Valor Mortis consensus: the first-person soulslike works, but critics split on story and PC performance

One critic called Valor Mortis what happens when “a truck filled with used copies of BioShock crashed into a GameStop warehouse filled with used copies of Dark Souls.” That was IGN, and it gave the game a 7/10. Destructoid gave it a 9 and called it “basically as good as they come.” Both reviews went up on October 12, the day before One More Level’s first-person soulslike launches on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and the gap between them is the story of the launch.

Valor Mortis is developed by One More Level, the Kraków studio behind Ghostrunner, and published by Lyrical Games. It unlocks on Tuesday, October 13, at 14:00 ART (our launch-times story has every time zone).

How we scored this

This is a Consensus review. Play Observatory did not play Valor Mortis. We read named published reviews from the United States, Europe and Latin America, used Metacritic and OpenCritic as context only, and then applied our own criteria: consensus shape, outliers, platform variance, day-0 caveats and audience fit.

When we re-read the aggregators on Tuesday, October 13, at 14:55 ART, Metacritic showed 77 on PC (40 critic reviews) and 81 on PS5 (11 reviews), with no Xbox score yet. OpenCritic showed a Top Critic Average of 80, with 77% of critics recommending it (53 reviews). Those counts were still moving on launch day.

The 7.5 is our judgment. It sits a little under the aggregators because the PC performance reports are the one thing a buyer can’t shrug off, and because two of the four regions we look for are empty or close to it.

Where critics agree

Almost every review lands on the same core: first-person sabre and parry, firearms and magic work together. GamingBolt (9/10) calls the level design excellent, Game Rant (8/10) calls it incredible, and Push Square (8/10, PS5) calls it impressive. The plague-ridden Napoleonic setting and its atmosphere get near-universal credit, and the Ghostrunner-style mobility is what makes it feel different from the genre it borrows from. Eurogamer’s Matt Wales (4/5) puts it simply: “it’s a delight.” Shacknews (8/10) says it “doesn’t forget the fun between the frustration.”

Where they split

The shape is a broad, positive middle with a wide spread, and the split runs straight through the biggest US outlets. GameSpot (6/10) found a limited enemy pool and underused weapons and abilities, “an uneven experience that delights as much as it disappoints.” GamesRadar+ (60) says it plays more familiar than it looks. Game Informer (70) “died more than 100 times” and wished more of those deaths were fairer.

• Story. Destructoid praises it. IGN calls it “more vibes than substance,” Game Rant calls the narrative “mediocre,” and Eurogamer Germany (60) and GAMES.CH (80, PS5) want more depth.
• The back half. Wccftech (75) says it dips after the midpoint and recovers late. GameSpot and Checkpoint Gaming (80) say the ending is weaker.
• Length. Rock Paper Shotgun (unscored) calls it short; DayOne (65) calls the campaign overly lengthy. IGN reports 20-plus hours and Wccftech 20.
• Difficulty. CD-Action (85) finds it relatively balanced and recommends it beyond genre veterans. Game Informer found many deaths unfair, GamingBolt says difficulty scaling needs work, and COGconnected (78) cites imprecise hitboxes.

The low outlier is Gamekult at 50. It is one outlet, not a second consensus. Polish outlets, reviewing a Kraków studio’s game, sit at the warm end (GRYOnline.pl 8.5, CD-Action 85). That’s worth knowing, but they don’t move the picture much.

Day-0 caveats: PC performance and the Steam spec

PC performance is where the reports conflict most. Game Rant reports “major, inexplicable stuttering” even on Low settings with DLSS Ultra Performance. IGN reports “loads of bugs and technical issues that need patching fast,” and Gameliner (70) also flags performance. GamingBolt, on a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and RX 7800 XT, reports a smooth 80-plus fps at 1440p on High. On PS5, GamePro (81) calls it not quite polished yet.

Separately, the Steam page now lists lower PC requirements than the spec a One More Level developer posted in June, which he said was “subject to change for the final release.” One More Level hasn’t announced the change.

	June spec (developer post)	Steam page, read October 12
Minimum CPU	Ryzen 7 3700X / Core i7-11700	Ryzen 5 3600 / Core i5-10600K
Minimum GPU	Radeon RX 6700 / RTX 2070 Super	RX 5600 XT / GTX 1660 Ti
Minimum target	not stated	30 fps at 1080p on Low (with upscaling)
Recommended CPU	Ryzen 7 7700 / Core i7-13700	Ryzen 7 5800X / Core i5-13400
Recommended GPU	RX 7900 GRE / RTX 4070	RX 6800 / RTX 3070
Recommended target	not stated	60 fps at 1440p on Medium (with upscaling)
Storage	50 GB, SSD	60 GB, SSD required

According to the SteamPeaks store tracker, the June spec was replaced with placeholders on September 23 and the current minimum went live on October 10 at 06:23 ART. The current recommended block isn’t in SteamPeaks’ log; we saw it on the store page on October 12, so it was added after that October 10 change. Rock Paper Shotgun reported the minimum change and says One More Level didn’t answer its request for comment. The studio’s three Steam announcements since September 30 don’t mention requirements. We don’t know whether the new spec reflects optimization work, and it doesn’t settle the stutter reports either way.

Platforms and regions

Most of the sample is PC. Metacritic’s PS5 average runs higher than PC’s, but on only eleven reviews, too few to call PS5 the better version. Xbox had no aggregated score when we read it.

Japan has no coverage. We found no Famitsu review and no other Japanese review; Famitsu’s only item is a 2025 Tokyo Game Show demo notice. The official Valor Mortis X account has said the PS5 version isn’t available in Japan for now, so we print no Japanese score.

Latin America is thin. Three scored LatAm reviews so far: Combo Infinito (Brazil, 85), Pizza Fria (Brazil, 6.5/10), and ProGamers / Últimas Noticias (Venezuela, 7.5/10). Pizza Fria and ProGamers both flag PC performance problems (stutter, bugs), lining up with IGN and Game Rant. We found nothing yet from IGN Latinoamérica, Atomix or LevelUp. Spanish-language coverage so far also comes from Spain: IGN España 80 (PS5) and Hobby Consolas 78.

Verdict

Valor Mortis is for soulslike players who want the genre’s loop in first person, with a sabre in one hand and a pistol in the other, and for Ghostrunner fans curious how that movement translates to a slower, heavier game. It’s a weaker pick if you came for story, if you want a polished back half, or if your PC sits near the new minimum and you can’t wait for patches. One More Level set the price at $39.99 / €39.99 in a September 17 Steam post, which Game Rant counts as a plus.

7.5: a recommend on the combat and the level design, with the PC caveat attached until day-one players confirm or contradict the stutter reports. We did not play it. This piece stays free.