GTA 6 has turned October into a new release bloodbath, and now a $40 soulslike wants to crash the party. Valor Mortis, the new first-person game from the makers of Ghostrunner, is launching on October 13 with a price point that treats it like a sideshow to the month’s blockbuster lineup. The thinking is simple: be cheap enough to sit alongside Ace Combat 8, Gears of War: E-Day, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Modern Warfare 4.
“We are pretty confident in Valor Mortis. But ultimately, 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.’”
That is Blake Rochkind, CEO of Lyrical Games, speaking to The Game Business. The bet is that a $40 price tag turns Valor Mortis into an “and” game — something players buy on impulse alongside the big releases, rather than waiting for a quieter month. It is a bold move for a mid-tier action title in a crowded calendar.
October Overload
October is shaping up to be the busiest month for new releases in years. Ace Combat 8, Gears of War: E-Day, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Modern Warfare 4 are all landing next month. Add in a new Hellraiser game, Silver Pines, Jonathan Blow’s next project, Planet Zoo 2, a remaster of Tales of Eternia, and the 1.0 launch of Enshrouded — plus a new Final Fantasy 2D-HD remake — and you have a wall of content.
Few publishers will dare release within spitting distance of GTA 6. The November schedule is thin outside of Nintendo’s Ocarina of Time remake, which most wise publishers will want to give a wide berth to. Neither are releasing on PC.
Valor Mortis fits that pattern. It is one of the few new intellectual properties launching this fall, and its developers know the odds are stacked against them.
The $40 Gambit
The $40 price point is the crux of Lyrical Games’ strategy. Rochkind cited a developer who priced a game at $30, which would be $40 today. That developer said, “We never regretted being an ‘and’ game. We never regretted pricing our game as something that you can pick up alongside other games.”
The idea is that a $40 game is cheap enough to be a side purchase. It does not require a full commitment. If players are buying Ace Combat 8 and Modern Warfare 4 anyway, a $40 soulslike is a small addition to the cart. The risk is that the game gets lost in the shuffle. The reward is that it reaches players who might otherwise skip it.
It is a calculated gamble. Rochkind put it plainly: the worst thing the studio could do is not push its chips in.
Demo Reception
The recent demo was well-received, largely because it seems to nail first-person melee combat. Melee combat in a first-person game is famously difficult to execute well. The demo suggests Valor Mortis has found something worth building around.
The question is whether that translates into sales. October is not a forgiving month for new IPs. Most players will be locked into the big-budget lineup, and a $40 soulslike has to fight for attention against everything else on the shelf.
Price Gap
The $40 price point is a deliberate attempt to fill a gap in the market. It is cheaper than the big-budget titles, but it is not so cheap that it feels disposable. It is a middle ground — affordable enough to be a bonus, expensive enough to feel like a proper game.
That balance is what Rochkind’s quote captures. Being an “and” game means being available without friction. Players should be able to pick it up alongside the bigger releases, not wait for a discount bin. The price point is the mechanism that makes that possible.
It is a smart move for a mid-tier game. It is also a risky one. The October lineup is so dense that a $40 game could get buried under everything else. The hope is that the melee combat will stand out, and the price will keep people curious.
What October Means For Everyone Else
The October bottleneck has consequences beyond Valor Mortis. Smaller studios are finding that the major publishers have locked down the calendar. November has almost nothing except Ocarina of Time, and most studios will avoid releasing near that. That leaves October as the de facto launch window for everyone else.
The result is a compressed schedule. Ace Combat 8, Gears of War: E-Day, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Modern Warfare 4 are all competing for the same week. The new Hellraiser game, Silver Pines, Planet Zoo 2, the Tales of Eternia remaster and Enshrouded are all in the mix too. It is a chaotic mess, and it is going to be hard for anyone to break through.
Valor Mortis is one of the few new IPs in this mess. It is a new property, from a team with a proven track record on Ghostrunner. The demo was well-received. The price point suggests it understands the market.
Bottom Line
Valor Mortis is a $40 soulslike in a month of blockbusters. It is a small game with a big ambition: to be the kind of game you buy alongside the big releases. That is a clever position, but it is not a safe one.
The October lineup is so crowded that a $40 game could easily get lost. The melee combat might win people over. The price might keep them interested. But the competition is fierce, and the odds were never in its favour.
Rochkind knows this. He pushed his chips in anyway. The quote says it all: he wants Valor Mortis to be a game that you can pick up alongside the other great games. That is the bet. Whether it pays off depends on how well the melee combat holds up, and how willing players are to spend $40 on a new IP in a month of blockbusters.
It is a bold move, and it deserves credit for being bold. October is not a friendly month to launch anything. Valor Mortis is trying to be a standout in a field of standouts. That takes courage. The question is whether the game can deliver on the promise of its demo.
Here is how the October lineup breaks down:
- Ace Combat 8
- Gears of War: E-Day
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer
- Modern Warfare 4
- Valor Mortis
- New Hellraiser game
- Silver Pines
- Jonathan Blow’s next project
- Planet Zoo 2
- Tales of Eternia remaster
- Enshrouded 1.0
- New Final Fantasy 2D-HD remake
That is a lot of games. Valor Mortis is one of the few new IPs in the mix, and it is the only one priced at $40. That gives it a fighting chance. Whether it wins the fight is another matter entirely.
Source material: “GTA 6 has turned October into a new release bloodbath, but AA first-person soulslike Valor Mortis is hellbent on entering the fray,” PC Gamer.
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