Ghostrunner Devs Are Sending Us to a Goo-Soaked Napoleonic Hell – And It's a Soulslike, Mate!
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Ghostrunner's creators, One More Level, are stirring up a bizarre brew with *Valor Mortis*, a first-person soulslike set in a supernatural, plague-ridden Napoleonic Europe where 'goop' grants powers and dead bodies are plentiful. It's a wildly ambitious leap for the studio, blending historical battles with BioShock-esque magic, and I'm genuinely curious if this chaotic concoction will be a bloody brilliant success.
Right, so apparently, the wizards over at One More Level – you know, the folks who brought us the absolutely breakneck, parkour-and-katana mayhem of *Ghostrunner* – have been tinkering in their lab, and bloody hell, they've pulled off a bit of a reality warp. They're taking us from cyberpunk rooftops to the mud-and-blood soaked battlefields of 19th-century Napoleonic Europe, but with a twist that’s wilder than a rogue teleportation spell. They're conjuring up *Valor Mortis*, a first-person soulslike set to drop in 2026.
Now, if you're anything like me, your ears probably perked up at 'Ghostrunner devs' and then did a double-take at 'Napoleonic soulslike'. It’s an unlikely combo, isn’t it? Like trying to mix a high-speed hack-and-slash with a historical drama, then adding a dash of cosmic horror. But that’s the kind of curious chaos I live for, mate. The announcement dropped during Gamescom Opening Night Live's preshow, and let me tell you, it’s got me wondering 'what happens if…' in the best possible way.
One More Level CEO Szymon Bryla mentioned they wanted to 'try something new and original - a darker experience, while still offering players a true challenge.' And fair dinkum, after *Ghostrunner*, they've certainly proven they can make demanding games for hardcore players. The jump from a hyper-fast, one-hit-kill rhythm game to a slower, more methodical (but still brutally difficult) soulslike is a bold one. Will it be a stroke of genius, or will it feel like being trapped on a FromSoft-imitation Elba, as the original article playfully put it? That's the real question, isn’t it?
So, what's the lowdown on this historical-supernatural mash-up? You’ll be stepping into the boots of William, a Grande Armée soldier who, after apparently having a very bad day on the battlefield, gets resurrected and kitted out with supernatural powers by something called the 'Nephtoglobin'. Yes, you heard that right. It’s mysterious 'goop', and because this is a video game, this goop has naturally turned the world and William's former comrades into a plague-ridden hellscape teeming with extra-limbed, bloated mutants. Classic, eh?
This is where my observation antennae start twitching. The combat looks like it’s pulling a sneaky *BioShock*-esque move. Instead of just your standard sword-and-board parry-and-dodge routine, *Valor Mortis* lets you dual-wield. Imagine holding a flintlock pistol in one hand and then – *poof* – shooting fire from the other, thanks to these 'transmutations' that sound an awful lot like plasmids. You apparently gain these flashy powers by interacting with 'not quite dead bodies' on the battlefield. I'm all for unique combat systems, especially in first-person, but the potential for a really fluid, engaging mix of historical weaponry and grotesque magic could be genuinely captivating. Or, it could be a bit of a messy spell gone wrong. We'll see.
The trailer, from what I've seen, really hammered home one point: there will be no shortage of dead bodies. An entire montage dedicated to corpse-piled battlefields, apparently. Now, I appreciate a grim aesthetic as much as the next digital wizard, but it's important that it serves the narrative and atmosphere rather than just being shock value. Is it setting a truly bleak, desperate tone that fits the soulslike genre, or is it just leaning into the 'darker experience' a bit too hard without deeper meaning? I'm cautiously optimistic it's the former.
What truly excites me about *Valor Mortis* isn't just the weird setting or the promise of a challenge. It's the audacity of a studio known for one very specific, very polished type of game diving headfirst into something so different. It shows an experimental spirit, a willingness to push boundaries that's genuinely refreshing in an industry often afraid to stray from established formulas. The 'why' here is the crucial bit: why this setting, why these powers, why a soulslike? If One More Level can weave these disparate threads into a cohesive, compelling tapestry that truly offers a unique flavour of first-person challenge, then they might just have cast a spell that works a bit too well.
If you're as curious as I am to see if this strange brew of Napoleonic history, mutated horrors, and goop-fueled magic truly delivers, you can actually sign up for a closed playtest following Gamescom. Just head over to ValorMortis.com if you're keen. Otherwise, we'll all be waiting until 2026, which, by my reckoning, is more than a hundred days away – the agony!
Original Source: Rock Paper Shotgun Original URL
Tags: Soulslike, First-Person, OneMoreLevel, GamingNews, Horror
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun