Valor Mortis How Long to Beat: Story and Full Clear

Expect about 14 to 18 hours to beat the Valor Mortis story, around 20 hours if they pick up side quests along the way, and 22 to 25 hours to clear everything. One More Level itself puts the campaign at roughly 20 hours. Because the game has one fixed difficulty, the biggest swing in that number is how long the bosses hold you up, so a careful player and a player who parries well can finish several hours apart.

We checked these numbers against GIGA's playtime breakdown, PowerPyx's trophy roadmap, the Game Informer preview, the publisher's launch announcement, the metabot.gg chapter data and Steam's global achievement stats in November 2026.

Playtime Estimates Side by Side

Sources line up more closely than usual for a soulslike. The developer's figure of about 20 hours sits right in the middle of the published ranges, and PowerPyx's platinum estimate of 15 to 25 hours is close to the completionist band because the trophy list needs only one playthrough and has nothing missable. The table collects the published numbers as of November 2026.

Published Valor Mortis length estimates (as of November 2026)

Source	What it measures	Estimate
One More Level (developer)	Story	About 20 hours
GIGA	Main story	14 to 18 hours
GIGA	Story plus side quests	18 to 20 hours
GIGA	Completionist	22 to 25 hours
PowerPyx	Platinum trophy	15 to 25 hours, skill dependent

Preview builds hinted at a wide spread. Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc spent more than 15 hours on a preview covering the first four chapters and estimated over 100 boss deaths, while a Fextralife preview reportedly cleared four chapters in about 5 hours against a developer estimate of 8 to 10. Those were pre-release builds, and update 1.005 has since retuned hitboxes for many enemies and bosses, so treat the extremes as a sign of how much skill matters rather than as targets.

What Makes Up the Campaign

The story runs across eleven chapters, from Chapter I: Revival on the Battlefield to Chapter XI: Reflection in Napoleon's Prison and Entropy. Each chapter is a region with its own string of Lanterns, side areas and chests, and most end in a boss fight. Ten bosses stand between you and the credits, and they are not evenly spread: Chapter VII packs in two, while Chapter VIII in the City of Orphans has none. Our list of every boss in campaign order shows where each one lands so you can see how far through the run you are.

Exploration takes up a lot of the clock. Chapter II alone has six Lanterns and fourteen chests, and the Fortress in Chapter X has six Lanterns, sixteen chests and two keys. The studio describes its levels as Metroidvania-inspired, and they loop back on themselves as you unlock routes, so the first trip through a region is slow and every return is quick. Players who open every chest on the first pass add hours compared with players who follow the main path to the next fog gate.

Where the Extra Hours Come From

The gap between a story run and a full clear comes from side content and collectibles. None of it is required to see the ending, but much of it makes the late bosses easier, so most players do at least some of it.

• Side quests. PowerPyx counts 20, ranging from short errands to multi-chapter chains. Monster Hunt, for example, asks for 17 drawings in the City of Orphans before it pays out a Quintessential Transmutation Material.
• The Oathbound. This chain sends you after seven Eternal Guardsmen across seven regions and ends in a hidden room in the Fortress. Our Eternal Guard location guide lists every duel so you can fold them into your route instead of backtracking.
• Ambers. There are 29 unique Ambers and 62 copies in the world, and the Ambersmith trophy asks you to gather them.
• Flask upgrades. The game hides 25 Ferrofluid Power Upgrades and 9 Empty Ferrofluid Flasks, some in chests and some sold by Louis at the Abandoned Church.
• Feat achievements. Skill trophies like Scattershot (kill five enemies with one Blunderbuss shot) or Abyssal Eviction (Shield Bash an enemy into the abyss) are quick once you know the spot, but can eat time if you go in blind.

Catalyst farming is the other hidden cost. If you are under-leveled for a boss, an hour of looping a good spot can save several hours of failed attempts. The Catalyst farming guide lists four of the fastest loops by chapter.

How Far Players Actually Get

Steam's global achievement stats show where real players stop. As of November 2026, about 63% of Steam players have the Torn Banner achievement for killing General Lothaire, while only 26.5% have Behemoth for beating Captain Raphael in Chapter X. Only 6.2% hold every achievement. Those numbers fit a game that launched on 13 October 2026, has no difficulty options and asks players to learn ten boss fights by trial and error, and they suggest that many people who bought it are still working through the middle chapters.

It also tells you something about pacing. If you are around the Outskirts after ten hours, you are on a normal track. If you are still in the Fallen Village, the problem is usually leveling or a single boss rather than the overall length of the game.

Chapter-by-Chapter Checkpoints

Since the game does not show a completion percentage on the main path, the chapter titles are the easiest way to judge progress. Here is the full run, with each chapter's region and the fight that closes it where there is one:

1. Chapter I: Revival on the Battlefield, ending in the first meeting with General Lothaire.
2. Chapter II: Regroup in the Valley of Ashes, ending in the Lothaire rematch outside the Abandoned Church.
3. Chapter III: Rendezvous in the Fallen Village, home of The Iron Marshall.
4. Chapter IV: Dark Descent in the Caverns, where Sphinx waits behind a sealed door.
5. Chapter V: Crime in the Vale of Wrath and its Slaughtermill.
6. Chapter VI: Punishment in the Cursed Hollow, with Anna.
7. Chapter VII: Witch Hunt on The Outskirts, with both Aurelius and Experiment 83.
8. Chapter VIII: Blasphemy in the City of Orphans, the one chapter with no listed boss.
9. Chapter IX: In Ruins at the University, ending with The Orphan.
10. Chapter X: Shackled in the Fortress, topped by Captain Raphael.
11. Chapter XI: Reflection in Napoleon's Prison and Entropy, ending with Entity.

Do not read the list as evenly sized chunks. Boss difficulty climbs steeply, with Health pools rising from 1,800 for Lothaire to 4,000 for The Orphan and Captain Raphael and 5,000 for Entity, so the back half usually takes longer per chapter than the front half even if the regions feel similar in size. Chapter VII is also a double-header, so budget extra time there.

Point of No Return and Post-Game

Plan your side content around the Fortress High Tower in Chapter X. The metabot.gg missables list calls it the point of no return: after Captain Raphael the story moves to Napoleon's Prison and Entropy, which have no fast travel. It recommends finishing The Oathbound, lighting the castle bonfire for Frenzied Flame and reaching ten Mice friendship points before you climb. PowerPyx takes a looser view and lists only The Choir as missable, because the game drops you back near a Lantern with free roam after the credits. Cleaning up before the climb is the cautious choice and costs nothing.

After the credits, Insider Gaming reports that you load back in beside a Lantern with Lucjan next to it and can fast travel to finish side quests and collectibles. The ending explainer covers what you see before that point. New Game+ was not part of the launch build: the publisher announced it for the fourth quarter of 2026, with tougher enemies and your gear carried over, and a major story DLC is planned for 2027. Both will add hours that none of today's estimates include.

How to Finish Faster

1. Light every Lantern you pass. Lanterns are your fast travel network and your respawn points, and a missed one means a long walk after every death.
2. Spend Catalysts before boss fog. Dying drops everything you carry, and a second death before you recover it deletes it.
3. Upgrade the flask early. More charges and more healing per sip shorten every boss attempt.
4. Do side quests on the way, not after. Many Eternal Guard duels and quest steps sit just off the main path in regions you will pass anyway.
5. Play the way you enjoy. The game is solo only, with no summons or co-op, so there is no shortcut through a hard boss beyond better gear, more levels or more practice. Our guide to playing Valor Mortis solo explains what that means in practice.

Cutting the Grind Out of the Clock

A large share of a first run is leveling and gathering upgrade materials. The store's Mega Modded Save removes that part: it begins at the first Lantern of Chapter I with a level 264 soldier, every skill active, 999,999 Catalysts and every Ferrofluid Flask, blade, ranged weapon and Transmutation material at 9,999, so the hours go into the story and the bosses rather than farming.

It covers PS5 and PC, there is no Xbox version, and you need your own copy of the game. The platinum trophy is a separate service, and both are listed on the Valor Mortis page.

Frequently Asked Questions