Something that has always irked me with Soulslikes is how few understand the slapstick, ragdoll-physics chaos of FromSoftware’s games. A defining moment for any Dark Souls player is being sent hurtling off the Anor Londo rafters by an arrow the size of a tree trunk. Then you have Patches kicking you into a pitch-black pit, bonewheel skeletons revving their ribcages into you, and Channelers doing a little dance to buff their minions. Sure, the difficulty is the selling point, but at its core, the Souls series is a Charlie Chaplin silent film. Thankfully, Valor Mortis understands that.
I was astounded by how much I enjoyed my few hours previewing the game. It felt almost like someone had filtered Dishonored through Sekiro, and while it didn’t quite reach the heights of either in my limited time playing, it’s certainly shaping up to be one of the better FromSoft imitators. So much so that after I’d parried my way through plague-ridden French abominations, I was so enamored with the game that I had to stop and take in the view—a serene, overrun bridge engulfed in otherworldly fauna. These moments of respite are equally a Soulslike staple, the reward for surviving a brutal gauntlet.
I’m a little upset that I didn’t die (fall damage doesn’t appear to affect Napoleon’s army), but still. A quiet moment interrupted by an impatient enemy who couldn’t believe the audacity of me stopping to appreciate Valor Mortis and all its beauty, rather than turning the corner to continue deflecting attacks and lopping off heads.
Thankfully, getting punted off a cliff isn’t the only thing Valor Mortis does well. I have to be honest, when I heard “first-person Soulslike,” my immediate thought was, ‘Oh god, that sounds nauseating.’ If you’ve ever tried to mod Skyrim to make it play more like Dark Souls—because 1,000 hours of slaying dragons somehow wasn’t enough—you’ll know a little something about how awkward it is rolling in first-person. Thankfully, the emphasis on parrying makes Valor Mortis a lot less dizzying. Oh, and the fact that dodges are sidesteps is the cherry on top.
Enemies have posture bars, and enough successive deflects will leave them open to a riposte. And that naturally includes bosses. The team clearly had a lot of fun designing these, as you don’t just stab an enemy in the back or cut their head off; depending on your off-hand weapon, be it a pistol or a ball of fire, there are unique animations to play around with, like causing flames to erupt from a poor, unsuspecting Frenchman’s eyes as though Ghost Rider is delivering a penance stare.
This emphasis on parrying and riposting put my worries completely to bed because, mixed with the slower, more methodical combat that evokes older Soulslikes more than the frantic hyper-energy of Bloodborne or Elden Ring, you aren’t fighting with the camera nearly as much as I had expected. Though in hindsight it makes sense given their Ghostrunner background.
Exploration is another crucial aspect of FromSoft’s DNA that, so far, One More Level understands intimately, right down to the verticality. There's even a signature central hub positioned within the interconnected, Metroidvania-esque winding map. And hey, if the level design drops off after the preview period, that’s accurate to Dark Souls anyway.
Even in the first few hours, there were doorways or elevators I’d open up that would give me that wonderful little “Oh, I’m back here!” moment that made exploring Central Yharnam and Lordran so memorable. The plague and rot spreading in the wake of Napoleon’s victory at Waterloo also give the team plenty of fun ways to expand on the interconnectivity of FromSoft’s games, with puss balls or flammable mesh that can be shot from behind to open what previously looked like an impenetrable, fleshy red wall, making your off-hand weapons just as useful outside of combat.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/valor-mortis-preview/
