This armour isn't based on any real medieval armour. Indeed, I'd say it's pretty typical of 'video game' armour, based on the aesthetics of previous elements of pop culture (particularly sci fi armours from franchises like Star Wars). Now I'm not a pop culture historian, so I'm not going to go into the details of what the armour -is- based on, nor did you ask about its popular culture influences. Instead, I'm going to talk about how it -isn't- like medieval armour and what that says about the differences between our aesthetic and those of the Middle Ages.

So, how is the armour different from extant examples? First of all, it is made of only a few pieces which are large, thick, and show gaps with other pieces. Real medieval plate armours have articulations that cover the gaps between pieces, on all but the earlieat and simplest pieces, because medieval plate armour was made to defend against strikes that could glance off and skip into weak points in the armour. So they don't have these gaps. Morover, real armours aren't nearly so thick and 'chunky' - the actual metal is fairly thin most of the time, between 2mm and less than 1 mm. One reason for this was the other different between this game armour and historical European plate armour - late medieval plate armour is very well shaped into complex curves that deflect blows rather than stop them. Armour is much more resistant to glancing blows than to straight-on attacks, and so armours typically don't present the flat surfaces you see on this armour.

Here are some examples of historical plate armours:

• A very late 14th century armour from Northern Italy

• A 15th century Italian Armour preserved in a church in Mantua

• A 15th century armour made in Italy for the German Market

• A late 15th century German armour made in Augsburg by Lorenz Helmschmied

• The Effigy of a member of the Harcourt Family, 1480's or 1470's.

Note that all of these include articulations between the joints, complex curves on the plates, and in general look much less 'chunky' and imposing than the armour from the game. Even the largest and most imposing elements of the armour are set against a narrow, nipped waist.

Beyond these details, a game like this doesn't design its armour based on actual protection, but on conveying an aesthetic - this is entertainment, after all. And the aesthetic of this armour, taken in its entirety, is not a medieval aesthetic, but a modern one. And it isn't one that is gender-neutral - it is coded for a presumed male gamer, and so is coded in terms of modern masculinity. The 'chunkyness', the angularity, the plainness and flatness, reflect a very different aesthetic of masculinity from that shown by medieval armours. Indeed, to our eyes some armours, such as the Helmschmied harness that I shared, might even seem feminine, while even the most imposing has a pinched wait and a decided skirt, reflecting the ways mens clothing was 'configured' at the time as well as the practical need to provide flexibility while protecting the abdomen, groin and upper thigh. So in the end, this is a modern armour, designed for modern aesthetic purposes, reflecting modern aesthetic preconceptions.