It’s been a month since the 3rd-person action-adventure game 1348 Ex Voto was released. We felt promised a lesbian love story set in 14th-century Italy, inspired by chivalric tropes, where butch lesbian Aeta journeys to save her beloved, Bianca.
Homophobic gamer bros hated it before it came out–not only was it “too woke” for them, but it dabbled in a genre and history men feel entitled to… and the main character is a butch lesbian. She’s not a man, and she’s not fit for the male gaze. They can’t be or consume her, and, to top it off, she’s “stealing their girl.”
This game could have been revolutionary. You’ve already predictably upset the neckbearded, Monster-chugging, unemployed and unsocialised lesbian-haters, so why pull back on quality and homosexuality? That’s what the lesbians are asking.
Grace, 21, Southern USA, didn’t mind it, but said there were crumbs of lesbian representation and, like often happens with lesbian narratives, the ending isn’t happy: “I played on release and enjoyed my time with it! I was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a kiss between Aeta and Bianca, nor any grounded acknowledgement of a romantic relationship between them. I guess with the medieval setting, it’s trickier to implement natural-feeling lesbian relationships? But there are hints of their feelings toward one another, especially during their final conversation. Speaking of, I’m sad they wound up fighting. I wish there were a happier ending.
While some reviews go so far as to call the game gay-baiting, Grace is thankful it provides a canon butch protagonist. “I also thought it was interesting how, instead of seeing Aeta as a GNC woman, enemies simply mistake her for a young boy in the first half of the game. My favorite scene is when Aeta finally corrects someone and tells the priest that she is indeed a woman after he accuses her of lusting after Bianca lol. At the very least, getting a main character like Aeta has been very cool to see. This is the first time I’ve played a game with a canon butch protagonist, and as a butch myself, it was something special.”
It’s important to note that Ex Voto is a debut game from a small studio, Sedleo. But lesbian gamers demand and deserve high quality. Claudette, 37, Texas, USA, said: “Horrid frame rate, clunky story. Unreal Engine 5 needs to die. All the games that run this at bear minimum look the same. There are countless games with lesbian leads or main NPCs, but that is not their main or only quality. Mass Effect before Andromeda, Dragon Age before Vailguard, and Skyrim. God, do better.”
Charlotte, 24, Chicago, USA, concurred that the gaming experience was a miss. “I really wanted to like this game, but it’s poorly optimized and seems unfinished. almost like the studio had to rush it out for some reason. The gameplay (timed blocks and attacks with short windows), paired with the graphics stuttering, made it so frustrating to play that I didn’t finish it. It felt like playing watered-down Sekiro but worse. And from what I’ve heard, the lesbians are implied.”
I’m thankful that a gaming studio chose to offer butch lesbian representation at all. Don’t get me wrong. I’m completely aware that lesbian storylines in film and television were often of poor quality before they gained enough traction to have better budgets today.
Gaming is still embarrassingly male-focused and male-dominated in 2026. Women won’t even use their microphones when playing online. The issues we see with 1348 Ex Voto mirror the beginnings of lesbian media altogether: small studios trying their best but incapable of achieving the quality we’re accustomed to; alluding to lesbianism without anything explicitly mentioned; a questionable, unfulfilling ending. It feels a bit scared. But we’re excited for what this will inspire in future lesbian games. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
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