Valor Mortis lowers its PC requirements on launch day

Some studios wait weeks after launch to address performance complaints, while others show up on day one with their homework done. One More Level, the Polish studio behind Ghostrunner, has gone with the latter: to coincide with the release of Valor Mortis on October 13, it announced that its Napoleonic-era soulslike now has lower minimum and recommended PC requirements following optimization work on CPU and graphics card usage. The news was reported by Vandal, which published the original information this story is based on.

Why does it matter? Because the original requirements had drawn quite a bit of criticism, to the point that Vandal's own review flagged them as one of the areas needing improvement. In a genre where every dodge and every parry depends on a smooth frame rate, performance isn't a technical footnote: it's part of the design. A game this demanding on the player becoming less demanding on their hardware means more people can enjoy it the way it's meant to be played.

What you need to know

• Valor Mortis launches on October 13: it's a dark, bloody and unforgiving soulslike set in the Napoleonic era.
• It's developed by One More Level, the Polish studio behind Ghostrunner.
• The studio lowered the minimum and recommended requirements on PC on launch day itself.
• The improvement centers on significant optimization of CPU and GPU usage.
• Under the new minimum specs, the listed processor is a Ryzen 5 3600 or a Core i5-10600K, according to Vandal.

What changes and who it affects

The change is easy to grasp: the game should run better on more machines. According to Vandal, the studio has polished performance and published a new requirements sheet aimed at making the PC experience more satisfying. For reference, the processor entry in the minimum requirements lists a Ryzen 5 3600 and a Core i5-10600K, two CPUs that are a few years old now and remain very common in the community's PCs.

The biggest winners are players on mid-range or slightly older rigs, who used to look at the spec sheet with some suspicion. Content creators benefit too, since they need performance headroom to play and stream at the same time without the game taking a hit. And the context is worth remembering: Ghostrunner already proved that One More Level understands how important smooth performance is in a demanding action game, so this move fits the studio's reputation.

A recurring pattern

What's happening with Valor Mortis isn't an isolated case. More and more releases arrive on PC with intimidating requirements that get adjusted on the fly once the community reacts. The difference here is the timing: the fix lands on launch day, not weeks later, when negative reviews have already done their damage.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom, we see this as good news, with some caveats. The studio listening to criticism and acting before the game reaches players' hands is the right call. Still, it's hard not to wonder why such high requirements were announced in the first place. If the optimization was possible, the ideal would have been to present a realistic spec sheet from the start rather than correcting it at the last minute.

For competitive players, and a soulslike is very much a competition against yourself, a stable frame rate is non-negotiable. Dodge and block windows are unforgiving, and a performance dip in the middle of a boss fight can cost you an entire run. That's why, regardless of what the official sheet says, the real test will be how the game holds up in practice: loading times, stability in crowded fights and stutters when loading new areas.

For content creators and speedrunners, these kinds of adjustments are also key. A well-optimized game lends itself better to long streams, challenges and races against the clock, and that extends its life in the community. Our recommendation: if your rig was right on the edge, it's worth checking the updated spec sheet again before ruling it out, but if you're unsure, wait for the first real-world performance impressions before jumping in.

What do you think?

Valor Mortis arrives with a rarely explored setting and a studio that already knows how to make demanding action games. The lower requirements are a welcome gesture, but they come at the last minute. Do you think studios should be more realistic about PC requirements from the start, or would you rather they fix things on the fly like One More Level did? Tell us about your experience in the team chat or on our Discord.