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1348 Ex Voto aims to adapt the Italian medieval setting of the 14th century in narrative action-adventure, following the story of an unlikely roaming knight.
The medieval times have always had a lot of fascinating elements that made them a perfect fit for adaptations, especially videogames. There’s no denying that tales of roaming knights have always attracted huge crowds and I’m sure that most players may have fantasized being in that same role once or twice in their lives.
In reality, they were also considered one of the darkest timelines and definitely not an easy time setting to live in. This is something that we’ve already started to see reflected in several videogames that have taken inspiration from this period, with varying degrees of realism.
With 1348 Ex Voto, we’ll be able to see a glimpse of what could have probably happened during the 14th century in Italy, exploring areas that have not usually been focused on in mainstream media or adaptations in general.
XTgamer was able to attend a special media presentation of a brief gameplay session of this new ambitious game, developed in Unreal Engine 5 as a passion project by the small italian team of Sedleo. As an Italian myself, I was very curious to see it in action and was pleasantly surprised from what I’ve seen so far.
Let’s start by saying that 1348 Ex Voto doesn’t aim to be an incredibly realistic simulation of medieval times. You should not expect deep gameplay mechanics like in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, for example, but a production focused mostly on storytelling and action.
The developers have already anticipated that this will be an extremely linear game, comparing it to games like The Last of Us and Hellblade, both of which have been huge inspirations for their ways to combine a cinematic experience with engaging gameplay. The plan is to still let players have a bit of freedom during exploration, allowing them to find stuff like hidden items to collect and other tiny secrets, but there won’t be any “real” different path to take to move on with the story.
Players shouldn’t also expect a huge longevity. Sedleo admitted that this is going to be a very short game, so we can expect a certain level of care to enjoy the story without it potentially overstaying its welcome.
Speaking of which, the beginning of the game — which we were able to see in the presentation — already paves the way for a dramatic storytelling. We’ll be following the tale of Aeta, a young woman knight, during her quest to rescue her best friend Bianca after witnessing a castle being assaulted.
The relationship between the two protagonists, who will be interpreted respectively by Alby Baldwin and Jennifer English, is gonna be the main focus on the story, especially because there’s gonna be weird tensions due to their different backgrounds: while Aeta is a commoner, Bianca is instead part of the nobility.
Aeta also has a more masculine look, being often confused as a boy by her enemies. The developers compared her to Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, which also decided to disguise as a boy to encounter less trouble during her journey. So far we don’t know exactly how that will develop in the story of 1348 Ex Voto, but it’s definitely gonna be expanded upon in the full game once it’s released.
As previously mentioned, the game does not aim to be realistic, but it wants to be instead be considered as a “plausible” story that could have actually happened. For this reason, the developers hired several history consultants to ensure that the setting would be portrayed with authenticity. That will obviously include the plague that affected Italy during that time period, although it will just be referenced as a “background player”, not as a main protagonist of the story. To put it simply, you shouldn’t expect something like the A Plague Tale series from this game.
That being said, there’s gonna be some liberties in terms of gameplay. Some combat moves may not exclusively be from an Italian background, but may include stuff actually used in other countries like Germany. Again, these will just be little concessions done to just the game more engaging and that most players probably won’t be even able to notice.
As for the gameplay itself, it will focus entirely on us having a longsword with different stances: one-handed for faster movement and dodges and two-handed for a more imposing presence, focusing on parrying and stronger but slower attacks. Enemies we’ll encounter will obviously force us to switch stances on the fly, which will be as easy as pressing a button.
There will also be some elements of customization, like the ability to equip trinkets to change our stats and unlock new combat moves. Unfortunately this will not include different weapons, but the developer team is focusing on trying to make the fighting styles as dynamic as possible.
In case you were aiming for a more “authentic” experience, unfortunately it’s been confirmed that there’s going to be only an english voice acting — a choice justified not only by a smaller budget than most games, but also due to wanting to focus their efforts in making it the best experience possible for all players.
That being said, there will be some sort of “easter eggs” for Italian players, like certain words or swears being pronounced by our enemies — something that on paper still sounds very intriguing to me and that I want to see in action.
Final thoughts
Personally, what I’ve seen and heard so far seems to be ticking a box that has been gone unchecked for far too long: a modern take on the italian medieval times, that should be a fun ride for anyone interested in action-adventure games with emphasis on the story.
As the game is still in development — it should be released only in 2026 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S — we obviously saw an unfinished version of the prologue, but it already looks promising enough to be a potential hidden gem for fans of the genre.
If the combat gameplay will actually manage to be interesting enough from start to finish, this could indeed be a unique experience. I certainly hope that 1348 Ex Voto will be able to surpass expectations a bring us a new chivalric legend.