1348 EX VOTO

This has me praying the devs deliver a holy gaming experience

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As soon as I saw the key art for 1348 Ex Voto, I knew I had to play it. A female warrior knight with authentically awesome (so, totally crap) bowl cut hairdo, wielding a huge longsword, and bedecked in suitably religious ornamentation and vibes, is definitely my jam. And after playing the game's demo, despite some concerns, I'm now praying that developer Sedleo can follow through and deliver a great full game.

You play as Aeta, a young female knight errant in medieval Italy. You've been trained by your noble father and, as Ex Voto begins, you love nothing more than practicing with the sword to do your knightly duty. The only thing you may love more is your closest companion, Bianca, who is voiced by Jennifer 'Shadowheart' English.

BURN BABY BURN

Then disaster strikes. Your hometown is attacked and, after you've run through a very standard tutorial, you're thrust into the medieval fray. Sword drawn, camera pulled in closely behind you and to the right, you're invited to hack-and-slash through a series of bandits who are killing local civilians, pillaging their belongings and burning down their homes.

In the demo, you have two stances available (one-handed and two-handed), as well as your typical light and heavy attacks. Naturally you can also block and dodge. I never got the chance to do any perfectly timed parrying, but I'll eat my chaperon if the full game doesn't have a learned perfect counter mechanic. After all, there is a timed true strike, whereby pressing the attack button again at the moment of an attack's impact helps chain moves together.