1348 Ex Voto review – stunning medieval misery in the style of Kingdom Come

With a bowl cut of terrifying precision and a vow that defies 14th-century gender roles, can 1348 Ex Voto beat Kingdom Come: Deliverance at its own game?

When I heard about an upcoming third-person action adventure set in 14th century Italy, my interest was immediately piqued. I’ve always had an interest in history and being both Italian and a great fan of the Kingdom Come franchise, 1348 Ex Voto seemed like it was made just for me.

You play as Aeta, a young noble and aspiring knight with a penchant for chivalric deeds. Raised on her father’s lessons of honesty and respect, and her mother’s encouragement to be herself, Aeta has claimed the title of knight despite the gender roles of the era. But it is 1348 and Italy is being ravaged by the deadliest wave of the Black Death, as well as briganti (bandits) and religious extremists filling the power vacuum.

Early promotional material from indie developer Sedleo promised a dark setting, a glorious haircut (don’t come at me in the comments, de gustibus!), and a mysterious pledge (from the titular Ex Voto, Latin for ‘according to a vow’).

In practice, the premise is much more intimate. After your town is attacked by brigands, you discover that Bianca – a young servant at your castle, and the person you love the most – is in danger, and you must help her. What follows is a desperate quest to bring her to safety and fulfil the oath you’ve made: ‘Bianca, you are all that is left to me… I shall save you. This, I vow.’

Unfortunately, my excitement was quickly dampened. One of the culprits is a claustrophobic, offset camera angle that sticks far too close to Aeta’s shoulder. On more than one occasion, I died cornered in a bush before I could even work out what was happening.

Then there’s the combat, a rhythmic affair built entirely around timing and guard breaking. Whether you’re facing a lowly bandit or a major boss, the loop remains the same: block or dodge until the opening appears. This makes it very repetitive and frustrating; I almost entirely gave up during a key fight against a relentless enemy and his flails.

On top of that, the lack of flexibility in the lock-on system results in a clumsy scramble. There is nothing more infuriating than perfectly timing a chain of attacks only for Aeta to abruptly pivot toward a secondary enemy, resetting your combo and leaving you wide open.

Sedleo reportedly collaborated with industry experts to ground the combat in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), then animated it with the help of trained performance capture actors. It’s a noble pursuit, but in the transition from the mo-cap suite to mouse click, the execution falters. The animations feel stiff and unresponsive in practice, further exacerbated by the game’s poor technical state, at least on PC.

Despite my PC meeting the recommended specs, I experienced frequent stutters and frame rate drops. While I didn’t encounter any hard crashes, the sluggish performance makes the precision required for parrying (a skill you can only acquire later on) feel like guesswork.

It doesn’t help that the game starts with some very questionable facial animation, that look like they belong in a different decade. It is a disappointing result, particularly given that the Xbox version was cancelled so the team could focus on ‘the best experience’ for PC and PlayStation.

The voice talent is genuinely top-tier, though. Alby Baldwin (of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child fame) brings a soulful grit to Aeta and Baldur’s Gate 3 star Jennifer English is characteristically excellent as Bianca. They do a lot of heavy lifting for the script, but even the best performances struggle to shine when the gameplay underneath is this unpolished.

Medieval Italy looks fantastic, despite all the dead bodies. Built in Unreal Engine 5, 1348 Ex Voto presents a stunningly detailed rendition of the 14th century. There are quaint chapels, towering ruins in the Apennine Mountains, and charming villages at dusk. At its best, the look resembles A Plague Tale: Requiem, but the visual experience overall is closer to Kingdom Come: Deliverance pre-next gen update, a game that’s now eight years old.

While the developer isn’t strictly aiming for a historical simulation, there is a clear love for the era’s aesthetic. Despite its inconsistencies, I enjoyed the costume design and Aeta’s travelling attire. It’s best to view 1348 Ex Voto as a stylised medieval drama rather than a digital history lesson; it prioritises ‘vibes’ over rigorous accuracy and, for the most part, the art direction makes that an easy trade-off to accept.

However, as beautiful as the costumes and vistas are, the game’s scope as a linear action adventure means you’re often funnelled through ‘look but don’t touch’ environments that feel more like a high-end museum exhibit than a lived-in world.

In its Steam description, 1348 Ex Voto is characterised as a ‘cinematic’ game. It’s an apt term for a world that runs on well-defined rails. The focus is entirely on the central narrative and cut scenes at the end of each chapter, meaning the exploration feels quite empty.

There are no side quests and very little in the way of optional lore, beyond some surface-level background on the bubonic plague and the lives of Catholic saints. Some players may be relieved, but for me this didn’t help the feeling of a long rescue quest that overstays its welcome.

While a certain amount of poking around is required to find scrolls (used to unlock new skills), trinkets (items that provide special effects), or sword parts to upgrade combat, the world itself feels strikingly hollow. You can blame the plague or the local bandits for the lack of other people being around, but the total absence of world-building or ambient storytelling makes it difficult to fully buy into Aeta’s plight.

Formats: PC (reviewed) and PlayStation 5
Price: £21.99
Publisher: Dear Villagers
Developer: Sedleo
Release Date: 12th March 2026
Age Rating: 16

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