A Plague Tale: Innocence Offers a Grim Journey through France

France in the Middle Ages is often portrayed as a lovely place with knights and tournaments, feasts and well-manicured rose gardens. Don’t expect to see any of that here. A Plague Tale: Innocence is about Amicia de Rune, a 15-year-old girl, daughter to a nobleman, who lives a quiet life in an estate with her family. One day the Inquisition comes knocking, seeking Hugo, her five-year-old brother. Things go sideways, and Amicia and Hugo are forced to flee for their lives into the French countryside. One problem: it is 1348, the height of the Black Death, with entire towns and villages abandoned, dead, or dying.

The Black Death was not a particularly cheery time for the Europe: even neighbors were looked on with suspicion. Did they have the plague? Were they contagious? A Plague Tale’s setting feels apocalyptic (for an event that killed half of Europe’s population, that seems justified), and find its villains not only in humans, but in rats. Rats take on an almost supernatural feel—swarming in the thousands, eyes glowing, hungering for flesh.

Focus Home Interactive 2019

A Plague Tale is primarily a linear stealth game, as you guide Amicia and Hugo away from guards and through dangerous environments. Rats are an ever-present threat, and are always a puzzle. Light is a safe haven whenever the vermin are around, be it the blazing flames of a brazier, or a stick held at arm’s length, burning at a concerning rate. It’s quite entertaining to strategically use fire to carve a path through rats, or in some cases, to divert them into living victims as a distractions. Amicia must literally hold Hugo’s hand as they move, but Hugo can also be sent to retrieve objects or go through windows to unlock doors. He can be left behind to maneuver unhindered, but will panic and shout if you stray to far—though I never found the need to leave him behind. It’s not a traditional, annoying escort mission—I’ll take hand holding over free-moving AI wandering into the sight of enemies at inconvenient moments.

Visuals are often quite bleak—in one scene, Amicia and Hugo come across the aftermath of a battle between French and English armies (the Hundred Years’ War is taking place in the background), and the field is littered with scores of dead. Trebuchets sit derelict and siege towers burn on the horizon. It’s a feasting ground for the rats, and one of the most striking levels I’ve played in recent memory. It’s grim through and through, but it’s not without its points of hope. At its core, it’s a story about sister and brother, and what siblings would do for one another in the most trying of times. The plot does get a bit fantastical—first slowly, but then in the last few chapters, it jumps off a cliff. I would have preferred it to remain grounded the entire time, but it’s still a good ride overall.

It’s not all sneaking—Amicia has a sling to attack enemies (and also help in puzzles), though the combat is on the clunky side. Only headshots can kill, and it’s all but necessary to use the game’s auto-aim assist to line up the kill-shots. There are a few annoying sections where the game forces you into combat, though thankfully only a handful. A Plague Tale isn’t particularly difficult; also at Amicia’s disposal are a plethora of craftable alchemical bits and bobs that do things like ignite or extinguish flammable substances or force an enemy to remove their helmet. By the later chapters, there are so many options it feels like you can breeze through most encounters with the choices on hand.

Focus Home Interactive 2019

The soundtrack fits wonderfully, featuring somber string sections fitting of the Black Death. The tempo changes as rats rush to consume victims, adding a hurried pace to their movements. The game’s English voice cast is good, but there’s also an option for the French voice overs to really set the scene.

A Plague Tale is quite the home run for Asobo Studio, given their previous development history. After a stacked history of Pixar tie-ins, this game comes out of left field. Bravo, Asobo Studio. The video game industry could use more AA games. Yes, AAA titles have their place, but not every game needs to have development cycles nearing a decade and budgets of $100 million or more. Frankly, it’s the smaller titles that are going to keep this industry alive.

A Plague Tale: Innocence isn’t a perfect game. It has it’s clunky sections, and the story starts to drift towards the end, but it is boosted by a unique setting and excellent visuals, and finds a strong base in the lead character of Amicia de Rune. After this one, you may feel like doubling up on the rat traps in your basement.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.