After spending three evenings in a row playing Sedleo's debut title 1348 Ex Voto, I still find myself left befuddled by the utter state that this game was released in. Dubbed as the "lesbian knight game," Ex Voto was marketed by its developers as a game that featured "historical European martial arts." Unfortunately, the combat itself was one of the biggest blunders in this game.
The combat mechanics are absolutely maddening, with no way to easily switch between targets when playing on mouse and keyboard. I only discovered by accident that you can press the number 1 and 2 keys to switch targets, but remapping to the mouse wheel was not an option. While enemies tend to wait turns to attack in similar fashion to Hellblade, the enemies would randomly take turns attacking from behind while the camera was still locked onto the original aggressor, leaving you no visibility to defend yourself.
The dodge/parry system is also wildly inaccurate, but once I was able to master the "jank," it quickly made the game easier and somehow less satisfying. It became more about "cheesing" the enemies than it was about mastering combos and perfecting parries. The inability to reallocate paper (skill points) was also extremely frustrating for a game released in 2026.
The movement mechanics in general are incredibly bad, with my character getting stuck in invisible walls, stumbling over the slightest change in terrain, and being unable to grab ledges after multiple attempts. Beyond the movement, the environment looked like a small fortune in predeveloped assets that were simply thrown into the game as placeholders, with no NPCs, animals, or interactivity anywhere to be found, other than the occasional pushing of a box or cart to solve a puzzle.
The enemy variety is incredibly lacking, with the same face, weapon and outfit combos appearing numerous times in the game. The few characters who do have unique designs are somehow worse, with playable protagonist Aeta and her love Bianca having some of the most ungodly facial animations I have seen in a game. Watching these characters speak makes me suffer secondhand embarrassment for the developers.
Somehow, the story is the worst part. The concept of a female "knight errant" in the year 1348 is laughable enough, but to watch her cut through men easily twice her weight covered in plate armor is beyond immersion breaking. The quest to save Bianca from brigands turns into a fight against religious zealots, culminating in innumerable battles against fully armored soldiers, only to discover that Bianca (spoiler) was somehow the leader of the brigands all along.
While it's unclear who this game was actually intended for, it certainly wasn't made for me. Which is a shame, because I love dark, medieval fantasy settings, and also really enjoyed the narrative driven experience of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. This game will likely be the first and last for indie studio Sedleo, and they only have themselves (and a really obnoxious social media manager) to blame.
My score: 3.5/10
-Minimal Effort Live on YouTube
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