Aside from enjoying a well-earned status as one of the best open-world RPGs money can buy, the Kingdom Come: Deliverance games bring something else to the table: they feel authentic. Not just historically inspired, but genuinely palpably real, a grounded depiction of medieval life from a period that sits many hundreds of years in the rear-view mirror.
From the design of the weapons and armour, to the gorgeously realised landscape of medieval Bohemia, it often felt as though developer Warhorse Studios had a veritable finger on the pulse of what it might have been like to walk those roads and take part in conflicts that unfolded more than six hundred years ago.
And though I still maintain there aren’t nearly enough games that take a grounded view of medieval history in general, it’s nonetheless a relief to see another developer take a crack at it.
Enter 1348 Ex Voto, an upcoming medieval action title from Italian indie studio Sedleo.
Using the chivalric tales of old as the foundation for its setting, 1348 Ex Voto takes the classic revenge romp and drops it firmly into the 14th-century Italian countryside. Players step into the boots of an impetuous knight errant, hellbent on rescuing their friend from a band of exceedingly violent, amoral brigands.
However, where 1348 Ex Voto really stands out, much like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, is in how heavily it leans into authenticity, grounding its blood-soaked quest in a sense of historical realism that makes the whole affair feel far more tangible than it otherwise might.
A Stirring Depiction of 14th-Century Rural Italy
Easily one of the most striking aspects of 1348 Ex Voto is the world in which its tale of vengeance unfurls. Setting a game in Italy is rare enough in itself (the closest any recent title has managed is Hangar 13’s evocative depiction of early 20th-century Sicily in Mafia: The Old Country), let alone thrusting that setting a good six hundred years back into the later portion of the Middle Ages.
Powered by an impressive use of Epic’s Unreal Engine 5, 1348 Ex Voto’s 14th-century Italian playground feels properly rooted in the era it depicts. Rather than leaning on the overly forested expanses seen in so many medieval settings, the game instead embraces the distinct character of Italy as it might have been at the time.
That means sprawling Apennine mountain ranges, plague-ridden rural towns, lush vineyards, and even crumbling Roman ruins—remnants of a fallen empire that still haunt the landscape.
Moody Lighting That Elevates the Entire Experience
Another standout element of 1348 Ex Voto’s visual presentation is its lighting, which does a remarkable job of shaping the tone. Much like Kingdom Come: Deliverance and the A Plague Tale games, 1348 Ex Voto is lit with extraordinary moodiness and care.
Sunlight blooms through trees, crests over distant mountains, and glints off metal and stone with palpable aplomb. The result is a world that feels tactile and physical. Where every ruin, vineyard, and mud-stained village looks like it has weight, history, and consequence behind it.
Put simply, 1348 Ex Voto offers a sumptuous visual take on medieval rural Italy, and it’s the kind of setting you want to endlessly drink in.
Religious Iconography and Desperate Souls in a Time of Plague
As much as its environments might take the lion’s share of attention, they would mean little without era-appropriate characters to fill them. Here, 1348 Ex Voto leans heavily into plague-era influences, delivering a cast of grim, desperate individuals that feel plucked directly from a world drowning in famine, fear, and superstition.
It’s perhaps no surprise that comparisons to A Plague Tale come to mind, because Sedleo does a sterling job of populating this world with iconography and faces that reinforce its historical setting.
Take Aeta, the main protagonist, as a prime example of this dedication to authenticity. Not only does she sport the same time-appropriate bowl haircut that was common across Europe during the Middle Ages (a “hairstyle” deemed highly efficient to maintain), but she’s also adorned with the titular Ex Voto, a mish-mash of religious iconography that reflects a desperate devotion to faith in an age where survival often felt like a matter of divine intervention.
Beyond Aeta herself, the many lost souls she encounters also feel true to the setting. From ragged, disgruntled farmers to self-flagellating heretics bearing cross-crossing scars demanded by cult-like devotion, 1348 Ex Voto’s inhabitants look exactly like the grimly disaffected individuals you’d expect to meet in such an evocative time and place.
This is a world broken by plague, famine, and sin. The opulence of Rome is nothing but a distant memory, with statues of that old empire crumbling away as nature steadily reclaims what remains.
Real Historical Sword Fighting Backed by Expert Motion Capture
When 1348 Ex Voto was first revealed, one of the most striking elements on display was the authenticity of its sword-based combat. Underpinned by precision motion capture routines provided by Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) experts, every one of Aeta’s movements looks convincing and carries the kind of physical heft you’d expect from someone swinging around a ruddy great big sword.
The upshot is that her footwork, parries, blocks, thrusts, slashes, and swings don’t merely look the part, they appear rooted in techniques drawn from genuine historical martial texts.
And it isn’t just about visuals, either. There’s a tangible sense of weight in the combat, supported by a physics system that governs strikes depending on the stance Aeta is using.
With her trusty longsword, Aeta can switch between single-handed and double-handed stances on the fly. Each stance provides the expected trade-offs in speed and power, but more importantly, each attack carries the appropriate degree of heft, making combat feel grounded, deliberate, and convincingly medieval.
