Over the last dozen years, the Warsaw‑based studio One More Level has built a reputation for delivering AA‑level experiences that often rival the polish of full‑blown AAA releases. Their breakout hit, the 2020 cyber‑punk action platformer Ghostrunner, was praised by critics and sold roughly 5.6 million copies according to Video Game Insights, prompting a sequel in 2023. Despite these successes, the middle‑tier segment of the industry is currently under pressure. Investment has dried up while competition has intensified, prompting many smaller publishers to back projects with budgets under $1 million, whereas the major players pour resources into evergreen, blockbuster franchises.
Even high‑selling AA titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 struggle to secure financing, illustrating how difficult it is for mid‑range games to find backers. "Our massive hit with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 proved the model works, yet publishers still view the AA space as risky," explains Radek Ratusznik, One More Level’s game director, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom. "We’ll probably need a handful of Expedition‑type successes before the sceptics are convinced. One hit isn’t enough.
There are plenty of studios capable of delivering strong AA products without blowing hundreds of millions of dollars." Ratusznik adds that modern development tools allow studios to produce higher‑quality games more quickly and at lower cost, but they cannot simply rush a title to market without sacrificing polish. "You can accelerate certain pipelines, but you still need time for proper testing and iteration. I doubt we can compress a full production into a single year just because some publishers would like us to," he says.
The studio’s newest project, Valor Mortis, has been a roller‑coaster in terms of publishing arrangements. Ghostrunner and its sequel were released through Italy’s 505 Games, a subsidiary of Digital Bros, which announced a 30 % workforce reduction in late 2023 as part of a restructuring plan.
For Valor Mortis, One More Level first signed with indie label Private Division, but Take‑Two Interactive, Private Division’s parent, began scaling back the label in 2024, with CEO Strauss Zelnick emphasizing a focus on AAA blockbusters: "We’re in the business of making great big hits." Private Division’s catalog was eventually sold and the label re‑emerged in 2025 as Fictions, now best known for publishing Game Freak’s recent Beast of Reincarnation. When the Private Division deal fell apart, One More Level briefly considered self‑publishing Valor Mortis. "We quickly realized that to achieve the quality we envisioned, we needed a publishing partner," Ratusznik admits.
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 a rare oasis for mid‑tier projects.
"People say we’re an oasis in a desert, which is both flattering and a bit scary because we can only do so much," Rochkind told GamesIndustry.biz last year. He cited Clair Obscur as the sort of title he’d love to see under the label’s banner. Timing proved fortuitous for One More Level. "We were lucky that Blake and Roger remembered us and understood the project inside out," Ratusznik notes.
At the time the studio was operating with roughly 40‑50 employees and faced a precarious financial outlook. Rather than resort to layoffs, the team leaned on savings accumulated from earlier successes. "It was a leap of faith, but we believed in our people.
It’s far easier to dismantle a well‑built team than to rebuild one," he says. Since then the studio has expanded to over 70 staff members, though not all are dedicated to Valor Mortis; a portion is already engaged on a separate, unannounced title.
Many AA developers supplement their core teams with external contractors for large‑scale tasks – Sandfall Interactive, for example, relied heavily on outside help while building Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. One More Level, however, strives to keep most production in‑house. Lead designer Łukasz Wabik explains, "We outsource QA and a few marketing‑related assets, but the bulk of art, design, and programming stays inside the studio." Looking ahead, the studio says a strong launch for Valor Mortis could trigger further hiring, but they intend to grow organically rather than leap straight into AAA territory.
"If the game succeeds, we’ll scale up, but we don’t want to abandon our identity and become a massive AAA outfit overnight," Ratusznik asserts. "Control and culture matter as much as headcount." Valor Mortis is a first‑person action RPG that blends familiar mechanics with fresh thematic choices. Its combat draws inspiration from Dark Souls‑style boss encounters and the penalty system where items are dropped upon death, while its plasmid‑like abilities echo BioShock’s power‑up system. The most distinctive element is its setting: the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century.
The team deliberately chose an era that is rarely explored in modern games to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. Ratusznik explains the research process: "We wanted a period that hadn’t been overused. Initially we toyed with a more fantastical, Bloodborne‑like vibe, but eventually settled on the Napoleonic era because it felt both recognizable and ripe for reinterpretation." Early narrative pitches even imagined Napoleon himself possessed by an eldritch force, but the final story took a more grounded approach. "We kept some fantasy threads, but we moved away from a demon‑Napoleon scenario toward a horror‑infused, historically anchored tale that examines the brutality of war," Ratusznik says.
The result is a blend of period‑accurate aesthetics, mutated creatures, and a horror atmosphere that aims to feel both familiar and novel. First‑person swordplay serves as another unique selling point.
"Our USP is the combination of a historical backdrop, horror elements, and visceral melee combat," Ratusznik notes. "Players get to experience a recognizable slice of history with a twist – mutated enemies, eerie environments, and a narrative that feels fresh despite its familiar setting." In summary, One More Level’s journey illustrates both the challenges and opportunities facing AA developers today. With a track record of high‑quality releases, a resilient team, and a new partnership with a film‑industry‑born publisher, the studio hopes Valor Mortis will prove that mid‑tier games can still capture both critical acclaim and commercial viability, ultimately encouraging publishers to place renewed faith in the AA segment.