Normally I'm pretty positive about every game I play but this one I just wouldn't recommend, I can't even say "Unless you want XYZ" Like I can't think of a good reason to buy this game.

The story seems pretty Meh so far, it moves along but definitely nothing that is going to grip you.
All the characters mouths move like they have the extreme emotes mod people did for Resi.

The combat is fine for the most part against the normal enemies, like its passable. But the one "Boss" fight I've done up to this point just shows how rubbish the combat actually is.
(Update) So I was buying all the cheaper upgrades first an that was a bit of a mistake, buy Perfect Parry and Perfect Dodge ASAP as this makes combat much more bareable!

Most maps are just 5-10 minutes of linier walking with some attempts at environmental story telling followed by 5-6 combat encounters against 3-4 enemies and that's it, that's the whole game pretty much unless these last couple chapters I've got left are radically different...

The only positive I can give it really is that its short, an short enough that I'm trying to power through an finish it.

I wanted to like this game, really.
However the game is...mid. The story is ok but the combat is so...so boring. I found myself button mashing to brake threw guard without any care. The story is meh. It's trying but it's very very clumsy.

It's always tricky to review a game whose promise you can see and appreciate, but the execution thereof leaves you somewhat wanting. For all the things that are genuinely beautiful about the game, from its commitment to a grounded rendering of the period, the stellar voice performances, its lovely environments and costumes, it's hard to muster a great deal of enthusiasm when those qualities are being held hostage by a fairly rote action adventure, with uneven storytelling, and passable, if rather unsatisfying combat mechanics.

To start off with the positives, I can't remember playing another game that so effectively captured that very particular mediterranean sunlight; the stark, white gleam that casts everything into deep shadow, and licks exposed surfaces with a heat that hits like a fist. The many medieval ruins, towns, and villas, which make up a decent chunk of the game's scenery, are all similarly great translations of their respective subjects. If you've walked the older streets of a city like Bergamo or Venice, you will feel that same sense of history here. The game successfully puts you in its place and period, and for a medium that so rarely has the discipline to not simply cannibalize itself for its artistic decision-making, it's heartening to see the work of people who clearly cared to represent their chosen theme with grace and precision.
The characters also succeed in feeling like they are of their period, in no small part because the voice performances are almost uniformly excellent. In particular Alby Baldwin as Aeta absolutely runs away with the role, drawing a portrait of a young woman at odds with the world, its expectations of her, and her own headstrong, inflexible character. Even as the narrative begins to sag, and fails to capitalize on the strength of the character's many flaws and virtues, Baldwin never errs. From beginning to end, you utterly believe in the performance.

But sadly, as alluded to in previous paragraphs, I don't think the game overall does its better qualities much justice. The combat is not incompetent by any means, but by the end of the game the simple loop of alternating between attacking and parrying the opponent's attacks to deplete their guard for a coup de grâce had become stale. It never becomes a slog or a pain, but paradoxically, maybe the game would have benefited from fewer, more sparse instances of action, where the stakes were higher and the consequences more brutal.
The story is another point of contention, for while the dialogue is very well-written and phrased, finding a sweet-spot of parsability and purple which never appears silly or anachronistic, the actual narrative is a little anemic.
The premise itself is solid enough: an errant knight, vowing to rescue an innocent, with the added appeal of playing with ideas of gender, its performance, and the boundaries of acceptable affections in the 14th century. All the ingredients are here to cook with gas, but it never quite commits to any of the themes invoked. While the game is bookended with treatises on the sad lot suffered by women of the period, the rest of the game is remarkably uninterested in the subject. For all the things you could have explored here, be it issues of feudalism, gender, sexuality, or religion, the game refrains from anything beyond a surface glance with each. As it stands, the narrative appears to be built entirely around late twists, and though the closing moments are appropriately vague and bitter, it all feels like a terrible waste of potential. Aeta's nine-part journey across the plague-stricken countryside to save her beloved is clearly meant to mirror elements of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, and while the plastics of that analogy are present, I think it could have benefited the story to lean into those allusions more wholly. As evidenced by the moronic culture warriors that plague the gaming space, even something as genteel and non-committal as this pitch is enough to stir them into a frenzy, so why not be bold? Why not say damn the detractors, and really tear into matters of faith, of sex, of the cost of freedom in a society which has no real notion of the concept? I think characters as compelling as Aeta and Bianca deserved more.

But when all is said and done, I am still glad to have played it. It is a small game, reasonably priced, from a startup studio trying to develop a voice. The undeniable love and craft that went into making Ex Voto's gorgeous art is impossible to deny, and in spite of my misgivings with the story I have a great deal of affection for Aeta and her plight.

I hope Sedleo's next game is a more successful reflection of their abilities, because I think there is a lot of potential here.