{
  "id": 14505614,
  "title": "Soulslikes Don't Work in First-Person — Yet",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/soulslikes-dont-work-in-first-person-yet",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-14T18:00:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Polygon",
    "slug": "polygon",
    "url": "https://www.polygon.com/valor-mortis-soulslike-first-person-pov/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Since purchasing a copy of Bloodborne in 2015, the author has been a fan of Soulslike games. These games are known for their challenging combat, satisfying victories, mysterious gameplay, and surprise attacks. However, until the release of Valor Mortis, the author had not played a first-person Soulslike. Valor Mortis features a first-person perspective, which is common in shooters, but the author believes it doesn't fully capture the essence of a Soulslike. The difficulty and punishing \"lose your XP on death\" mechanic are present, but the first-person perspective doesn't provide the same level of spatial awareness as third-person perspectives. Additionally, the lack of dodge-rolling and parrying in first-person makes it harder for players to keep track of multiple enemies and react to attacks. The author also found Valor Mortis' combat to be less satisfying due to a lack of weight and impact, especially during boss battles. Despite these issues, Valor Mortis does offer a useful notebook to track quests and allows for a wide variety of weapons to be used. The inclusion of a pause button is also a welcome addition. While Valor Mortis is not a perfect Soulslike in first-person, the author believes it is a promising start for future developers to improve the genre's representation in this perspective.",
  "summary": "Valor Mortis is a Soulslike from the studio behind Ghostrunner. It has grand ideas, but struggles to replicate Soulslike combat in first-person POV.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}