"We aren't trying to make a game for everyone": Dev knows its first-person Soulslike is weird, says it's "much closer to Dark Souls" but "we love Dishonored and it has definitely influenced us"

Two things stood out in the Gamescom reveal for Valor Mortis, the next game from Ghostrunner studio One More Level: the left hand, and the right hand. It's another first-person action game, but this time with less parkour and a lot more combat, now with a distinct Soulslike vibe. In a brief Q&A following a post discussing just how weird a first-person Soulslike sounds, the studio – at least, a Valor Mortis community manager – says it's channeling the feeling of Dark Souls specifically, which is arguably the Souls game that really started this trend.

What does Soulslike mean, really? Less and less in 2025, it sometimes feels like, but I do think there's a legitimate foundation for the genre. This Valor Mortis dev singles out a few ideas in response to one onlooker who wondered what's so Soulslike about this game.

"We are just being transparent with the description!" they replied. "The game has a soulslike format with recollecting 'souls', lighting 'bonfires', and fighting bosses that are meant to be very challenging. It also has map backtracking to find secrets. We think it's very much a soulslike and would rather be transparent than worry about the connotations."

I do appreciate when devs draw a clear line like this: either you want to be a Soulslike, or you don't. Both are fine! It just feels like the label gets thrown around a lot these days, so it's good to hear the developer's reasoning. I've spoken to folks behind games like Black Myth: Wukong or The First Berserker: Khazan, and both teams shied away from the label, focusing instead on just making an action RPG.

Valor Mortis is a loud-and-proud Soulslike, and this dev singled out two points of inspiration in a separate reply. "We love Dishonored and it has definitely influenced us. Valor Mortis isn't really a stealth game though! It is much closer to Dark Souls in format."

When I first saw Valor Mortis in action, our resurrected French hero blasting and slashing bloated monstrosities in a horrific rendition of the Napoleonic Wars, two big Bs came to mind: BioShock and Bloodborne.

The elemental power system smacks of BioShock's plasmids, and there's a Yharnam ichor of decay and glorified grotesqueries about it. Dishonored is another fair comparison, and it's interesting to hear the devs confirm it outright. And if we're talking about the format of Dark Souls, the world coiling like a poorly wound garden hose, that isn't far off Bloodborne. Color me intrigued.

"Ultimately, we aren't trying to make a game for everyone," this dev writes. "If you've played Ghostrunner, you'll already know that's the case. It's a niche and unforgiving game that many people gave up on, but that's another factor that led us to soulslikes. If anyone can pull this off in first-person, we think we have a good shot."

To that end, ahead of a 2026 launch, the devs are recruiting folks for a playtest meant to measure and hone the game's first-person vision and feel. Signups are open here.

The best-worst Soulslike of 2023 is getting a sequel: Lords of the Fallen 2 announced for 2026, and it sure looks like an Epic exclusive on PC.