A Plague Tale: Innocence REVIEW

Focus Home Interactive in collaboration with Asobo Studio crafted a story of struggle and suffering in its latest game A Plague Tale: Innocence.  In it, you follow the journey of the two main protagonists Amicia and her little brother Hugo, both orphans on the run from the terrifying Inquisition.  The game is set in medieval times and drops the player in a world of danger and rampant disease, as a plague slowly decimates all life across cities and the countryside. 

The swarms of supernatural rats are a constant and every present threat that the player hopes to avoid.  In this case, the rats represent the physical manifestation of the plague itself.  The terror they create is tense and makes for intense situations where you need to use planning and strategy to avoid coming into contact with them.

Amicia is a 15 year old, forced to mature quickly due to the circumstances of her life.  Her character strengths shine through in the mastery of her stealth and hunting skills.  This is in stark contrast to her brother Hugo, who is frail and is suffering from an unknown illness.  The game is set in a fictionalized version of sometime in 14^th century France, during the heights of the Inquisition.  The main focus in gameplay is not head to head combat, as the siblings are obviously outmatched and outnumbered by the enemies in the game.  Instead, the game focuses on more subtle tactics to progression.  Amicia is armed with a slingshot that she uses for distracting enemies, allowing her to escape.  The player must often use strategy in order to avoid falling into the line of sight of various enemies.  As failing to do so results in enemies being alerted to your presence and frantic chase sequences where the player has a limited chance to escape.

Strategy is also key in puzzle solving in the game. There are a few puzzles that offer some challenge that you must complete so that you can get past certain obstacles.  For the most part, the puzzles are not too difficult but offer just enough complexity to make you really think about it, in order to solve them.

The graphics are impressive.  From the early preview footage and trailers, the level of graphical detail looked incredible.  Character models were highly detailed, with impressive lighting and shaders and ambient effects.  In the final release, there is a slight difference in the visual aesthetic but the overall muted tones and feelings of being in a world of dread and despair is fully realized.  It manages to achieve, pulling off a compelling story with moments of emotional heights and heartbreaking lows.  The sound design is equally as good and helps complete the overall package.  Dramatic musical scores suddenly resonate at the right moments, adding tension and urgency – whilst the slower paced orchestral pieces offer a subdue ambiance to the more intimate moments.

A Plague Tale is a game that tells story with all the glory of a true cinematic experience.  The grim tale, takes players on a memorable and emotionally engaging adventure.  The graphics are stunningly beautiful and detailed despite of the bleak and dismal environment the events of the game take place in.  The entire experience is one that is very rewarding to play though.