Is A Plague Tale: Innocence Good?

When I first played A Plague Tale: Innocence, it was a standalone game that promised more. This is no longer the case with the release of Requiem, but I will still be judging this game on its own merits. And those establish it as a fairly impressive stealth action game with a grim but engaging world. It's not the best of its own kind, but it's not terrible either and does set up Requiem, which I will definitely be covering later. Just make sure you have rat repellant.

10. Graphics 

Welcome to France, here be rats

Innocence is a pretty good-looking game for its time, especially considering it didn’t have the budget of a full AAA game. So all things considered, it looks as good as you could hope for, which is alright on weaker hardware and decently impressive on the more powerful ones. The stark realism in its visuals is pretty standard and does little to help or hinder it here.

9. Music/Sound Effects

So quality you can hear the rats

The music here isn’t a standout soundtrack, but it still fits the world very well. It's ominous when it needs to be, and dials back in quieter moments. It does its job well and is nice for the time, but not too memorable. It could be good background music though, and I know I can always use more of that. 

A Plague Tale: Innocence OST - Inquisition

A Plague Tale: Innocence OST - Beyond the Horizon

8. Puzzles

Yay, crafting, what fun

As is the norm with many action-adventure games, Innocence has its fair share of puzzles. Many of these revolve around using your sling or just being crafty with elements of the environment. And for the most part, they’re fine, not the game’s highlight but hardly ever downright awful.

Sort of a part of this is the crafting system, which of course has to be here. I’ve never been the biggest fan of crafting in games in general, but it fits here well enough. You can use items you pick up to upgrade your sling, storage, and a few other things. It's… fine. Yeah, just fine is about right.

7. Stealth

Hope you like stealth

Innocence has combat, if you call barely getting a hit in before you’re easily killed combat. Yeah, you’re supposed to play as stealthily as possible, and there are plenty of options here to make that easier. 

Your arsenal of slingable items includes ever-present rocks and craftables (giving it an actual purpose) such as fire. These allow you to approach stealth in a few ways (sometimes limited by certain encounters). You can sneak past guards, distracting them as needed. Or you can use your rocks to hit guards in the head, instantly killing them. And of course, more options arise when you come across the rats…..

6. The Grim World

Hello friend, we are your friendly neighborhood rat swarms

There are so many rats in this game. Rats doing horrifying things you would not expect to see. And it's a very engaging world because of it.

The world of A Plague Tale is largely historical aside from one change: the Black Death took the form of hordes of rats who seem to share a mind. People can still get sick and die like a normal disease, but they also have to contend with countless rats who can and will eat them alive.

And this all leads to so, so much blood and bones dotting the landscape. The once vibrant French countryside is a cesspool of death, and it's oddly fascinating. This is definitely not a good world to live in, but it's undoubtedly an interesting one to explore.

5. Fun Factor

You’ll definitely be having more fun than these characters

Having said all that, plus some things yet to discuss, Innocence is a pretty enjoyable game. If you’re good at stealth. If you’re not you may have a rough time here.

But it is well built, and that leads to a largely pleasant experience. It is at times somber, joyous, and in-between. A delicate emotional balance that even has moments of humor, this game and its world are not the conventional idea of fun at all, but despite this can be a good time. Especially with how satisfying its core gameplay can be at times.

4. Replayability

Round 2 in the plague?

If you have the stomach for it, there is a handy option to return to previous sections of the game. This could be for experiencing it anew or picking up something you missed, among other things. And it can definitely be satisfying to breeze through these areas on a return trip, as with any game where this is an option. 

3. Difficulty 

Yay, more crafting…. yeah this one’s tricky

As a stealth game at its core, your experience here will vary wildly depending on your skill at stealthing. Early on it's not too difficult, but later in the game, you will easily be overwhelmed if you make a mistake.

Thankfully crafting items can make this easier. Through this you can access more items to readily eliminate guards, making the ordeal a bit easier. But don’t count on this to always work, sometimes you will need to act on your feet. It never gets too difficult from my experience, but you have been warned. 

2. Characters

War-tattered faces of medieval France

Central to the entirety of A Plague Tale are the siblings Amicia and Hugo. Amicia is the player character throughout all of this, and she is by and large a likable protagonist. 

In the age of main characters being unstoppable beasts who can seemingly shrug off anything, Amicia is strikingly human. She struggles against people stronger than her, has to use her smarts to defeat them, and is wracked with guilt when she takes her first life. All to save her brother.

Hugo is one of the most likable child characters I’ve ever encountered in a game. And this is largely because, despite all the death around him, Hugo (mostly) remains a bright spot of positivity. Combine that with his extremely rootable relationship with his sister and you have an immensely likable duo of protagonists.

There’s other people here of course, like the child alchemist Lucas who helps out the siblings. But for the most part, none of them stand out to the degree of Amicia and Hugo, and that’s fine. This is their story, after all, the legacy of the De Rune family.

1. Story

Amicia and Hugo enjoying a rare moment of peace

I’ve already covered the major beats of the story for the most part, with one major exception: Hugo is sick. This is the driving force of the journey for the two, as they try to find a cure for his disease, which just keeps getting worse. 

Meanwhile, the game’s opposing forces are obsessed with capturing the siblings, especially after the rest of their family is dealt with. I won’t get into more detail as the narrative is the game’s best feature, but I can safely say it is good and only gets better in the sequel.

Which sums up A Plague Tale: Innocence pretty well. A solid but not amazing game that sets up its sequel and leaves you wanting more. Definitely a required play if you want to play Requiem, and I’ll end this by saying I am very glad I played Requiem. 

Score: 8

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