Valor Mortis will cost $40 / €40 when it launches on October 13, and the developer says that price is a deliberate response to just how packed this autumn’s release calendar has become. One More Level confirmed the figure in a statement posted to X, framing it as a bet that players’ time and money are stretched thin right now.

Valor Mortis is the ambitious first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner developer One More Level, and it’s a new IP arriving in one of the busiest windows the industry has ever crammed into a single month. October alone brings Gears of War: E-Day, Ace Combat 8, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Final Fantasy Resonance, and Phantom Blade Zero, while September is already stacked with Marvel’s Wolverine, Silent Hill: Townfall, and Control Resonant. It’s the latter that actually bumped Valor Mortis from its original September 24 date to October in the first place. It’s a familiar squeeze this year – see also Enshrouded’s own October landing and Dawn of War IV’s shuffle into December to dodge the worst of it.

Why $40, according to the developer

The developer’s statement doesn’t shy away from making the case that Valor Mortis could have charged more. “We have had many discussions over the past year about the price of Valor Mortis. We believe the game has the quality, fidelity, and playtime in its 20-hour story to go toe-to-toe with many ‘full price’ titles,” the developer wrote. “Still, this fall is stacked and there’s high demand for your time and money.”

Blake Rochkind, head of publisher Lyrical Games, expanded on the thinking in an interview with The Game Business. He said the pricing call carried real risk of sending the wrong signal about the game’s quality, but ultimately came down to Valor Mortis being one of the only genuinely new properties launching this season.

“The cards we’ve been dealt is [that] we are one of the only new IPs launching this fall,” he explained. “We are pretty confident in Valor Mortis. It is a great game. I’m very, very excited for people to play it. But ultimately, I think the worst thing we could do is not push our chips in and say, ‘We want this to be a game that you can pick up alongside these other great games.'”

Editions and what’s included

Buyers get two options at launch, and the gap between them is more than just cosmetic add-ons.

Edition Price Contents Standard $40 / €40 Base game Deluxe $60 / €60 Base game, major story DLC (2027), weapon skin pack

One More Level also says free content updates are already in the works and will roll out in the weeks and months following launch, alongside the paid story expansion planned for next year. It’s a similar new-game-plus scramble that titles like Nighthawks have had to navigate while trying to hold attention against bigger, louder releases.

Release details

Valor Mortis launches October 13 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and it’s confirmed as a day-one addition to Game Pass on PC and Xbox. The $40 / €40 base price and $60 / €60 Deluxe Edition are set for the US and EU; UK pricing has not yet been clarified.

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