Italy in 1348 is a bad place to be travelling. Bandits and mercenaries work the roads, zealots work the towns, and the sickness is ahead of you on both.

One knight, one reason to keep going

You play Aeta, a young knight errant with no lord and no plan beyond reaching Bianca. The journey takes her through villages, castles, the mountains of the Appennino and what is left standing of Rome.

Swordplay with rules behind it

The fighting is drawn from Historical European Martial Arts and captured from trained performers, so it reads as technique rather than choreography. You switch between a one-handed and a two-handed stance mid-fight, and each opens different answers to what is in front of you.

Learn as you go

Skill books found along the road unlock new combinations, and weapon parts let you build the sword you actually want to fight with. Search the world properly and you will turn up trinkets worth carrying home.