A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE REVIEW

It isn't surprising that I have seen the comparison. The Plague Tale: Innocence To The Last of Us The most recent God of War Because I didn't get to the end of the first and the second, and can't make any comparisons, The theme of "looking after someone little and defenseless" is the most popular trope in games these days. This allows for emotive story-telling. The joke is, they kill because you are forced to play the father figure in so many games. That You must be a good guy from the beginning.

You play Amicia de Rane, a young girl suffering from serious protag-name issues and who is the daughter of a French nobleman. The game begins with France being plagued by a plague that may or not have supernatural origins. Your family is then slain in an Inquisition branch trying to find your younger brother Hugo. The game becomes primarily about Hugo's protection, and Amicia and him alone in the big bad universe. Hugo, a mysterious illness that his mother tried to cure for years, has been kept in quarantine all his life. This makes it more difficult. Hugo and Amicia are almost friends.

The plot follows a fairly logical sequence of steps from this point. The first step is to search for a doctor that can cure Hugo. Next, they seek refuge from the Inquisition to hide and work towards finding a cure. The two young men are assisted by other teenagers they meet along their journey, creating a sort-of rag-tag group called Merry Men to accompany Amicia's Robin Hood.

Contrary to what I stated at the beginning and what is so often promoted, the game most closely resembles Hellblade. Satsuma's Sandwich. Even down to the excessively long title with the colon... Initial impressions led me to believe that it would be a walking simulator, but with stealth elements. Similar is the fact that it is quite grueling and full of suffering and human misery.

The initial impressions were actually quite wrong. This is why the comparison to Hellblade was so useful. Hellblade felt primarily story-first with a token combat system added at the end so it could be described as a game, and not a movie. A Plaguetalefeels like the gameplay was more thoughtfully planned and executed. Although the story is obviously the main focus, there were a lot more plot holes and contrivances than expected.

A Plague Tale is a fun and rambunctious game that doesn't require too much thought. Hugo is being pursued by a strong villain in the Inquisition. The reasons are only revealed towards the end. Amicia's journey seems quite straightforward. She is trying to first find safety, then finding a cure for Hugo's otherworldly condition. There is plenty of room to collect the Merry Men, and there are elements of drama and intrigue when trying to find the connection between Hugo's affliction & the plague.

However, sometimes the writers are in a hurry to move the story along. Some very obvious examples are evident from the beginning. This will contain minor spoilers. As you attempt to escape the Inquisition, you will complete the tutorial under the direction of your mother. She then tells that you must run and get Hugo's doctor. But she refuses to come along with you. This scene ends with her opening the doors to the outside world, telling Amicia to run and Hugo not to. There is no way she can stop the Inquisition. She doesn't even seem to want to try. Plus, she has plenty time to escape! The game requires that Hugo, Amicia and Amicia are isolated. However, their mother abandons them.

It was actually a real surprise that I was left staring at the cut-scene and wondering if the person who wrote it had made it clear to animators that Amicia’s mother was to be prohibited from joining them in any way. You know, rather than just casually saying "Well time for both of you to make your own path in life!"

Similar to the previous point, you might think that games like these are designed to immerse you in the story and world by making you as attached to your ward over time as the main character. As Amicia grows closer to her brother, you will too. It feels almost like Amicia and Hugo are actually very close. This was another strangely confusing element. You are told by exposition that your characters have never interacted with each other, but they then get along well after some awkwardness. ThisAlsoIt makes the few moments when Hugo and Amicia fight feel totally unearned. This is not the awkward growing pains between siblings. It's an attempt to MELODRAMA, because Hugo needs to leave. Baffling stuff.

If it isn't clear, I would say that A Plague Tale had me hooked for most of the book. It was partly due to excellent set pieces and environmental design. Although some of the environments were ridiculously extravagant, many of them were actually quite beautiful. One battlefield scene was praised for its incredible beauty, but I found it unrealistic that there were mountains of bodies reaching the horizon. It does show how beautiful the game overall. It's overall very well-designed and "pretty", in a horrifying, gruesome kind of way. You could argue that it's worse because the children are seeing things through their eyes. It also does succeed in being pretty atmospheric with Amicia dragging Hugo through dark caves and ruins and towns which have been overrun and decimated by the plague.

It is disappointing how it attempts to link between sections. It almost seems like the game's writers created the various stages and then had to try hard to explain why they happen that way. The first step is to plan each set piece and then connect the dots.

In terms of gameplay, the game is 3rd-person stealth action. You will need to move around and avoid soldiers and guards of the Inquisition. There are several ways to distract guards with objects, but there are also different guard types that require different methods. Because I kept forgetting that Amicia can one-shot headshot any baddie without a helmet for large portions of the game, I said "dealing with them".

Yes, she is a Rambo... And there is a very tight-lipped crafting system for different types of ammo! You might think that this would lead to a lack of tension. However, I suspect that many people will play the game as I did with the assumption that Amicia is mostly defenseless and avoids conflict whenever possible. This is despite the fact that I watched parts of another YouTube playthrough where Amicia was turned into a deadly weapon. He left no one alive and it was quite easy to do. It made me wonder if I was wrongly playing the game. After all, there is no moral choice system here. You can either top dudes right and center or not.

Although the killing becomes more important towards the end, it never ceases to feel overwhelming. Amicia, a teenaged daughter of nobles, is equipped with a slingshot and can kill large portions of the enemies instantly.

Although the "combat" element of the game is a bit ridiculous, and stealth is a little sloppy, it's the real star gameplay element that I have yet to mention. You will encounter a rat plague throughout the game. This seems to be a side effect of the French disease. You will encounter sections where the ground literally is carpeted with rats.

It is impressive on a technical level that thousands of rats are swarming across the floor. The constant eerie and disturbing sound of the rats crawling around in holes or exploding from the ground makes it seem almost unnatural.

You will need to navigate the maze of rats that surround you with light. They are also deterred by light so be sure to use a slowly dimming torch or redirect them with beams of light. You can also use light torches to extinguish or dim the lights as you travel to defend yourself and to set the rats on their enemies.

This is the area where the game shines, if you will pardon the pun. It's just faintly disturbing in an amazing way. These quieter, more atmospheric parts are the ones that you almost believe could be called a horror. However, it is only kind of scary.

While there are some over-the-top action scenes towards the end that were enjoyable, it is primarily about feeling trapped and hemmed in by the darkness. The constant itching fear that if your light goes out, you will die. It's quite enjoyable, effective, and makes the game stand out from the stumbling mess of the story.

It is unfortunate that the rats are less of a threat towards the end and you have more power to defeat them. This was a bad decision that I thought was somewhat wrong, despite the many references to why it happened throughout the game. It really took away any threat they posed. The best part of the game was actually the constant, foreboding threat from the rats. This means that they effectively took the best bits out of the game.

Until the price drops, I would recommend Innocence. The plot is flimsy and full of contrivances and the ending starts to drift into more ridiculous territory, but it's saved by the solid atmosphere and the set-piece design.

However, I suspect that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Innocence. I think we may be seeing more of this series because of the use of the subtitle in its name (as every game must do these days by law), and the ending.