Such a combination isn’t very common on the market, so we ourselves weren’t fully sure how well it would be received.
We took the risk of making some really big and unexpected changes. Our previous productions from Ghostrunner series were fast-paced action games, and suddenly we decided to make a soulslike. Still, we chose to keep the first-person perspective because we believe that’s part of our DNA – though it came with its challenges.
For example, we couldn’t include a rolling camera, because the player would go crazy if the whole world suddenly started spinning around them. So, we had to design many things almost from scratch, and because of that, I think we’ve created something truly unique – something that brings a breath of fresh air to the genre.
It’s most visible in combat – we looked for ways to make it as varied as possible, so it wouldn’t be just mindlessly swinging a saber. Dual wielding was particularly important to us – giving players the option to have both a melee weapon and a ranged tool available practically at any moment. For now, that means a pistol and an ability that works like a flamethrower. It gives players freedom to decide how they want to play and what they want to achieve, but it also requires learning enemies and their weaknesses.
Exactly. The title strongly reflects what the game is about. As our game director often says, it’s about the price of death paid by these Napoleonic soldiers who die in battle and then are brought back. It’s also integrated into the soulslike mechanics – because when the player dies, they get back up and wake up next to a lantern, which is our equivalent of a bonfire. And they, too, pay a price for constantly returning and having to keep trying.
We noticed that the Napoleonic era appears almost exclusively in strategy games – it’s completely absent in action games, especially in soulslikes. So, we decided to test that setting, and we’re already getting feedback from people who are genuinely interested in this historical period, who always wanted to experience that era and finally have the chance to do so.
The story is very important in Valor Mortis. We don’t want it to be just an excuse, something we were often criticized for in Ghostrunner. Here, it will be told in a more classic way, but we’re also planning a lot of environmental storytelling – players will discover new threads by collecting letters, notes, and similar things. But it won’t be as cryptic or convoluted as the stories in FromSoftware games.
We can’t reveal too much, but Ghostrunner players will definitely notice some familiar elements. We are convinced that fans of Ghostrunner will feel that Valor Mortis comes from the same creators – maybe the mechanics aren’t identical, but the DNA is similar. We even hid a little easter egg in the trailer that references our previous game.
We’ve just finished three months of intense work. We definitely don’t intend to rest – the campaign is still long, and fans will have to wait a bit for more details. But we believe that what we’re preparing for them will be worth the wait.
