Combined battlefields in Napoleonic Europe will never be a nice place to wake up. It turns out that they are much worse when the mutated mashups of former soldiers and gruesome, follicular horror movies also break through the mud. Valor Mortis places you within this and trusts that your skill with a blade, pistol and a superpower hand will ensure that you will survive alive. Despite the fact that it is rooted in the basics of the soul species, it adopts an unconventional first -person perspective, which not only fully immerses you in this terrifying world, but also adds an additional layer of precision and satisfaction for evaporation, cutting and piercing fight. And although I discovered that his battles could be complex, while playing in Gamescom 2025 I found a few signs that there would be no such penalty exercise as you can find somewhere else in this genre.
Staring down the mud, the hero Valor Mortis William hears the words of his general, Napoleon Bonaparte, echoing in his echoes and making him get up. Dozens of corpse is a forest path forward when the diverse French flag falls in the presumed defeat. No other context is given, as we finished here, but the infamous emperor Is Insisting that I get up, so I do it thoroughly and get out in front of us. Initially armed with a sword and the ability to make a block, parry, avoidance and delicate and massive attacks, at first there is nothing revolutionary in a modern programmers’ project, one more level that slowed down his action at a ghostrunner low -circuit at a more intentional pace.
Mocma may not be too different, but it remains extremely pleasant to take. Blocking does not completely negate injury, so the times of your plots have become the best solution to quickly send your opponent. There is a wonderful metal clink that comes out when you are right, and then a ephemeral change in a tardy pace, which reminds me of an equally satisfying Dishonored maneuver. Later I found a gun located in a decorative trunk decorated with a portrait of Bonaparte himself. In addition, adding to all this, this centuries -old side weapon gives me a distance option, although with constrained delivery of bullets.
But then things become a bit strange, because a bit of a supernatural flame explosion is added to my arsenal, which I can display straight from my hand. This pitcher’s ability will look familiar to anyone who hit one of the Bioshock tonics. This is a wonderfully explosive skill that helped me cope with the control of the crowd and even exert a burning state with the boss of demo (much more on it). There are definitely aspects of the two above mentioned Sims, but I would not expect anywhere near flexibility in his combat system, because you can find in one of the Arkane or irrational games. It is basically still a soul, which is largely based on one -to -one low -circuit meetings, while gently manages your strength, so I would not expect to mix elementary effects and create the chaos of my own project here. In addition to the strange opportunity, to slip out on one of your opponents and warn them wonderfully from the back, demo options while entering the fight rarely pulled out of the duels on the fingers.
Creatures that I fought through this 45-minute sample can, so that all steps, be described as rooted in some humanity. What begins as a modest infantry that stunning, like undead, has become more intriguing enemies, I pressed the deeper. I found an optional area, unlocked by blowing up a glowing structural frail point with a pistol, in which he welcomed me full of duels, which gracefully approached, his haunted way emphasized only without the emotion of a metal mask. His attacks were rapid and madness in the health bar, and his Parry windows very fast-I decided to be a challenge for the next day. I almost went in half of this preview, not to mention Bloodborne, but the speed and pushing of his blade reminded me of one of the threats of Yharnam hunters. Increased challenge, but not quite a real boss.
Fans of time-honored disgusting enemies of the genre also seem to be well satisfied, because there are also many more mutated, terrible enemies. Although everyone still seems to be attached to their previous, army uniforms hang from them or human heads (sometimes many) carefully observe your movements – they are not in this world, at least in how Europe from the beginning of the 19th century is presented at least in historical books. The mysterious plague infected the battlefields, creating these aberrations that can be a large challenge. One of these brute seemed that there were two soldiers combined together, who also bred an additional arm and developed a huge, fleshy, fleshy, claw hand. He made me close to me, but he did not enjoy anything more than throwing explosive cinders if I went back too far. Fortunately, the great, glowing red sack looked ready to sleep where his elbow should be, so I directed a few pistol rounds to him to exploit his frail point.
But he was outclassed by another, much more terrifying existence. The last head of the demo was General Lothaire, a carrier of the eagle, a man of a bastard from a comical normal head, from which I would laugh more if it wasn’t for three pistols indicating me, which emerged from his fleshy, distorted right shoulder. The double -covered sweeping flagship and chopping cordel, its range was huge and the impact was massive. I admit that it took me a few attempts to remove it, but after a few improvements in a nearby damaged lantern (version of the classic Dark Souls bonfire), I managed to take it off.
In any case, his first form. Yes, one more level decided to piss and give the first head of Valor Mortis the second phase. This version of Lothaire still has a deadly mixture of distance and close attacks that keep you on your fingers, but also contains the possibility of recalling annoying creatures and capturing in its clawed claws. It is complex, but fortunately, nothing is too complex for anyone trained in this genre.
But for those who are relatively modern in the soul and even think that the fight against the first person is a challenge, Valor Mortis is gentle … to some extent. Catalysts are a resource update here and you can exploit them to equalize your statistics in relation to what seems to be quite low-cost. I pumped the points to get a larger endurance bar, because a few rapid stabs can quickly empty the initial meter, and this overcoming the boss became much easier to master romance. Most importantly, after death, your collected catalysts are dropped on the outer circumference of boss arenas, and not by a shadowy, burned gate that precedes them. One more level does not want you to grind somewhere else in his world to develop, and this offer of saving you a bit of frustration in combination with special features that can be unlocked by exploration, which uses a little Parkour design, which studio improved in Ghostrunner (for example, you can get out of trees).
My demo ended when I finally took off Lothaire, and the words “disgusting eliminated” the screen filling. However, I imagine that you should take care of much more abomination if the Faire Mortis trailer is something that can go. To sum up, I had a very satisfying time with this, finding a mixture of first person fencing and the super -viaing magical abilities, a pleasant journey. I am looking forward to the deeper which secrets may have in the store, and take more disgust with him when Valor Mortis arrives in 2026.
Simon Carda is a senior IGN editor, who can be found primarily in the open world, in the Korean cinema or despair in the state of Tottenham Hotspur and New York Jets. Follow him to BlueSky O @cardy.bsky.social.
