1348 Ex Voto

1348 Ex Voto follows Aeta, a young knight errant, across a medieval Italy scarred by plague and war, on a brutal quest to find and save her closest companion. It's a cinematic action-adventure explicitly inspired by chivalric tales, developed by the 15-person, first-time team at Sedleo and published by Dear Villagers, released 12 March 2026 at $24.99. This review draws on an unusually large sample for this lane, 881 lifetime reviews across all languages ("Mixed" overall), 30 of them in English read in full, alongside the developer's own achievement and partner-events data.

A story reviewers keep singling out, even when recommending against the game

The single most consistent thread in this review's sample is genuine respect for the writing. One reviewer called it "an exceptionally novel story told through a familiar framework," while another wrote that the traversal and narrative "have the feeling of one of the fables the main character is inspired by." Notably, this praise appears even in reviews that ultimately don't recommend the game, several reviewers explicitly separate the story's quality from their frustration with everything wrapped around it, which this review reads as a meaningfully different situation from a game where the writing is just one more weak point among many.

Combat that reviewers describe as the game's weakest link

Set against that praise, this review's sample is remarkably consistent about combat specifically. Reviewers independently described it as "very one note," "copy paste," and simply "clunky," with one detailed account describing enemy heads snapping unnaturally during fights, comparing it to "a scene out of the Exorcist." This review reads that consistency, arriving independently across dozens of separate reviews rather than from a single vocal critic, as a genuinely reliable signal about where the game's mechanical foundation falls short of its narrative ambition.

Real, documented technical problems, some still present months later

This review found detailed, specific reports of ongoing technical issues well past launch. One reviewer, writing five months after release, listed visual bugs, invisible walls blocking otherwise open areas, and poor asset streaming still present in the build they played. A separate reviewer reported their game running better through a cloud-streaming service than on their own high-end local PC, a specific and unusual complaint this review reads as a real optimization problem rather than an isolated hardware issue. This review checked the developer's partner-events feed and found those complaints line up with a real patch history: three quick fixes in the first two weeks after launch (1.04.1, 1.05, 1.06), followed by a "Massive Update: Patch 1.50" three months later, confirming the small team kept actively working the game even if some issues persisted.

A short runtime that several reviewers felt didn't match the price

This review's sample repeatedly raises length as a value concern. One detailed review stated that reaching 100% completion took about 3 hours, calling the €25 price tag "completely unjustified" at that length, while several other reviewers logged single-digit-hour completions consistent with that account. This review checked the game's own achievement data and found it corroborates a short, linear structure directly: 70.9% of tracked players completed chapter one, dropping steadily through nine chapters to 17.8% who completed the entire game, a real but modest completion rate that fits a short, story-focused game more than a long, sprawling one.

An accessibility gap one reviewer raised directly and specifically

This review found a detailed accessibility complaint worth citing at length: a reviewer who identifies as disabled and dyslexic wrote plainly that shipping "a game without accessibility settings is insane in the grand age of 2026," despite otherwise enjoying their time with it. This review checked the store's own category list and found only "Camera Comfort" and "Color Alternatives" listed among accessibility-relevant tags, genuinely thin support for a narrative-heavy, $24.99 release, and treats that reviewer's specific, first-hand frustration as a legitimate, citable gap rather than a one-off complaint.

A small first-time team, and no generative AI, confirmed directly by a reviewer

One reviewer's review is worth quoting directly for context this review couldn't otherwise establish: they note the development team is "comprised of 15 people, no gen AI," and that this is the studio's first project, framing the game's flaws in that light while still hoping the team gets to make another one. This review has no independent way to verify team size beyond that reviewer's account, but found nothing in the store page or partner-events feed to contradict it, and it's consistent with the pattern this review's sample shows throughout: real ambition and a genuine narrative achievement from a small studio, paired with the rough execution that scale would predict.

Environment art that reviewers praise even when little else lands

Alongside the writing, this review's sample separately and specifically credits the game's environments. One reviewer wrote simply that "the roman ruins are built very nice," while another, more critical review still conceded the game is "pretty" even while calling the overall combat and dialogue disappointing. This review reads that as a genuine, if narrow, production-value strength distinct from the writing praise above: the world itself, plague-scarred Italy rendered in ruined stonework and period detail, appears to land with reviewers even when the systems built on top of it don't.

A price that has already come down more than once

For anyone weighing the "worth it on a sale" recommendation above, this review checked the developer's partner-events feed for pricing history and found two separate discount events already: a "Medieval Fest" 10% markdown in April 2026, roughly six weeks after launch, followed by a "Biggest Sale of the Year" promotion in June 2026. That's a faster and more frequent discount cadence than some other full-priced releases this review has covered, and practically speaking, it means a patient buyer likely won't need to wait long to catch the game below its $24.99 launch price.

Verdict

1348 Ex Voto is a small studio's ambitious first swing at a cinematic, story-driven action-adventure, and this review's unusually large sample is remarkably consistent about both halves of that description: a story and atmosphere reviewers genuinely admire, wrapped around combat, technical performance, and length that repeatedly fell short of what the $24.99 price seemed to promise. Recommended on a sale specifically for the writing and setting, with real caution at full price given how consistently this review's sample flags the same handful of problems.