A Plague Tale: Innocence
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
I've been interested in A Plague Tale: Innocence for several years now. I rented it from GameFly back in 2019, and unfortunately my copy of the game did not work, so I had to send it back. Well, five years later, I finally got my hands on a working copy of the game. Would it be worth the wait? Let's find out!
Story:
You control a young woman named Amicia, who is living in France in the 1300s. She has a sick little brother named Hugo, and her mother has been working hard to find a cure for him. One day, the Spanish Inquisition raids Amicia's home, murdering her father and looking to capture both Hugo and Amicia's mother.
Amicia takes Hugo and runs off, leaving everyone behind presumably dead. A good portion of the game follows the brother and sister as they travel across this plague ridden landscape, evading the Inquisition, crazed villagers, and deadly plague-carrying rats.
I'm not going to recap the entire game, but Amicia and Hugo find out that their mother is still alive, and that she has been captured by the Inquisition. They want her because of her research, and they want Hugo because apparently he can control the plague rats with his mind. I didn't really like the last part of the game. The first 70% is fairly grounded and realistic, but then it starts to veer into supernatural territory.
Hugo and Amicia end up saving their mother and defeating the leader of the Inquisition, who has used Hugo's blood to give himself the same rat-controlling power that Hugo has. A giant battle results in the good guys winning, the Inquisition withdrawing, and things going back to normal.
Gameplay:
I wasn't sure what to expect of this game coming in. I thought it was going to be a walking simulator, but it ended up being much more involved than that. Closest thing I can compare it to is something like The Last of Us with its stealth action and its focus on collecting items for crafting.
Things take place from a behind the back perspective. What is interesting here is that if you get hit by an enemy once, you die. It is meant to be realistic, at least from that perspective. No way some 16 year old girl could survive a spear through the chest like you see in other games. Early on, the focus is on sneaking around and avoiding combat. You throw rocks and cause distractions in order to draw enemies away from where you need to go.
As you progress through the game, you learn how to fight. Amicia uses a sling that she uses to launch rocks at enemies' heads. The main focus shifts to avoiding giant swarms of plague rats. These rats don't like fire, so you have to stay by bonfires and light torches to make your way through the swarms. Other areas require some creative puzzle solving to get by the rats. I like when you have to manipulate the rats to take out enemy guards for you. It always feels so very satisfying.
That pretty much describes the gameplay. Sneak around and don't get spotted because one hit kills you. Avoid the plague rats. Throw rocks at your enemies' heads. Solve puzzles. Collect items and find upgrades for your sling. Some upgrades include an acid you can launch that burns enemy helmets, a fireball that lights piles of wood to scare off the rats, and an herb concoction that draws the rats to a certain specific location so you can get by them.
The last part of the game introduces the ability for Hugo to control the rat hordes. So they stop hurting you and instead work along side you. This completely changes the tone of the game from stealth (avoiding rats and enemies) to more action-oriented, where you are controlling giant hordes of rats to destroy your enemies.
I had fun the whole way through the game. The story was interesting enough to keep me engaged, and I enjoyed the stealth and puzzle solving aspects of the gameplay as well. Some reviews call the game boring and repetitive, but to me that could not be any further from the truth.
Graphics:
This is a very beautiful game. Right away, I was drawn in by the autumn leaves and the serene setting of the French landscape. The castles, the vistas, all of it is very pleasing to the eye. As the game progresses, things get dark and grim. The crumbling villages, the piles of bodies, the swarms of rats - it all looks really good. This is a five or six year old PS4 game. I've said it before and I'll say it again: why exactly do we need a PS5 again? No wonder the system has been somewhat of a flop so far. The PS4 still looks perfectly fine.
The characters and cutscenes all look very good, too. We are far removed from the days of Resident Evil on the PS1. Everyone looks and acts like real people.
Sound:
The music is good, the ambient sound effects are good, and the voice acting is good. I really don't have anything to complain about here. This game really does a great job drawing you in and making the atmosphere as authentic as possible.
Overall:
I had fun with this game. I devoted all of my free time to playing this, rather than watching movies or TV shows like I normally do. I was hooked! It took me about five or six playing sessions to beat the game - so it is pretty short. I think it takes about 11 or 12 hours total to complete. But that is okay. I would rather play something that gripped me for 11 or 12 hours than something that is longer but is more of a chore to play (cough, Death Stranding, cough cough).
I would absolutely recommend A Plague Tale: Innocence to anyone interested in the game. I found it to be such a pleasant surprise. Great story, graphics, gameplay, atmosphere, everything. I think it may even have a sequel out now, which I need to check out.
I hesitate to give this game a grade in the A range, probably because I just cruised through it. It's a good game, no doubt, but now that I am done playing it, I don't find myself thinking about it that much, or wanting to come back and play it again. It's a good, solid title that is absolutely gripping to play, but forgotten once you are done with it, like a good popcorn flick.
If you are on the fence about this game, play it. I understand some people may not like it as much as I did, but it is definitely worth playing and making that determination on your own.
THE GRADE:
B+
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