Castlemaniacs.com/foros's user
Dralu, member of MercurySteam, just confirmed that armor will be upgradeable too, alongside with weapons. That's why gabriel's armor is shiner in some shots

EDIT: he said what the press release tells the game is placed "at the end of the times".
First of all, the Lords of Shadows are taking over the world with they dark troops, leading it to its doom, but by other side, people in the REAL mid-ages thought that the world would end at 1000 (Just like we did with 2000, and we are doing with 2012) but in those times people were too religous, and they thought everyday of the following days that hell's army would come out from the ground to kill all mortals.
So yeah, the placement of the year is intentional. i love the attention to details given to this game

! (Oh yeah IGA, robots in 1800? of course!)