There are two games that once I finished them, stayed with me for a few days afterward. These are Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us. I can now add A Plague Tale: Innocence to that list as well. I cannot overstate how much of a haunting and emotionally draining game this is and how much I was in awe of as I played it.
How to Download A Plague Tale: Innocence
The PC version of the game can be downloaded from Steam. To begin, click on the button located below this review.
The Game Review
The game is set during medieval France and I must be honest and say at first, I was not sure this setting was for me. I was dumb because France back then is sure as heck, not the lovely place that it is now. You play as a young girl called, Amicia who has a strange family dynamic.
She is very close to her dad and the game does a great job in making you get a feel for this connection. Her mother, on the other hand, is more occupied with finding a cure for her sick little brother Hugo who has a strange illness. Things are “normal” until the home is raided by The Inquisition who are looking for Hugo.
Amicia and Hugo escape and now they are on the run, trying to survive and also find out what the Inquisition want with Hugo. In a nutshell A Plague Tale: Innocence is a game that is all about two kids trying to survive. Not just that, these kids are trying to survive in one of the most barbaric and horrible times in history. It is a very uneasy kind of setting and the game does a great job in making you care for these kids.
The plague has taken over the country and many, many people have died and those who have not have gone kind of crazy. Not to mention all of the disease-ridden rats that are all over the place. This really is a tough place for two kids to try and survive and the game does a wonderful job getting that point across.
You will need to sneak around places trying to get by so that you do not get seen by rats, other people, and The Inquisition. In many ways, it feels like you are playing a 3rd person stealth game. You always try to sneak around so as not to be seen, but more often than not the poop hits the fan and you find yourselves struggling to just get away, hide and survive.
Amicia does have a few abilities that she can make use of such as using her sling to create distractions. You can also get other abilities as you progress like being able to get rid of fire and summon rats. Oh, and you also have to make her kill people! This is one of the most shocking things about the game and making her do this does make you rather uneasy.
The game is pretty brutal in the deaths as well and there is a great scene where you see Amicia really struggling with what she is doing. At the same time, she knows that this is the only way to keep Hugo safe and find out the truth. It really is done incredibly well and you actually have a lot of freedom in regards to how you solve the various problems that come your way.
The storytelling here is great, not just in the cutscenes, but in the chatter that happens between the siblings (and some other folk) as you go about your business. There is a bit of trial and error involved with some sections of the game and seeing Amicia get killed is pretty brutal stuff indeed.
I was not sure what to expect with A Plague Tale: Innocence, but I was very impressed. It is the kind of game that had me so gripped that I ended up playing it all in a few sittings. If you love a strong story in your game and want characters that you actually care about, you are in for a great (but depressing) time with this.
