Valor Mortis Reviews Are In: Release Time, $40 Price, Game Pass and What Critics Think

The Ghostrunner team's first-person Soulslike launches October 13 at 17:00 UTC for $39.99, day one on Game Pass. Here's what early reviews say.

The review embargo for Valor Mortis lifted on October 12, and the first verdicts on One More Level's first-person Soulslike are mostly warm. The Polish studio behind Ghostrunner has swapped neon cyberpunk rooftops for a plague-ridden, alternate-history Napoleonic Europe – and it launches tomorrow, Tuesday, October 13, on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S for a notably low $39.99.

Here's everything you need to know before it unlocks: the exact release time, price and editions, Game Pass availability, and what critics liked and didn't.

Valor Mortis release time

Valor Mortis launches simultaneously worldwide on October 13, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM UTC. For players in Europe, that's 6:00 PM in the UK and 7:00 PM CEST across most of the continent.

There's no early access window and no pre-loading. The studio chose not to open pre-orders at all, saying it wanted the finished game to speak for itself – an unusual move in an era of tiered early-access editions.

Price, editions and Game Pass

The game is also coming day one to Xbox Game Pass (Ultimate and PC Game Pass), so subscribers can try it at no extra cost. On Steam, buying it alongside Ghostrunner, Ghostrunner 2, Dishonored or a handful of other titles nets 10% off as part of a bundle.

Post-launch, a New Game+ mode is planned for Q4 2026, carrying over loot and character progression. It isn't in the game on day one, which a couple of reviewers flagged.

Valor Mortis was originally set for September 24 but was pushed back to October 13 to steer clear of a packed fall release window.

What kind of game is Valor Mortis?

You play as William Dowsett, a British soldier serving in Napoleon's Grande Armée who is brought back from the dead. A supernatural plague born of the emperor's endless wars has turned soldiers and civilians into monsters, and William has to cut through his former comrades while unraveling the conspiracy behind the outbreak – and his own resurrection.

The cast is unusually starry for a $40 game: James Alexander voices William, BAFTA winner Jennifer English plays the Shrike, and French actor Vincent Cassel voices Napoleon himself.

The core loop will feel familiar to Souls fans, but from a first-person view:

• Melee first: sabres, rapiers, claymores and more, with blocking (which costs a little health), dodging and a parry that rewards precise timing.
• Firearms as support: pistols, a musket and a blunderbuss can hit weak points and stagger enemies, but ammo is scarce – this isn't a shooter.
• Transmutations: left-hand supernatural powers such as fire and time manipulation.
• Catalysts: the currency for leveling and upgrades, dropped on death and recoverable at the spot where you fell. Lanterns act as checkpoints and reset enemies.
• Metroidvania flavor: new abilities open paths and shortcuts back through earlier areas, with Ghostrunner-style traversal like wall-running and grappling.

Expect roughly 18 to 25 hours for a playthrough, depending on how much side content you chase.

Valor Mortis review roundup

Early scores sit mostly in the 7–9 range. Aggregate scores on Metacritic and OpenCritic were still filling in at the time of writing.

What critics liked: Combat is the near-universal highlight. Reviewers praise how weighty and responsive the first-person swordplay feels, how satisfying the parry is, and how well melee, firearms and powers mix together. Level design also gets a lot of love, with secrets, shortcuts and optional bosses rewarding exploration. The grim Napoleonic horror setting is repeatedly called a fresh backdrop for the genre, and Push Square singled out the game as strong value for a double-A release.

What critics didn't: Difficulty balance is the most common complaint. Game Informer found the first half unfair, with enemies landing sudden, near-instant kills and boss fights suffering the most, though it says the second half comes together much better. Shacknews also noted enemy behavior that can feel unfair. Other gripes include forgettable music, uneven visuals, a story whose premise is more interesting than its execution, and English as the only voice language. GamingTrend wanted more enemy variety in the mid-game.

On the technical side, GamingTrend reported some graphical glitches and frame drops on PS5, and says a day-one patch is set to address them. It recommends the Performance mode over Quality. The PS5 install is around 56 GB.

Why it matters

October 2026 is packed with big releases, and the fall calendar only gets busier from here. Valor Mortis is betting on a different pitch: a focused, 20-ish-hour single-player game at roughly half the price of a big-budget release, with no pre-order pressure and a day-one Game Pass safety net.

Based on the early reviews, that bet looks like it's paying off. If you loved Ghostrunner's precision, or you want a Soulslike with an immersive-sim flavor, this is one of the more interesting launches of the month. Just be ready for a rough difficulty curve in the opening hours – and if you'd rather wait, New Game+ and the first patches should make the experience smoother later this year.

This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.