Protagonist
Valor Mortis William
You play William Dowsett, a Grande Armée soldier voiced by James Alexander.
How his fights work
Who William is
William Dowsett is the protagonist of Valor Mortis and the body you move in first person. He enlisted in the Grande Armée and was sent to fight for France in an alternate telling of the Napoleonic wars.
He dies quickly on that field. An unknown power puts him back on his feet among piles of bodies from both sides. The Europe he wakes to is not the Europe he sacrificed for. A plague has swept the continent, and allies can no longer tell friend from foe.
The corrupting power of that plague pulses through his veins. He spends it on attacks and on supernatural abilities rather than carrying it as a cutscene-only mark. His job after the grave is to cross that dark country and find out what the plague actually is.
He is the male protagonist, and you play him for the whole run. His full name is William Dowsett. Shorter lines often stop at William.
Who speaks, and who stands against him
James Alexander voices William Dowsett. That credit arrived on October 9 with the launch trailer. Vincent Cassel voices Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon is not a narrator in the margins. He reigns over the alternate 19th-century Europe where the war never quite ends.
Jennifer English voices The Shrike, credited alongside Cassel for launch. Napoleon's Eternal Guard are the plague-ridden abominations on the field. They are the shape of the army William served, turned.
The setting is a 19th-century alternate history scarred by endless war, not a straight retelling of one dated battle. The levels are Metroidvania-inspired, so William loops back through ground he has already bled on.
Death returns him to the last lantern checkpoint, and unused Catalysts drop when he dies. Those Catalysts buy stats, stamina, and health. You play William for the whole run.
The combat page covers the parry, the dash, and the gun that share his hands. Lothaire, Aurelius, and the Sphinx are the named walls on his route, and none of those three fights is optional.
What to read before the first lantern
Learn his name and the three voices before you memorize the weapons. The cast does not change how a parry is timed, but it tells you which lines are his. Expect the plague to be both the threat and the resource. Transmutations spend Nephtoglobin, the purple bar under health, and weak-spot breaks put that bar back.
Do not spend every Catalyst in the field. Whatever you have not spent drops on death, and the lantern is where spending happens. The first Amber slot waits until level 5, so the opening hours are William with a weapon and a power, not a full charm board.
The Saber is the named starter from the Alpha Demo Build. The heading spells it Saber and the body spells it Sabre. Either spelling is the same weapon. His grave is a battlefield grave. General Lothaire starts on the Battlefield and continues in the Valley of Ashes, during the quests Revival and Regroup.
That is the earliest boss ground tied to William's resurrection, and the fight is not optional. The ratings around him are adult: ESRB M, PEGI 18, and USK 18. The plague imagery and the fused soldiers are why, not a mild war adventure.
- Confirm you are William Dowsett, voiced by James Alexander.
- Expect Cassel as Napoleon and English as The Shrike.
- Spend Catalysts at a lantern. Unspent ones drop on death.
- Open combat before you chase a second playable name.