Compelling and Gripping From the Get-Go
A Plague Tale: Innocence almost immediately tosses the player in a gripping emotional tale that takes place in a ravaged medieval France where a plague is killing tons of people.
After the Inquisitor and his troops blast through Amicia and Hugo’s home town, the two of them end up on the run. Hugo is infected with a virus that the Inquisitor is after.
They want Hugo alive and Amicia dead and the majority of the game involves escaping and fending off guards and soldiers, while also dealing with literally thousands, if not millions, of bloodthirsty rats scattered throughout Europe.
Through environmental storytelling, excellent voice work from the main cast, and a script that’s very believable, A Plague Tale: Innocence pushes the player through a linear, narrative-driven experience that one can even compare to Uncharted or The Last Us.
The game doesn’t have the visual fidelity or motion capture prowess like a big AAA studio such as Naughty Dog, but Asobo Studio still manages to tell an exciting and heart-pumping story that will leave you wanting more.
It’s Like Uncharted
While I was experiencing Hugo and Amicia’s tragic tale, I ran into small sections of the game that require light puzzle-solving, with a lot of them reminding me of something such as Uncharted or The Last of Us.
You have to push carts and boxes around to get to higher grounds, lifting Hugo to safety with a press of a button just like Naughty Dog’s games.
There are no huge set-pieces or climbing elements, but the feeling of solving these environmental puzzles and the progression of the story is quite similar. There are lots of chase sequences in which you are running down a tight corridor or hallway, avoiding enemies in any way possible.
Think of A Plague Tale: Innocence as an Uncharted-like adventure, but with a smaller budget, more stealth, and less shooting, as in none at all. The game does a fantastic job of funneling the player through a path with little time for breathing room.
The World Is Stunning
A Plague Tale: Innocence looks stunning, no matter what’s going on on-screen. The vistas, environments and the lighting itself is truly superb and brings out the pretty colors of France.
The character models aren’t the best out there, but you can tell that Asobo Studio put so much work into creating this world as a living and breathing place.
Sure, France is already a real place, but thanks to the top-notch voice acting, the characters make you feel as if you’re right there with them.
Even when the game gets dark and ominous, the low lit dungeons and such look especially creepy, specifically when all of the rats start coming into play.
Rats, Lots and Lots of Rats
Imagine it. Thousands of thousands of flesh-eating infected rats eating your body alive. This is what ended up happening to me a lot while I was playing through A Plague Tale, but every time I encountered these rat hordes, I was always taken by surprise.
You see, there comes a point in the game in which instead of focusing on only avoiding guards, the game has you figuring out how to avoid swarms of plague-ridden rats.
You can craft materials like a throwable light that will cause the rats to swarm in one direction, leaving them distracted, or you can even blow them up with a craftable explosion, but there are literally thousands of rats in this game and they serve a huge place in the plot.
Not going to spoil anything for you guys that have yet to play it, but after completing the game recently, I can only tell you that these creatures will definitely leave a lasting impression on you, in more ways than one.
For more on A Plague Tale, make sure you check out our review of the game as well as our expansive wiki guide.
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