"We’ll Need Several More Expedition 33s to Convince Skeptics," Says Valor Mortis Creator on Trusting AA Projects

Over the last dozen years, Poland’s One More Level has steadily built a reputation for delivering AA‑level experiences that often rival the polish of full‑blown AAA titles. The studio first burst onto the scene with the 2020 cyber‑punk action platformer Ghostrunner, a game that earned glowing reviews and impressive sales—Video Game Insights estimates put its worldwide shipments at roughly 5.6 million copies.

A sequel followed in 2023, cementing the studio’s status as a serious mid‑tier contender. Despite these successes, the AA segment is currently under pressure.

In recent years, investment dollars have thinned just as competition has intensified. Smaller publishers are increasingly gravitating toward ultra‑low‑budget projects—typically under $1 million—while the industry giants pour resources into evergreen AAA franchises. Even blockbuster AA titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have struggled to secure steady financing, illustrating the uphill battle that mid‑tier developers face. "Our big hit, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, proved there’s appetite for AA games, yet many publishers still view the space as risky," explains Radek Ratusznik, game director at One More Level, during a GamesIndustry.biz interview at Gamescom.

"We probably need a handful of Expedition 33‑type successes before the skeptics change their tune. One hit isn’t enough; we need a track record that shows AA can be both profitable and sustainable without the need for hundreds of millions of dollars." Ratusznik adds that modern tools have shortened development cycles and lowered costs, but they cannot eliminate the need for time. "The technology we have today lets us create higher‑quality experiences faster and cheaper than a decade ago, but you still need a realistic schedule for polishing and testing.

You can’t simply cram a full game into a single year without compromising quality, even if some publishers would like to see that." The studio’s latest project, Valor Mortis, illustrates these challenges. Originally slated for release on October 13, the game’s publishing journey has been a roller‑coaster. Ghostrunner and its sequel were released through Italy’s 505 Games, a subsidiary of Digital Bros.

However, Digital Bros announced a 30 percent workforce reduction in late 2023 as part of a broader restructuring, casting doubt on future support for mid‑tier titles. Valor Mortis was initially picked up by Private Division, the indie‑focused label under Take‑Two Interactive.

In early 2024, Take‑Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick signaled a strategic shift toward AAA blockbusters, stating, "We’re in the business of making great big hits." Consequently, Private Division scaled back its operations, and its catalog was sold, re‑emerging in 2025 as Fictions, now best known for publishing Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation. When the Private Division deal collapsed, One More Level briefly entertained self‑publishing. "We realized that if we wanted Valor Mortis to meet our quality standards, we needed a publishing partner with the right resources and distribution network," Ratusznik says. Enter Lyrical Games, a publishing venture spun out of the film company Lyrical Media—the same outfit behind the Hugh Jackman film The Death of Robin Hood.

Formed in 2025 by former Private Division executives Blake Rochkind and Roger Kurtz, Lyrical Games positions itself as an oasis for mid‑tier developers. "People tell us we’re an oasis in a desert, which is both flattering and a bit terrifying because we can only do so much," Rochkind told GamesIndustry.biz last year. He cited Clair Obscur as the archetype of the kind of title the label wants to champion. "If we could have a game like that in our catalog, it would be a dream come true." For One More Level, the timing was serendipitous.

"Blake and Roger remembered us and understood our vision for Valor Mortis," Ratusznik notes. "Their belief gave us a lifeline when we were on the brink of losing the project." At the time the studio sought funding, it employed roughly 40‑50 staff members.

Rather than resort to layoffs during the uncertain period, the team leaned on its own reserves. "We had saved enough from previous successes to keep the payroll running, which was a huge relief," Ratusznik explains. "It was a leap of faith, but we knew the team was our most valuable asset.

Cutting people would have been far more damaging in the long run." Today, the studio has grown to over 70 employees, though not all are assigned to Valor Mortis; some are already working on an undisclosed follow‑up title. Many AA studios supplement their core teams with external contractors for large‑scale tasks.

For example, Sandfall Interactive, which built the core of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with about 30 internal staff, relied heavily on outsourced talent. One More Level, however, prefers to keep production as internal as possible. Lead designer Łukasz Wabik explains, "We outsource QA and a few marketing assets, but the majority of art, design, and programming is done in‑house.

This helps us maintain a consistent vision and quality control." Looking ahead, the studio is prepared to expand further if Valor Mortis performs well. "Success would allow us to hire more people, but we don’t want to jump straight into AAA territory. We want to grow at a sustainable pace, keeping creative control and a cohesive culture," Ratusznik says.

Valor Mortis itself is a first‑person action RPG that blends influences from several celebrated franchises. Its combat system evokes the punishing boss encounters of Dark Souls, while its plasmid‑style abilities recall the power‑ups of BioShock.

The game’s most distinctive feature, however, is its setting: the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. By anchoring a horror‑infused, mutation‑laden narrative in a historically rich period, the developers aim to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. Ratusznik describes the creative process behind the setting choice.

"We wanted a backdrop that hadn’t been overused. Initially we toyed with a more fantasy‑laden, Bloodborne‑style world, but eventually we settled on the Napoleonic era because it offered a blend of recognisable history and dramatic conflict," he says. Early narrative pitches even imagined Napoleon himself possessed by an eldritch force.

The team later shifted toward a grounded, war‑driven horror story, retaining only subtle fantastical elements. "It’s less about a demon emperor conquering the world and more about the grim realities and supernatural horrors that could arise amid a real historical conflict," Ratusznik explains. First‑person swordplay, combined with the period‑specific aesthetic and mutated enemies, forms the core of Valor Mortis’s unique selling points.

"Our USP is the marriage of a historically inspired setting with visceral, first‑person combat and a touch of horror. Players get to experience a familiar epoch through a fresh, speculative lens," Ratusznik says.

"The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re excited to see how the community receives it when it finally launches." In summary, One More Level’s journey—from the triumph of Ghostrunner, through a precarious funding hiatus, to the rescue offered by a film‑industry‑born publisher—highlights both the fragility and the resilience of the AA sector. Their upcoming title, Valor Mortis, stands as a test case for whether mid‑tier games can continue to thrive when backed by publishers willing to take calculated risks. If the game succeeds, it could pave the way for more studios to pursue ambitious, high‑quality projects without having to chase the massive budgets traditionally reserved for AAA blockbusters.