A tale of dark times – review of the game “A Plague Tale: Innocence”

Before the premiere, I had some doubts as to whether the French Asobo Studio would cope with the creation of a high-class narrative game. This small team has so far not had more ambitious titles in its portfolio than simple arcade games under license. However, there is nothing to beat around the bush and let’s get it over with – the creators definitely stood up to the task, providing a product that will not stand a chance against larger competitors.

Lousy times

The action of the game was set in France in 1349, at a time when local people had to face the Black Death – the plague epidemic ravaging Europe. The war with England is not improving the situation. Somewhere in this whole whirlwind of death, a pair of main characters is thrown – the teenage Amicia and her younger brother Hugo. After the parents of the two are murdered by members of the Inquisition, the siblings must flee surrounded by evil on all sides. However, I immediately warn you that those who expected the action to be set in a clear historical context and references to actual events will be disappointed. 

A Plague Tale: Innocence seems more like a dark fairy tale about growing up. In the presented plot, the young heroes have to prematurely jump into the shoes of adults, because no one else wants or is able to help them and in the confrontation with the omnipresent evil they can only count on themselves. The fantastic nature of the story is built in large part thanks to the bloodthirsty rats. Due to their commonness, murderous rodents turn out to be a much more serious threat than the soldiers of the Inquisition.

Stay close

The mysterious disease of Hugo is the key to the presented plot, which manifests itself in two ways. The main thread focuses precisely on the search for a cure for the boy. However, more importantly, he was isolated from Amica all the time due to his health problems. So the two are actually strangers to each other when they meet for the first time. This provides a natural excuse to develop a Joel and Ellie-style relationship from The Last of Us . However, the script of A Plague Tale: Innoceneit was not written as brilliantly as in the production of Naughty Dog. Some of their decisions seem to be quite illogical, and the emotional states of the characters can change too quickly. It was, however, predictable. After all, creators have much less practice in creating narrative experiences for a single player.

Fortunately, the French more than correct all problems with the story by the way it is conducted. Despite a certain simplicity, it was presented in a very interesting way. The creators skillfully manage to keep the player in suspense and constant uncertainty until the very end, while still increasing the pace. What’s more, cutscenes appear on the screen quite rarely, because the story is almost inseparable from the gameplay. Amicia spends most of her time with Hugo holding her hand. Every now and then there are small details, such as helping each other while climbing or running after his brother who suddenly wandered away. This makes the story more authentic. There are also frequent situations where a moment of separation is necessary in order to overcome the problem later in cooperation or for the older sister to be able to sneak into the back and get rid of enemy soldiers.

Beware of the rats of the apocalypse

Well, genre A Plague Tale: Innocene closest to stealth. When confronted with human opponents, the heroes die from a single hit, so the key is to stay hidden. This is where my biggest complaint is about the game. Sneaking was performed in an absolutely linear fashion. In almost every case, a predetermined path leads to the goal, which can only be traveled in the way imposed on us, possibly by choosing a more or less murderous approach.

However, the real fun unfolds on the adventure level. As mentioned, the main threat is the plague of rats. Every now and then, creatures stand in your way in overwhelming numbers, and the challenge is to clear the passage. Sometimes it comes down to playing with simple crafting and setting specific points on fire to chase away rodents, but often you have to get through more demanding, but not irritating puzzles. Amica’s slingshot is invaluable here. The inconspicuous weapon is used not only to resolve conflicts by force, but thanks to the ability to produce various types of ammunition, it turns out to be extremely useful in environmental puzzles. There is also a theme borrowed from the Dishonored series. Since rats are afraid of light, and they are attached to fresh meat, they can be used for a rather gruesome elimination of members of the Inquisition. 

Feel the darkness

From the very first announcements of A Plague Tale: Innocencetempted with a beautiful audiovisual setting. Fortunately, there was no particularly aggressive downgrade and the game world captivates with its expressive atmosphere. Although the game is not short, each of the visited locations has been carefully modeled and maintained in a separate, characteristic style. Nature looks especially good, fitting into a strict, gloomy style. However, rats are the most impressive. The trailers did not lie and during the game we will find lots of them. According to the creators, up to five thousand rodents are rendered in individual scenes at once! Of course, these statements are hard to verify, but I have no reason to doubt them. The views can be really overwhelming. The more impressive behavior of animals to the actions of the player, when they suddenly start to run away from the heroine carrying fire, or throw themselves on the body. Importantly, contrary to my fears, this is not a technology that puts a heavy burden on the computer. On mid-range equipment, I did not notice any major frame drops, playing with high graphics settings.

Unfortunately, it should be remembered that despite the setting of AAA games, A Plague Tale was created by a team with much less possibilities. So the world, while beautiful, is very static. Forget about free exploration or any influence on the surroundings. 

There is also a problem with characters. Although the models of the characters, including faces, were made absolutely splendidly, the animation, and especially the facial expressions, leave a bit to be desired. Also, most of the voice actors did not make a special impression on me. Fortunately, the voice acting of the foreground siblings is at a high enough level. It’s hard to accuse anything of the musical setting. It completes a fantastic mood, perfectly arousing the feeling of danger when rats approach.

Summary

A Plague Tale: Innocenceis one of the strongest items of the year so far and a must-have title for anyone who enjoys an emotional single-player experience. Asobo Studio has proven that smaller teams are able to survive the clash with giant behemoths, creating works with a very high degree of refinement and, additionally, not subject to modern business trends. I am glad that there is still a place on the market for engaging stories that take advantage of the advantage of the game medium over other media. Although the ending of the game left me a bit unsatisfied, the developers say that it is a closed story. Perhaps the intention was to leave the player with some void to be filled with reflections. In this arrangement, I hope that the studio will soon present a new project that will hold the heart just as much.

We would like to thank CDP for making a copy of the game available for review.