Lyrical Games used Gamescom Opening Night Live to drop the story trailer for Valor Mortis, the first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner studio One More Level. The trailer gives a first proper look at The Shrike, the rebel leader pushing back against Napoleon's Empire in occupied Eastern Europe, and it also gives fresh screen time to the rest of the cast in what the studio has been pitching as a supernatural retelling of the Napoleonic Wars.
Valor Mortis launches October 13, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and Steam, and arrives day one on Xbox Game Pass.
Today, at Opening Night Live, Lyrical Games dropped the story trailer for Valor Mortis, the first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner creators One More Level. The trailer marks the first appearance of the Shrike, the rebel leader fighting Napoleon’s Empire in occupied Eastern Europe. It also delivers new looks at the rest of the cast in this supernatural retelling of the Napoleonic Wars: resurrected Legionnaire William Dowsett, fellow soldier James Stewart, and lamplighter Lucjan Skawiński. Valor Mortis launches October 13, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and Steam, and arrives day one on Xbox Game Pass.
Watch the story trailer here and download the demo on Steam. A press kit with assets for Valor Mortis, One More Level, and Lyrical Games is available here.
As Napoleon's conquest halts in Eastern Europe, a plague spreads across the continent in its wake. This same dark affliction courses through William's veins, corrupting his body yet granting him a dangerous power: he now hears the voice of Emperor Bonaparte in his mind, guiding him to usurp The Shrike’s resistance of the commonfolk.
Valor Mortis Key Characters:
William Dowsett: The player character, William, is a young and bold Englishman, disillusioned with the monarchy. William volunteered to fight for Napoleon, inspired by his ideal of a unified Europe. The story begins with William waking up on a grim battlefield, seemingly the only soldier left standing with his mind intact. With little to no memory of his life before that moment, players will choose whether to trust the remaining survivors who claim to be his former comrades. Will he stay loyal to his Emperor or follow The Shrike in the shadows?
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte: Voiced by CĂ©sar Award-winning actor Vincent Cassel, the Emperor stands at the head of the largest army known to Europe. William hears him as a voice in his own head, speaking as a father would to a son. His victory at Waterloo opened the way east, but the French army has since halted in Eastern Europe. Napoleon's ambition drives the campaign as he fights to stay in control of a war that has shifted into something unnatural.
The Shrike: A rebel fighter who moves through occupied Eastern Europe with strength no ordinary soldier possesses. She answers to no authority; she fights for the people living under the Empire's occupation, and she has her own plans for William. Partway through the story, her voice joins Napoleon's inside his head.
James Stewart: A blacksmith's son in the Scottish Highlands, James left home to volunteer for Napoleon, convinced his service would earn him glory and win Scotland its freedom. He is William's closest friend in the Legion, a skilled weaponsmith, and one of the few sources of light among the corpses of war. While he claims his devotion to the Emperor is absolute, will the supernatural realities of this horrifying campaign test it?
Lucjan Skawiński: A Polish craftsman and a veteran of multiple wars, Lucjan has turned his life away from battle. He travels the ruined countryside searching out safe havens for weary travelers, marking each one with a hand-crafted lamp he keeps filled with oil that never seems to run out. He is calm, well-read, and full of ambiguous aphorisms, though something about him unsettles the survivors he claims to help.
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