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 title, the 2020 cyber‑punk action platformer Ghostrunner, earned glowing reviews and moved an impressive 5.6 million copies worldwide, according to estimates from Video Game Insights, and a sequel followed in 2023.
Despite these successes, the broader AA market is under pressure. In recent years, investment streams have thinned just as competition has intensified, prompting smaller publishers to gravitate toward ultra‑low‑budget projects under $1 million, while the industry giants double‑down on evergreen, high‑revenue franchises.
Even with blockbuster‑level sales from AA hits such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, securing financing for a mid‑tier game remains a steep climb. "We had the massive hit of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 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 33‑type successes before the skeptics change their tune.
One hit isn’t enough. There are plenty of studios capable of delivering high‑quality AA titles without blowing hundreds of millions of dollars." Ratusznik adds that modern development tools enable studios to produce better games faster and, in some cases, more cheaply, but they cannot eliminate the need for a reasonable development schedule. "We can iterate quicker, but you still need time for polishing and testing.
I doubt we can compress a year‑long cycle into a few months just because a publisher wants it that way." One More Level’s journey to find a publishing partner for its upcoming title Valor Mortis, slated for release on 13 October, has been a roller‑coaster. Ghostrunner and its sequel were released through 505 Games, an Italian label owned by Digital Bros, which announced a 30 percent workforce reduction in late 2023 as part of a restructuring plan.
For Valor Mortis, the studio initially signed with Private Division, a Take‑Two subsidiary focused on indie‑ish projects. However, in 2024 Take‑Two began pulling back from mid‑tier publishing to concentrate on AAA blockbusters, with CEO Strauss Zelnick stating, "We’re in the business of making great big hits." Private Division’s catalogue was eventually sold, and the label re‑emerged in 2025 as Fictions, now behind titles such as Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation.
When the Private Division deal fell apart, Ratusznik says the team briefly entertained self‑publishing. "We quickly realized that if we want to keep the quality bar we set for Valor Mortis, we need a publisher’s support," he notes. Enter Lyrical Games, a publishing venture spun out of the film company Lyrical Media—the same outfit that produced Hugh Jackman’s The Death of Robin Hood.
Founded in 2025 by former Private Division executives Blake Rochkind and Roger Kurtz, Lyrical Games is one of the few publishers deliberately targeting the mid‑tier, AA niche. "People tell us we’re an oasis in the desert, which is both flattering and intimidating," Rochkind told GamesIndustry.biz last year. He cited Clair Obscur as the archetype of the kind of project Lyrical Games wants to champion.
"Having a title like that under our label would be a dream." The timing proved fortuitous for One More Level. "Blake and Roger remembered us and were already familiar with the project," Ratusznik says.
At the time the studio was operating with roughly 40‑50 employees while seeking funding for Valor Mortis. Rather than resort to layoffs during the uncertain period, the team leaned on reserves accumulated from earlier successes.
"We had enough savings to ride out the storm without cutting staff, which was a hard but necessary leap of faith," Ratusznik explains. "A stable, cohesive team is priceless; it’s far easier to build a team than to rebuild it after it’s been broken." As the launch window approaches, the studio has expanded to more than 70 staff members, though not all are assigned to Valor Mortis—some are already working on a yet‑to‑be‑announced project. Many AA studios supplement their core teams with external contractors for larger undertakings; for instance, Sandfall Interactive relied heavily on outside talent while developing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. One More Level, however, prefers to keep most production in‑house.
Lead designer Łukasz Wabik notes, "We outsource QA and a few marketing assets, but the bulk of art, design, and programming stays inside the studio." Looking ahead, Ratusznik says a successful launch could trigger further hiring, but the studio aims to grow organically rather than leap straight into AAA‑scale operations. "If Valor Mortis does well, we’ll likely add headcount, but we don’t want to lose the control and culture that define us," he says. Valor Mortis is a first‑person action RPG that blends influences from several well‑known franchises.
Its combat feels reminiscent of Dark Souls, with punishing bosses and a death‑penalty system that drops items upon defeat, while its plasmid‑style abilities echo BioShock’s power‑up mechanics. The game’s distinctiveness, however, lies in its setting: the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Ratusznik explains that the team deliberately avoided overused fantasy tropes, opting instead for a historical backdrop that could be twisted with speculative elements. "We initially toyed with a concept where Napoleon himself was possessed by an evil force, but we shifted toward a more grounded narrative.
The horror‑infused, mutation‑laden version of the Napoleonic era felt fresh while still allowing us to explore the brutal realities of war." The first‑person swordplay, combined with the period‑specific aesthetic and subtle supernatural touches, forms the core of Valor Mortis’s unique selling points. "Our USPs are the setting, the combat, and the horror‑flavored twists on a familiar era," Ratusznik says. "Players will recognize the historical context, yet the mutations and eerie atmosphere give it a new flavor that we’re proud of." In summary, One More Level’s saga illustrates both the challenges and opportunities facing AA developers today. With a track record of high‑quality releases, a resilient team, and a publisher that believes in the mid‑tier market, the studio hopes Valor Mortis will prove that AA titles can still capture both critical acclaim and commercial viability, encouraging publishers to place renewed faith in the segment.