With Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its stellar sequel gathering a legion of fans, and the Plague Tale games offering epic dark fantasy on a double-A budget, the medieval genre has found fresh momentum.
1348 Ex Voto (from the Latin ex voto suscepto, meaning “from the vow made”) rides that wave with a tale of revenge sweeping across the fields and castles of 14th century Tuscany.
Unfortunately, developer Sedleo’s ambitious attempt to tell an intimate story within an epic setting falls short, held back by uneven presentation and truly awful combat.
The story couldn’t be simpler. Aeta’s life as a fledgling knight is thrown into turmoil when her town is raided by brigands. With her companion Bianca abducted, she sets out across the countryside in pursuit of her captors.
What follows is a linear trek through countryside, mountains, and castles as Aeta makes allies in her search for Bianca and cuts down roving packs of enemies with her knightly skills.
Combat is the only real activity in 1348, aside from walking, so the fighting needed to be solid. That isn’t the case.
When Aeta faces an enemy, the camera zooms in to create a duelling perspective. Blocking and dodging act as your main defence, though the dodge leaves a lot to be desired.
Offensively, you rely on one- and two-handed combos. When timed well, they chip away at an enemy’s guard and leave them vulnerable once their defence breaks.
Combat looks good initially and has the potential for cinematic spectacle. That potential is squandered by tedious repetition and an utterly broken targeting system.
Aeta will automatically focus on an enemy, but whether she zones in on the most appropriate attacker is a complete dice roll. Often you’ll completely whiff a hit because aim swapped at the last second, resulting in the enemy you missed catching you in a nasty combo.
That’s not the only issue with fighting. Defending after executing a combo can have completely inconsistent timing, gifting hits to the enemy. Then there are the brigands themselves, who sometimes materialise out of thin air mid-fight.
It’s a shame that combat in 1348 is such a chore, because there isn’t anything else to do during Aeta’s quest. There are some gorgeous environments here, with lush fields and vast mountainsides, but all you’ll be doing in them is walking through corridors, with occasional forks in the road to find upgrades.
Finally, the overall technical execution leaves a lot to be desired. This is an indie title, so certain dispensations can be made. However, a wildly inconsistent frame rate, constant texture pop-in, and a truly bizarre facial animation system test the patience more than most low budget releases.
