TechRadar Review Praises Valor Mortis Parry Combat, Faults First-Person View and Trap Design

According to TechRadar, the game opens with the player awakening on a battlefield surrounded by corpses, with Vincent Cassel voicing Napoleon and urging the player forward. A plague has transformed humans into monsters and unlocked mystical powers, setting up a dangerous, war-torn world that echoes Dark Souls. Lanterns function as safe spaces where players save progress, level up using blood from dead enemies, adjust builds with skill-tweaking gems, and restart after death.

The review says combat is built around precise parries. Reading an opponent and timing a deflection produces a chunky audio cue, and a successful parry can lead to a devastating finishing move. TechRadar reports that players duel reanimated Napoleonic soldiers, body horror monstrosities, and other creatures. The game's weapons and powers expand slowly: first a sabre, then a pistol, followed by abilities such as shooting fire from hands and putting enemies in stasis. Players can switch among these and a handful of other melee, ranged, and magical options, and often need to do so to handle different enemy types effectively.

TechRadar describes several combat interactions. Basic soldiers can be killed with a few sword slashes. An imposing axe-wielding officer is better handled at distance, using fire to set off an explosive keg on its back. A malformed grenadier protects its sack of explosives with an engorged hand, but a well-timed shot when it moves to lob a grenade can cause a massive explosion. The review notes that limited stamina and aggressive enemies mean direct sword attacks are rarely the smartest approach, since enemies can kill the player in a few hits.

The review faults the game for its delayed attacks and trickery. Enemies use multiple feints and several seconds of movement before a sudden blow, which TechRadar says is funny at first but becomes irritating. Level design is regularly filled with traps and gotcha moments: enemies emerge from bushes or behind doors, items are placed to trigger ambushes, rocks fall, and sections of floor collapse. TechRadar says these moments are meant to keep players alert, but when they occur repeatedly in quick succession, they feel cheap rather than challenging.

TechRadar also cites clunkiness with the first-person view, dull and frustrating environments, too much reliance on traps and trickery, and a lack of variety in weapons and powers as drawbacks. On the positive side, it highlights tight and satisfying combat, inventive and varied set pieces, and gruesome world and creature designs. The review says some boss fights feel awesome to win because perfect parries lead to satisfying ripostes, and some set pieces cleverly mix combat, puzzle, and platforming, though it withholds specifics to avoid spoilers.