Valor Mortis is a first-person action soulslike from the creators of Ghostrunner. You will rise from death as a former soldier of Napoleon’s army. Wield supernatural powers, battle horrifying monsters, and unravel a conspiracy that threatens all of humanity.
Valor Mortis releases on 13 October 2026 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. It is also available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
Check out our Valor Mortis Review to get our full thoughts on the game.
Valor Mortis Beginner’s Guide
Valor Mortis turns the Soulslike category on its head by putting it in the first-person perspective. And, as our reviewer has alluded to, they’ve done a great job with it too.
If you’ve played a Soulslike game before, a lot of Valor Mortis will feel familiar to you. That being said, we thought it’d be useful to pull together this beginner’s guide to give you as much info as possible as you explore the Napoleonic alternative reality.
Basics
In Valor Mortis, you play as William, a soldier of the Tricolor who comes to be surrounded by bodies and pestilence. He soon learns that something supernatural is going on, and former allies are now enemies, taking the form of the ‘Risen’, people afflicted by the Crimson Plague. It turns them into vicious enemies.
You’ll start equipped with a Saber, one of several weapons available to you that you’ll find throughout the game. You’ll also acquire a BioShock-esque Fire Transmutation fairly early on. This allows you to throw flames at your enemies as well as remove dry, yellow walls.
Your transmutation abilities are powered by something called Nephtoglobin, and is represented on the player UI as a purple bar that sits under your red health bar on screen, in the bottom left of the screen.
Every enemy killed gives you Cataclysm (souls) that you can use to level up your character. If you are killed, you will be respawned at the last Lantern you visited. You will also drop all your Cataclysm. You will need to return to where you die to pick them back up again; if you die before you can, they will be lost forever.
Combat
Combat is a mixture of melee and ranged, with the transmutations thrown in for good measure. You’ll want to use a combination of these. With the Saber, you can attack, block, and parry enemy attacks.
Blocking reduces the damage taken, but does not stop it entirely. You will see a portion of your health taken away on your health bar, with a paler red of the section lost. This can be converted back to health by successfully landing melee attacks before that segment disappears.
A successful parry will negate any damage and do ‘Posture damage’ to an enemy. Filling an enemy’s posture bar (white bar underneath the enemy’s health bar) will allow you to do a critical attack, which does massive damage. This is indicated by a dark red slash shape on the enemy. Be wary; it doesn’t last for long. Some enemies can be immediately attacked following a parry, but other enemies, like bosses, will need a number of parries and attacks to raise their posture bar.
If you approach enemies from behind, if they are unaware, you can perform a critical attack which will kill weaker enemies and do significant damage to stronger ones. The key to sneaking up on them is to stay out of their line of sight and walk; don’t run.
If the enemy is attacking and it glows red, this is an unblockable attack, and you will need to dodge out of the way.
Weapons and Firearms
You start with a Saber, as noted above. You’ll also pick up additional weapons that give you different ways to attack. For example, the Rapier you find doesn’t allow you to block, but can target weak points of enemies, which causes standard and posture damage.
You will also get a range of firearms, starting with the pistol early on. You’ll also get a Blunderbuss for close-quarters damage, and a Musket for long-range, high levels of damage.
You can find pickups around the game with additional ammunition packs or single bullets. The game is fairly generous with ammo, so a balanced approach should mean you rarely run out of ammo. Ammo pickups, specifically, are indicated by glowing yellow dots on the floor.
Weak Points
You will see, with a lot of enemies, buboes growing from their bodies. These are weak points and do large amounts of damage if you can pop them. These can be shot with a weapon, or pierced with the Rapier weapon.
Popping them on normal enemies will do massive damage; on stronger enemies and bosses, they will do damage and fill up large segments of their posture bar. It’s worth doing to get an edge in battle; some of the bosses will be a lot easier if you target them.
Exploration
Fairly early on, you will unlock fast travel, which lets you return to previously visited Lanterns.
You will encounter different obstacles and points of interest that you won’t always be able to progress past immediately. It’s got Metroidvania elements in the game, as in you will learn new abilities and need to return to progress or explore previously inaccessible areas.
You will find corpses surrounded by an archway. Interacting with these will give you a new ability/transmutation or weapon, giving you more options as you explore.
- Dry, yellow nephtoglobin walls can be destroyed with the fire transmutation.
- Bright orange/yellow balls that create purple nephtoglobin walls can be destroyed by shooting them or piercing them with the Rapier weapon (some are sneakily hidden). You can often find a red, glowing vein that leads you to the weak point location if you’re struggling to locate it.
- Glowing blue balls can be used to grapple once you have unlocked the ability later in the game.
- There are some pale blue segments of wall that you will be able to wall run across later.
- You will be able to activate and control certain platforms eventually too.
Of course, it’s also worth looking through every nook and cranny to seek out upgrade parts, side quest items, and even little easter eggs.
Levelling Up
Collect enough ‘Cataclysm’ (i.e., Souls) to upgrade your character. You’ll choose from several options as you level up to enhance your character, such as increased health or endurance. As you level up, you will push a progress bar along that you can see on the menu screen. Reaching certain milestones will unlock additional upgrade options as well as slots to equip ambers (see below).
You can seek out ‘soul packets’ in the game, which can give you a boost if you’re close to leveling up.
Upgrades
There are various things to do and explore in the world of Valor Mortis. Not only will you have challenging enemies and bosses to fight, but you’ll want to seek out the very best gear to help you overcome them. There are three main items to seek out:
- Weapons – a range of melee weapons and firearms for you to take advantage of.
- Transmutation – much like BioShock’s Plasmids, these transmutations give you a number of abilities that help you take on enemies and access previously inaccessible areas.
- Amber – these stones can be found across the game and provide bonuses to your character, kind of like rings in Dark Souls.
Items like these are rewarded by exploring, opening treasure chests, completing quests, and defeating bosses.
Weapons and transmutations can be upgraded at the Abandoned Church location, which you will reach early on. These require different quality levels of firearm or blade items to upgrade your weapons. Transmutations can be upgraded with Transmutation materials of differing qualities. Upgrading provides more damage and abilities to give you the edge in combat.
Upgrade items can be bought from the two shops in the Abandoned Church also.
Amber
Amber works like the rings in Dark Souls; you can equip them for a boost to your skills or abilities. Some are passive, such as regenerating health; others give you increased damage under certain conditions (such as being at max health.
Some of the ambers have up to three upgrade levels. You can upgrade the ambers by finding the second or third amber of the same name in the game; this automatically upgrades it.
You will unlock more amber slots to equip by levelling up your character.
Side Quests
As you explore, you’ll come across additional missions, side quests. These expand the lore of the game, whilst giving you additional things to do in the game to keep you busy. These are usually fun and interesting and often reward you with additional ambers, upgrade materials, and Cataclysm (souls), so they’re definitely worth doing.
Several of them will reward you with an achievement / trophy too.
Ferrofluid Flask
Your Estus Flask of the game, the Ferrofluid Flask. You will use this to replenish your health. Returning to a Lantern will restore the number of charges it has.
You can find items to upgrade the flask:
- Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade – increases the power of the flask, so you regain more health when you use it.
- Empty Ferrofluid Flask – gives you more charges of the flask before you run out.
You can also buy some of the upgrades from Louis’ shop in the Abandoned Church.
Environmental Hazards
Watch out for fire and poisoned areas. These can do damage to you, and they eat away quickly at your health. An indicator will appear at the bottom of the screen to show how close you are to being ignited or poisoned.
There are also holes you can fall down, as well as things that can fall on you. You’ll just have to keep your wits about you.
That’s everything for now, but if you think of anything you wish we’d included in this beginner’s guide, feel free to drop an email to addy@gamersocialclub.ca, and I can look to update.
Are you enjoying Valor Mortis? Are you going for the mythic achievement or platinum trophy? Let us know in the comments below, and join the Gamer Social Club Discord to chat about your favourite games, play in community game nights, take part in giveaways, and more!
We hope you found this guide useful. We’ve got even more to help you in your quest.
Valor Mortis Guides
Boss Guides
- General Lothaire, the Eagle-Bearer (“Torn Banner” achievement / trophy)
- The Iron Marshall (“Ultimaa Ratio Regum” achievement / trophy)
Side Quest Guides
- “An Unheard Farewell” Side Quest (“Aggressive Reconnaissance” achievement / trophy)
- “The Deserter” Side Quest (“Hand in the Jar” achievement / trophy)
- “The Curious Case of Seamus Diggory” Side Quest (“Blood and Wine” achievement / trophy)
