1348 Ex Voto Review: Jank of Arc

pleasuremandarya@gmail.com 12/03/2026

0 12 7 minutes read

1348 Ex Voto is a love story that tries to blossom under impossible circumstances, however its story is brought down by a series of technical and design problems, which indicate that it was not a good fit for the video game format.

An adventure game set in Medieval Italy. The player takes the role of Aeta, a king and a knight, who has fallen for Bianca, who will be sent to a convent. Outlaws sack their town, abducting Bianca just in time, sending Aeta on a bloody quest to avenge her slain people and reclaim her lost love.

The 50 Best Indie Games of All Time

Forget the blockbuster AAA games! We want plucky little indies!

Unveiled at the August 2025 Future Games Show, 1348 Ex Voto quickly made a name for itself, an action game about a strange romance in ancient times. Fans became even more interested when it was revealed that Jennifer English was playing one of the lead roles, which caused an increase in wishlists on Steam.

1348 Ex Voto certainly has an interesting premise, but that alone isn’t enough to carry the game. Unfortunately, 1348 Ex Voto fails on many fronts, both in terms of narrative mechanics and gameplay.

1348 Ex Voto is about Love Trying to Bloom Under Impossible Circumstances

At its core, 1348 Ex Voto is a love story, which always seems unlikely to have a happy ending. Not only would Aeta and Bianca’s relationship be forbidden because they are both women (considering the time/place the play is set in), but the plague is killing many people, causing an increase in lawlessness.

The highlight of 1348 Ex Voto is the voice acting, with Alby Baldwin and Jennifer English knocking it out of the park as Aeta and Bianca. They sell their unspoken love for pure love, and their scenes almost make 1348 Ex Voto worth the price of admission.

10 Best AA Games With Indie Game Vibes

All the fun stuff of an indie game, but with bigger teams and bigger budgets.

The problem, however, lies in their character models. One of the biggest problems with 1348 Ex Voto is the facial animation. For whatever reason, all the characters have big mouths, like the CGI maw of the Mouth of Sauron in the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

For whatever reason, all the characters have big mouths, like the CGI maw of the Mouth of Sauron in the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

There’s a “90’s CGI music video character” that’s very disturbing and put-down, with a distinctly mysterious village feel during all the dialogue scenes. This is the biggest problem with 1348 Ex Voto, and it’s shocking that the game introduces such bad-looking character models.

Just to be clear: only mouths look bad. Well, Bianca’s hair has dodgy physics, but that’s a little forgivable. 1348 Ex Voto’s Evil doesn’t feel like a meaningful design choice, and if it was, it was a bad one, as it detracts from some extremely powerful scenes between two great characters.

The World of 1348 Ex Voto is Beautiful (And Often Confusing)

1348 Ex Voto’s story involves Aeta traveling across Italy in search of Bianca, which means you get to see one of the game’s highlights: its stages. There are many amazing vistas to see in 1348 Ex Voto, and many small details in the cities that bring them to life.

There are several times when I find myself stopping to take in the beauty of the surroundings at 1348 Ex Voto. Obviously, a lot of work went into making the locations feel true to time and place. This meant that Bianca had to wait, because I was busy taking screenshots.

There are several times when I find myself stopping to take in the beauty of the surroundings at 1348 Ex Voto.

The only problem is with the levels themselves, as they can have confusing designs because the areas look the same. I got lost in too many places, due to the lack of a small map or the solution of a cross-country puzzle was not in sight. There were many times when I didn’t realize that I had to progress by jumping to the edge because it was connected to the whole area.

Metroidvanias Have Deeper Combat Systems Than First Appear

10 Metroidvanias have much deeper combat systems than they first appear

You start out doing only horizontal attacks and end up being omnipotent.

1348 Ex Voto is not a very long game, where I played for about 10 hours. However, my experiencemost It’s easy to go back and forth through the stage looking for a way you might have missed, since you went the way forward because it was so hard to see the first time.

Combat in 1348 Ex Voto is tough

At its core, 1348 Ex Voto is a fighting game. Aeta must draw hordes of bandits and enemy soldiers, all wielding a single sword. You don’t get to change weapons in 1348 Ex Voto, but there are customization options that can be found in every category that can improve the blade.

1348 Ex Voto uses two sword styles: one-handed and two-handed, where the player can block and dodge attacks. The aim is for the player to use a combination of these options to deal with their enemies, block attacks and follow their own swords.

The main problem is that combat only allows one way of playing: defense. If the player tries to launch an attack, the enemy will always fire a quick blow, which stuns them. The only way to succeed is to block and avoid the attack until the enemy finishes their combo, then gets a few hits during their cooldown phase.

The fight in 1348 Ex Voto is inferior to Sekiro: Shadows Die Double and many Homer Simpson boxing games, where you have to wait for the enemy to bother hitting you. This wouldn’t be a problem if a few tough enemies were banned, but they are all enemies in the game, including bosses. There is no exception to the enemy type — it is always based mostly on defense, with the player attacking afterwards.

The fight in 1348 Ex Voto is inferior to Sekiro: Shadows Die Double and many Homer Simpson boxing games, where you have to wait for the enemy to bother hitting you.

A wider variety of enemies would have been a huge advantage in 1348 Ex Voto. As it stands, each fight feels the same, the same method used to defeat enemies, and any attempt to deviate from the formula is strongly resisted by the game.

14 Best Games With Intentionally Terrible Controls

These games fight you all the time—not with difficulty, but with controls so bad, it becomes a game.

It also doesn’t help that Aeta itself feels difficult to use, with a noticeable delay between pressing the attack button and it actually happening, and dodges and parries sometimes not working due to technical and gameplay issues. Aeta often feels like driving a tank, but without the power and durability that the name suggests.

Aeta also has to face many enemies at once, and the game is not designed for team fighting. Most of the enemies will stand around, like gang members in a Hong Kong action movie, just waiting for you to deal with one enemy before moving on to the next. In the event that many enemies try to attack you, then you will be facing difficulties, since the defensive options respond to one enemy at a time, which means that you will be destroyed.

The system’s problems are a major hindrance to enjoying 1348 Ex Voto, considering that most of the game involves combat. It’s a great shame, as there are seeds of something interesting here, but it doesn’t play out on screen.

1348 Ex Voto Has a Very Disjointed Story

There’s a distinct feeling that 1348 Ex Voto isn’t finished yet, which comes mostly from the twists and turns of its stories. 1348 Ex Voto has several jumps between scenes, as well as a few confusing moments that don’t make sense, which may keep the mystery about the twists that happen later in the game.

There are changes in the level that just jump to Aeta being in a new place, and a few times where she is harassed by enemies, but she is never caught or treated in any way: she wanders around again in the next scene.

10 Indie Co Op Games That Surpass AAA Titles

10 Indie Co-Op Games That Beat AAA Titles

From chaotic kitchens to epic mountain climbs with friends

It’s almost as if key scenes in Ex Voto’s story of 1348 had to be left out due to time constraints, leading to surprising moments that take you out of the narrative. The story also jumps around a lot in the second half, with only short lines of dialogue used to explain important plot points.

It’s almost as if key scenes in Ex Voto’s story of 1348 had to be left out due to time constraints, leading to surprising moments that take you out of the narrative.

It’s a shame the story of 1348 Ex Voto has these drawbacks, as they affect what should be the best part of the game. I was invested in Aeta and Bianca’s story, but everything fell apart so much towards the end that I lost interest.

There are good ideas in 1348 Ex Voto, but it is hampered by the poor implementation of its plans. The voice actors carry the game, with many amazing performances woven throughout. Unfortunately, the whole experience is let down by various glitches, significant design flaws with combat, confusing levels, and a few surprising story changes that make it seem like 1348 Ex Voto was rushed out the door before it was ready.