1348 Ex Voto

Lore & Background

1348 Ex Voto places players in the role of Aeta, a young knight errant voiced by Alby Baldwin, who embarks on a brutal quest to find and save her closest one, Bianca (voiced by Jennifer English). Gameplay centers on sword combat and exploration of medieval Italy. The game was developed by the indie team Sedleo, consisting of 15 people.

Reader's Guide

The game's significance lies in its reception and the controversy surrounding it. While praised for its visuals and acting, it was criticized for its combat system, technical performance, and lack of polish. Before launch, far-right influencers heavily attacked the game over a perceived lesbian romance that was not present in the final game. Upon release, this led to coordinated 'anti-woke' review bombing, false claims of government funding, and death threats directed at the developers. The game's mixed critical reception and the external attacks highlight the intersection of indie game development, online harassment, and cultural backlash.

Did You Know?

• The game was developed by a 15-person indie team called Sedleo.
• It was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows.
• Before launch, far-right influencers attacked the game over a perceived lesbian romance that was not in the final game.
• The game received a critics score of 50 on Metacritic based on 18 reviews.

Development & Release

1348 Ex Voto was crafted by Sedleo, a compact indie studio composed of just fifteen developers working together to bring their vision to life. The game is a third-person action-adventure set against the backdrop of 14th-century Italy, a period defined by political upheaval, artistic flowering, and the long shadow of the Black Death. After its development cycle, the title launched simultaneously for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC on March 12, 2026. The small team size stands out in an industry increasingly dominated by massive AAA productions, suggesting a focused, handcrafted approach to both narrative and mechanics. The medieval Italian setting provides a historically textured world for players to traverse, grounding the action-adventure gameplay in a specific time and place rather than a generic fantasy landscape, and giving the title a distinct identity within the crowded action-adventure space.

Gameplay & Narrative

At the heart of 1348 Ex Voto is Aeta, a young knight errant voiced by Alby Baldwin, who embarks on a brutal and deeply personal quest to locate and rescue her closest companion, Bianca, voiced by Jennifer English. The gameplay loop centers on sword-based combat and open exploration across the landscapes of medieval Italy, giving players a third-person perspective on both the action and the surrounding world. The narrative framing, a desperate search for a loved one, provides emotional stakes that drive the player forward through the Italian countryside. The pairing of Alby Baldwin and Jennifer English brings professional voice acting to the central relationship, and the combat animations were noted by critics as historically inspired, lending a sense of authenticity to the medieval swordplay that sits at the core of the experience.

Critical Reception

Upon its March 2026 release, 1348 Ex Voto landed squarely in the mixed or average territory on major review aggregators. Metacritic assigned a critics score of 50 based on 18 reviews, while OpenCritic reported a top critic average of 50 across 28 reviews, with only 7% of critics recommending the title. The critical consensus praised the game's visual presentation and the quality of its voice acting, with IGN's Jarret Green specifically highlighting gorgeous landscapes, gripping acting, and historically inspired combat animations in the opening sequence. However, the same review noted the game failed to sustain that initial promise, citing shoddy combat, limited interactivity, and a lack of variety as the journey progressed. Broader criticism extended to technical performance issues and an overall lack of polish at launch, suggesting the fifteen-person team may have shipped before the experience reached its intended level of refinement.

Controversy & Community Conflict

Before 1348 Ex Voto even reached shelves, it became the target of coordinated attacks from far-right influencers who fixated on a perceived lesbian romance element. Notably, this narrative thread was absent from the final shipped game, meaning the controversy was built around content that players would never actually encounter. Following the March 12, 2026 release, the pre-launch hostility escalated into organized anti-woke review bombing campaigns designed to drag down the game's aggregate scores. The attacks extended well beyond gaming communities, with false allegations of government funding circulated against the developers and, most disturbingly, death threats directed at the members of Sedleo's fifteen-person team. The episode highlighted how a small indie studio could find itself at the center of a broader cultural war, with the game's actual design and quality overshadowed by political vitriol and coordinated harassment.