1348 Ex Voto review: "Filled with potential, this action-adventure fails to deliver"

A trek through medieval Italy to rescue your beloved as the knight-errant Aeta begins with a raid, death, and a missing postulant – Bianca, your best friend and maybe something more. 1348 Ex Voto presents itself as a journey of devotion to rescue your kidnapped childhood friend, with clear romantic undertones between the two women, stirring excitement amongst the sapphic community. Except, as I settle into my role as Aeta, and begin my search for Bianca, I find myself slowly losing the will to do just that.

Ex Voto has a strong beginning. Aeta goads Bianca into a playful spar, and I can almost overlook the horrifying facial animations that make both of them speak with their bottom teeth, with Bianca – played superbly by Jennifer English – appearing as though she is a corpse being puppeted. Aeta's animations are less extreme, as her face is usually pinched in determination, with Alby Baldwin successfully portraying Aeta's iron will and naivety.

Locking in

1348 Ex Voto is a linear action-adventure, so although its vision of medieval Italy is filled with gorgeous countryside and a detailed environment that begs to be explored further, frolicking through the fields as Aeta is off-limits.

Interacting with the environment allows me to walk through winding, pestilence-ridden villages and camps, move boxes to reach high places, and loot. As I explore I'm given the ability to loot food to heal, as well as paper scrolls to upgrade my skills – and the odd "treasure" here and there, which are collectable religious pendants. There are chests, lockboxes, bodies and weapons, begging to be looted but are instead simple set-dressing. Still – the animation and sound for collecting the items is satisfying and still scratches the looting itch.

Flaws quickly become bigger than missed opportunities or jarring facial animations, however. The 15-person indie development team, Sedleo, boasts of its European martial arts-based sword combat, using mo-cap to bring the animations to life. Instead, what the team unfortunately delivers, is a combat system that has me raging in a way that I have never experienced while playing a video game.

A lock-on system that should be helpful, as it's a current standard in many third-person games, ends up ruining any budding enjoyment of combat encounters. Not only is the field-of-view so narrow – and unadjustable – that I can never see past the enemy in front of me, but locking on forces me to focus on one enemy at a time, even if it's not the one I'm fighting. This frequently results in dizzying spinning and long, drawn-out fights due to the game preventing me from successfully taking enemies down.

More times than I can count, I have an enemy on the ropes, only for the lock-on system to spin me around and force me towards a completely different target, allowing my previous foe to regain his health. I'm not fighting against enemies; I'm fighting against a poorly designed combat system where I'm beholden to rules that my opponents are not. I spend two hours struggling to complete an enemy encounter that involves waves of guards, solely due to this design flaw. Even writing about it now, my blood-pressure rises. It is the most rage-inducing combat mechanic I have ever encountered.

What's more disappointing is that the combat has the foundation to be something great. When I find myself actually achieving a flow-state – parrying, blocking, swinging – it's enjoyable for just a moment, before the lock-on system rears its ugly head, undercutting the modicum of fun I'm having as I explore the detailed environments.

It doesn't help that the skill tree includes upgrades for Aeta's one and two-handed combat styles, claiming I've just unlocked new moves, but never sharing what those are. I have no idea how to implement them; I just assume Aeta is mixing it into her combat, because clearly I am not the one in control here. The only notable difference I can detect when it comes to the combat upgrade system is when I apply new weapon parts to Aeta's blade, to match the fighting style I'm more keen on.

Love story

While the combat is a sore spot, the story remains engaging. I desperately want to find Bianca. The love and devotion Aeta displays for her is clear: at one point, she compares herself to Orpheus, promising not to make the mistake of turning around. It's a clear, romantic love, being portrayed with a masc lesbian at the helm. As she's mistaken as a boy throughout her travels, I'm reminded of Blue Eye Samurai, except Aeta's swordsmanship pales in comparison to Mizu's. But as someone who is also frequently mistaken for a boy, it's a familiar comfort, and Aeta's fealty to the woman she's grown up with is an honorable depiction of lesbian love.

However, this love story is quickly squandered by a ham-fisted attempt to convey a message on classism, privilege, and the lengths these injustices can force people to go to. While the message itself is very real, it also villainizes those who are victims of a classist system, as well as failing to provide any sort of meaningful message.

The game presents itself as a quest of devotion, only to turn around and claim to have been a vehicle for depicting what an unjust society can do to a person. The story Sedleo is trying to tell has potential on its own, but is executed in an empty, unsatisfying manner that instead feels like a betrayal to the story I have been following for the last eight hours.

1348 Ex Voto falls flat across its combat and story, unable to be saved by pretty landscapes and solid performances by English and Baldwin. Love, betrayal, and rigorous combat could be solid components for a knightly adventure, but all too often in 1348 Ex Voto they fail to succeed where it counts.

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