Twenty numeric critic scores for One More Level's first-person soulslike average to an NGC Rating of 78. That sits a couple of points under OpenCritic's Top Critic Average of 80 (82% recommend) and a tick above Metacritic's early overall Metascore of 77 from 35 reviews. Scores and quotes below were verified Oct 12, 2026, at 11:20 a.m. PT from outlet pages, with Metacritic used only to confirm platform splits and a few listed numbers already matched on the review itself.
Valor Mortis launches Oct 13 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S for $39.99, and it is a day-one Game Pass title on console, PC, cloud, and handheld per Xbox Wire. There is no Switch version in this review wave. The board is not a quiet mid-70s mush — four outlets sat at 90 while Gamekult landed at 50, and Metacritic still shows zero Xbox Series critic scores hours before the Game Pass drop.
NGC Rating: 78 from 20 scores
| Outlet | Score | Normalized | Platform | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Destructoid | 9/10 | 90 | PC | Review |
| TheGamer | 9/10 | 90 | Multi | Review |
| Gamer Social Club | 9/10 | 90 | PC | Review |
| GamingBolt | 90 | 90 | PC | Review |
| Gamers Heroes | 85 | 85 | PC | Review |
| DualShockers | 8.5/10 | 85 | PC | Review |
| CGMagazine | 85 | 85 | PC | Review |
| GRYOnline.pl | 8.5/10 | 85 | PC | Review |
| Push Square | 8/10 | 80 | PS5 | Review |
| Eurogamer | 8/10 | 80 | PC | Review |
| GAMINGbible | 8/10 | 80 | PC | Review |
| Multiplayer.it | 80 | 80 | PC | Review |
| PPE.pl | 8/10 | 80 | PC | Review |
| COGconnected | 78 | 78 | Multi | Review |
| IGN | 7/10 | 70 | Multi | Review |
| Game Informer | 7/10 | 70 | PC | Review |
| Sirus Gaming | 7/10 | 70 | PC | Review |
| GameSpot | 6/10 | 60 | Multi | Review |
| GamesRadar+ | 6/10 | 60 | PC | Review |
| Gamekult | 5/10 | 50 | PC | Review |
NGC Rating is the average of those normalized 0–100 scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Aggregator pages will keep moving as more reviews land; this figure is locked to the 20 linked reviews above.
What critics agree on
The Napoleonic plague setting and first-person sword-and-gun loop are the shared praise. Destructoid's Andrej Barovic (9/10) calls the Grande Armée-turned-monsters framing close to "the perfect soulslike" setting. Eurogamer's Matt Wales (8/10) and Push Square's Khayl Adam (8/10) both single out fluid parries, parkour DNA from Ghostrunner, and level design that actually wants you to backtrack. DualShockers (8.5/10) and GamingBolt (90) put the Metroidvania shortcuts and chapter variety near the top of the genre's recent AA pack.
Playtime claims cluster in the same band. IGN's Travis Northup (7/10) spent "20+ hours" in the campaign. Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc (7/10) clocks closer to 25. Push Square finished main-plus-side content around 18 hours with platinum in sight near 22. Treat that as a long weekend to a short week, not a 40-hour open world.
Where the board splits: bugs, variety, and the mid-game sag
The room divides on whether the systems hold after the novelty wears off. GameSpot (6/10) likes the snappy parries and still calls out a thin enemy pool, underused weapons, and a story that only sparks in the side vignettes. GamesRadar+ (6/10) says shifting the camera to first person is not enough in a crowded soulslike year, and flags scripted parkour set-pieces as controller-snapping. Gamekult's 5/10 is the floor: recycled foes, "schoolbook" level loops, and late-game bugs that break boss hitboxes and parry timing.
IGN sits in the middle for a reason. Northup loves the BioShock-meets-Souls toolkit when it works and still lists hard crashes, missing geometry, and enemies attacking air as problems that "need patching fast." Multiplayer.it and PPE.pl echo the same launch-day caveat — crashes and AI pathing glitches that do not erase the combat highs but do argue for waiting on day-one patches if you hate jank.
PC vs PS5 vs a blank Xbox page
Metacritic's platform split is the second story Pure Xbox flagged and we rechecked at 11:20 a.m. PT: PC Metascore 77, PS5 83 from a thinner sample, Xbox Series still blank. Our table is mostly PC reviews plus Push Square on PS5, so NGC 78 is not an Xbox Series verdict — there simply was not one to average yet.
That matters because subscribers will meet the game on Xbox hardware first via Game Pass. Xbox Play Anywhere is listed on the store page, so a buy-to-own purchase covers console and PC, but the missing Xbox critic sample means performance impressions for Series X|S are still thin compared with the PC bug reports IGN and Gamekult wrote up.
Price, Game Pass, and who should jump
| Situation | Price | Review signal |
|---|---|---|
| Curious soulslike fan with Game Pass | Included day one | Low-risk try; NGC 78 with a 50–90 spread |
| Want to own + Play Anywhere | $39.99 | Strong value if you like parry combat and can live with AA polish |
| Hate launch bugs / thin enemy pools | $39.99 or wait | Open Gamekult, GamesRadar+, and IGN's tech notes first |
| Want a polished FromSoftware peer | $39.99 | Several 60s say it is familiar more than essential — wait for a sale or patch notes |
Verified Oct 12, 2026, at 11:20 a.m. PT: Xbox Wire lists Valor Mortis for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on Oct 13. Reviewers generally finish in about 18–25 hours. There is no Switch release in this wave, so handheld/docked splits do not apply.
If you came for a grimdark first-person sword game at a mid-tier price, the 85s and 90s are doing the talking. If scarce enemy variety and launch crashes ruin a soulslike weekend for you, the 50s and 60s are the reviews to open first — and Game Pass makes that filter almost free tomorrow.