1348 EX VOTO: WHEN THE PEN STRIKES DEEPER THAN THE SWORD

1348 Ex Voto: A Flawed but Gripping Medieval Masterpiece

It is becoming increasingly rare to find indie developers willing to take massive risks on purely narrative-driven, linear action-adventure games. In an industry currently dominated by sprawling open worlds and endless live-service models, a tightly focused, five-to-six-hour story is a breath of fresh air. 1348 Ex Voto, developed by Sedleo and published by Dear Villagers, is precisely that—a game that screams love and dedication from its opening cinematic right down to the final credit roll.

Releasing in March 2026 for the PlayStation 5 and PC, 1348 Ex Voto is not a massive, hundred-hour epic. It is a highly condensed, emotionally charged journey. If you want a quick point of reference, imagine the psychological weight and atmospheric dread of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice mixed with the gritty, historical grounding of the A Plague Tale series. While it certainly possesses its fair share of mechanical shortcomings, its powerful narrative is perfectly capable of overshadowing those flaws, making it one of the most memorable short-form adventures of the year.

A Tale of Chivalry, Love, and Devastating Betrayal

We need to get one fundamental truth out of the way immediately: 1348 Ex Voto is far from a mechanically flawless video game. However, what it lacks in gameplay refinement, it more than makes up for by telling a genuinely spectacular story.

Set against the backdrop of 14th-century Italy—a grim period historically defined by the peak of the Black Death—the narrative weaves themes of forbidden love, the harsh realities of medieval chivalry, and the seemingly insurmountable societal climb for marginalized individuals. You step into the armor of Aeta, a young woman hailing from a fallen noble family. Despite the strict, patriarchal norms of 1348 Italy heavily dictating otherwise, Aeta is fiercely determined to become a knight.

Her routine training sessions are abruptly cut short when her town falls victim to a brutal, devastating attack. The raid leaves most of the townsfolk dead and results in the capture of her closest friend, a postulant named Bianca. Bound by duty, love, and a freshly sworn oath, Aeta sets out to either rescue her companion or avenge her death.

If you think this sounds like a standard "rescue the damsel in distress" trope, prepare to have your expectations thoroughly subverted. As Aeta’s journey progresses, a series of stunning revelations forces her to realize that nothing is as it seems. What begins as a straightforward quest fueled by compassion and medieval chivalry rapidly descends into a dark, twisting story of self-discovery and bitter betrayal. The narrative constantly challenges everything Aeta once held true, resulting in a hurricane of emotions that will easily keep you glued to your screen.

World-Class Voice Acting

A brilliant script is nothing without the right talent to deliver it, and the voice acting in 1348 Ex Voto elevates the entire experience to a premium tier. Alby Baldwin delivers a staggering performance as Aeta. Whether she is engaging in tense dialogue with other characters or quietly muttering observational monologues to herself while exploring the ruins of Italy, Baldwin brings the character to life with an incredible level of nuance and emotional weight.

Equally impressive is Jennifer English—who recently took home the Best Performance Award for her role as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—lending her voice to Bianca. English’s performance is nothing short of spectacular, ensuring that the emotional anchor of Aeta’s quest feels universally authentic. The supporting cast is similarly well-directed, guaranteeing that you actually care about the fates of the people you encounter along the way.

Stances, Steel, and Linear Paths: The Gameplay Loop

While the story soars, the gameplay in 1348 Ex Voto stays decidedly grounded. The mechanics are not particularly robust, leaning heavily into a streamlined experience that splits its time between melee combat and very light, almost non-existent exploration.

The Stance-Based Combat System

Your only weapon throughout the game is a trusty sword, though it features a surprisingly deep customization system. Through exploration, you can find different pommels, guards, handles, and blades to alter your weapon's stats and appearance.

The combat itself relies on a stance system, requiring players to seamlessly swap between one-handed and two-handed grips. Each stance features its own unique combos and special moves, giving the swordplay a rhythmic, tactical feel. Defensively, you rely on a standard dodge and a parry mechanic that you unlock via the game's minimal skill tree.

Once you engage a group of enemies, the game hard-locks you into an arena until every threat is neutralized. Early on, you will face one or two soldiers at a time, allowing you to master the guard-break system. Similar to Sekiro, both Aeta and her enemies possess a "guard bar" alongside a traditional health bar. Depleting an enemy's guard leaves them staggered and vulnerable to massive damage. Conversely, if Aeta’s guard breaks, she is left wide open. Health is replenished by consuming various provisions scavenged throughout the environment.

The difficulty curve is relatively flat, and the game does not offer selectable difficulty modes. It is incredibly generous with its checkpoint system, spawning you right outside of an encounter if you happen to fall in battle. However, the combat system begins to show its cracks in the late game. When the game decides to overwhelm you by throwing large groups of enemies your way, the targeting and defensive mechanics struggle to keep up, leading to frustrating, unavoidable damage.

The Boss Fight Disappointment

The absolute lowest points of 1348 Ex Voto are its boss fights. Fortunately, there are only three bosses spread across the game's nine chapters, but they lay bare every single flaw in the combat engine.

The hitboxes during these encounters are wildly inconsistent. Rather than feeling like a test of your mastery over the stance system, the bosses rely on unimaginative attack spamming, leaving you almost no breathing room to react or strategize. These encounters aren't necessarily hard; they are just tedious and mood-killing. Defeating a boss yields relief rather than satisfaction—a feeling that the chore is finally over.

Exploration: A Beautiful but Restricted Italy

If you enjoy getting lost in sprawling maps, you will need to adjust your expectations here. 1348 Ex Voto is unapologetically linear. The level design pushes you forward through a very narrow corridor, and the few deviations from the beaten path are so heavily telegraphed that a complete novice wouldn't miss them.

Down these short branching paths, you will find a handful of collectibles: provisions, sword parts, trinkets that offer minor passive buffs, and treasures with somewhat ambiguous uses. Compounding the strict linearity is the lack of a chapter-select feature. Once you complete a level, you are locked out of it forever on that save file. Given how little there is to actually find, the lack of backtracking isn't a massive loss, but it does limit the game's overall replayability.

Visuals and Performance: A Mixed Bag on PS5

What the environments lack in structural freedom, they make up for in sheer artistic beauty. 1348 Ex Voto captures the romantic, tragic essence of Medieval Italy beautifully.

The developers utilized lighting to brilliant effect. The contrast between bright, sun-drenched Italian meadows and pitch-black, claustrophobic dungeons is striking. The outdoor biomes are the star of the visual presentation; wandering through rolling hills dotted with ancient olive trees or vast, overgrown vineyards often caused me to stop and simply admire the vista. While the facial animations of the characters are merely adequate, the enemy armor designs—particularly the gleaming, heavy plate of the late-game knights—look spectacular.

The Performance Woes

Unfortunately, the technical performance on the PlayStation 5 is the game's most glaring objective flaw. 1348 Ex Voto is hard-locked at 30 Frames Per Second (FPS). While a 30 FPS cap is acceptable for a slow-paced, cinematic narrative game, the optimization leaves a lot to be desired.

Prior to the day-one patch, the game suffered from severe visual glitches. While the patch fixed the worst offenders—like entire forests failing to load or character models clipping wildly—the frame rate still struggles in high-intensity moments. One specific boss fight involving heavy fire particle effects caused the frame rate to tank so severely that the game bordered on unplayable. Sedleo desperately needs to address these optimization issues in future patches to preserve the integrity of the experience.

The Final Verdict

1348 Ex Voto is a game of stark contrasts. It pairs an incredible, emotionally resonant narrative and top-tier voice acting with a clunky boss design, strict linearity, and noticeable performance hiccups on the PS5.

Yet, despite its obvious flaws, it is a game that is incredibly easy to recommend. At a modest price point of $24.99, its 5-to-6-hour runtime feels perfectly paced. It doesn't overstay its welcome, nor does it pad its length with meaningless fetch quests.

If you are a player who prioritizes a gripping, mature storyline, historical atmospheres, and character-driven drama over flawless combat mechanics, Aeta’s heartbreaking journey through 14th-century Italy will stay with you long after the credits roll.