Valor Mortis is live on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC, with day-one Game Pass access, a grim opening cinematic, first-person Soulslike combat, and early quest walkthrough demand already forming.
Image: IGDB
Store links: Valor Mortis on Steam
Valor Mortis is live, and Game Pass changes the first decision
Valor Mortis launched worldwide on October 13, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, according to Notebookcheck’s report citing developer One More Level, publisher Lyrical Games, and platform listings. The sharpest detail for players today is access: Notebookcheck reports that the first-person Soulslike is available day one through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, while G Style Magazine also describes the launch as day-one on Xbox Game Pass.
That immediately splits the audience. If you are on Xbox or PC Game Pass, the barrier to entry is low enough to sample the opening hours without treating Valor Mortis like a full-price gamble. If you are buying outright, Notebookcheck lists the Standard Edition at $39.99 after a pre-launch price reduction, while G Style Magazine says the Deluxe Edition costs $59.99 and includes a major story DLC planned for 2027 plus cosmetic packs. PlayStation owners have a different safety valve: Notebookcheck and Tech Times both report that PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers get a 90-minute trial with progress carrying into the full game if they buy.
For a new IP from One More Level, the Polish studio known for Ghostrunner, that launch structure matters. Valor Mortis is asking players to trust an unusual pitch: first-person melee Soulslike combat inside a supernatural reimagining of the Napoleonic Wars. Game Pass puts that pitch in front of a large audience on day one, but it also means many players will arrive with no patience for unclear systems. That is where the early Valor Mortis walkthrough traffic begins to make sense.
The opening cinematic tells you what kind of war this is
The Valor Mortis opening cinematic, released alongside launch, frames the game less as alternate-history pageantry and more as a battlefield infection story. G Style Magazine describes the trailer as hand-drawn, opening with Napoleon addressing his cheering Grande Armée as the power of Nephtoglobin surrounds him. The scene then turns from rallying speech to massacre, with gunfire and cannonballs tearing through soldiers before Nephtoglobin moves toward the corpse of protagonist William Dowsett.
Notebookcheck identifies William as an Englishman who volunteered for Napoleon’s Grande Armée and is pulled back from a battlefield grave. In the game’s premise, a plague is spreading across Europe, and William carries its corrupting power. Former comrades become plague-ridden enemies, including members of Napoleon’s Eternal Guard. Vincent Cassel voices Napoleon, James Alexander voices William, and Jennifer English plays the Shrike, a rebel leader opposing Napoleon’s empire in occupied Eastern Europe, according to Notebookcheck. G Style Magazine adds that Lyrical Games released behind-the-scenes interviews with Cassel and English shortly before launch.
For new players, the cinematic is useful because it clarifies the game’s pressure before a tutorial prompt ever appears. This is a war story where command, resurrection, infection, and loyalty are already tangled. The horror is not limited to monsters in dark rooms. It starts with armies, speeches, and bodies left in the mud.
How the combat premise works in first person
Valor Mortis is being sold and covered as a first-person Soulslike, a rare design problem because this genre usually leans on third-person visibility. Notebookcheck describes the combat as stamina-based, built around parrying, dashing, finishing moves, and a posture system that rewards precise parries. William can use weapons including rapiers, a claymore, a flintlock pistol, and a two-handed musket. His left hand carries supernatural transmutations, with Notebookcheck naming fire, shield, and grapple as examples. Fire sets enemies burning, shield absorbs damage and can release a shockwave, and grapple helps with traversal.
That mix should tell Game Pass players what they are installing. This is not a pure shooter, despite the first-person camera and firearms. It is a timing game where the camera pulls you closer to danger, reducing the peripheral awareness many Soulslike players rely on. From a survival and horror perspective, that intimacy can be the point: a musket shot, a failed parry, or an enemy pressuring your blind side has less distance to travel before it becomes panic.
The upgrade loop is also familiar but punishing. Notebookcheck reports that William drops Catalysts, the upgrade currency, where he dies, and spends them at Lanterns to improve stats such as health, stamina, and parry. That makes Lanterns more than checkpoints. They are places to breathe, spend, and decide whether the next push is worth risking what you have gathered.
Performance, editions, and whether to wait
Notebookcheck reports that Valor Mortis targets dynamic 4K at 30 FPS in Quality mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X, while Performance mode targets 60 FPS at the same resolution. Xbox Series S also has a 60 FPS Performance mode, and PS5 Pro owners are said to get higher resolution and improved visuals. GamingBolt’s launch coverage similarly points to dynamic 4K resolution and high framerates on consoles, though Notebookcheck provides the clearer mode breakdown.
The practical recommendation is platform-dependent. Game Pass subscribers can try the launch build and decide quickly whether the first-person parry timing clicks. PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers have a 90-minute trial, which may be enough to test comfort with camera movement, melee timing, and audio-visual combat cues, but probably not enough to judge the later quest structure. Direct buyers should weigh the $39.99 Standard Edition against the $59.99 Deluxe Edition only if they already expect to return for the 2027 story DLC reported by G Style Magazine and Notebookcheck.
There are still unknowns that matter. G Style Magazine says multiple free updates are planned for the weeks and months ahead, but the provided launch materials do not detail every fix, balance change, or feature coming in those updates. Notebookcheck reports there were no pre-orders or early access and that the game is single-player only. The Valor Mortis Guide & Wiki FAQ also says Steam lists single-player as the only player mode, with no co-op, PvP, invasions, or multiplayer component. Players looking for shared Soulslike chaos should not expect it here.
Why Valor Mortis quests are already drawing walkthrough searches
The early Valor Mortis quests appear built to hide important steps behind environmental reading rather than simple objective markers. Polygon’s launch-window walkthrough for “The Scarecrow” shows why players are already searching for help. The site identifies it as a Chapter 3 side quest that begins after defeating General Lothaire, passing through the Abandoned Church, and reaching the Fallen Village. Near the Fields Lantern, players find a scarecrow that is actually a dead soldier tied to a cross, then discover a missing necklace and torn pocket.
Polygon’s guide says the Lover’s Pendant is found behind the scarecrow at the foot of a tree, while the second item, the Letter With a Drawing, is inside a locked house. Getting there requires looping through the Fallen Village, defeating an elite Risen Grenadier, entering a field with haystacks, finding the house’s back door, and collecting the letter upstairs. Even after returning both items, the quest continues: Polygon notes that players must look up quickly, follow a murder of crows, enter a field beyond the house, climb scaffolding, and watch a woman’s memory to complete the quest. The reward listed by Polygon is 6,500 Catalysts and the Bountiful Harvest amber, with the Volatile End amber available from a nearby chest.
That is exactly the kind of design that creates a Valor Mortis walkthrough economy on day one. The quest has a readable horror logic, but it also asks players to notice bodies, locked routes, birds, shortcuts, vertical spaces, and delayed completion states. PC Gamer has also published guidance for “An Unheard Farewell,” with its visible key details pointing players toward missing scouts in a cave halfway up an elevator shaft after unblocking the top level, and noting that the player receives the Sleight of Hand amber regardless of what they tell the Adjutant Sous-Officier. In other words, guide searches are not a sign that players are failing to engage. They are a sign that the game is already producing the sort of side objectives where one missed path can stall an evening.
New-player guidance for the first night
If you are starting Valor Mortis through Game Pass, treat the opening hours as a systems test rather than a race. Watch the opening cinematic if you care about the premise, because the launch trailer sets up William’s resurrection, Napoleon’s influence, and Nephtoglobin’s role in the nightmare before the game asks you to survive inside it. Once in control, pay close attention to stamina, parry timing, and how often you are spending Catalysts at Lanterns. The sources point to a game where death is part of progression, but losing upgrade currency still changes how aggressively you should push into unknown ground.
If you are coming from Ghostrunner because of One More Level’s name, expect a different rhythm. Valor Mortis keeps the studio’s interest in movement through tools such as grapple, according to Notebookcheck, but the combat premise is less about clean speed runs and more about reading pressure up close. If you are coming from third-person Soulslikes, the first-person view is the adaptation period. Enemies can feel closer, flanks can feel meaner, and sound matters more when your camera cannot safely watch every angle.
The safest early habit is to investigate spaces after the fight is over. Polygon’s “The Scarecrow” walkthrough shows rewards tucked behind a corpse, a locked house route, a back door, a crow trail, scaffolding, and a memory scene. That is a useful warning for the whole launch: Valor Mortis appears willing to bury progress inside atmosphere. Let the battlefield quiet down, then search the corners before you leave.