The Journey of Plague Tale Innocence

In my quest to play outside my comfort zone, I began exploring my game library and stumbled upon A Plague Tale: Innocence. A few years ago i had claimed this game when it came out on Epic Games but never ended up playing it properly.

My definition of scary is “a game with jump scares and me being chased with no way to defend myself or figure out how to escape easily”. This game is classified as a horror game, and it certainly lives in the horror genre, but I did not get scared when I played the game. Instead, I was completely engrossed from the get-go, the game is visually stunning and I was so curious about where the story would take me so i ended up playing a little too much. 

The basic plot of the game was set in November of 1348, Amicia-De-Rune is a 15 year old French girl who lives in Aquitaine. The story is set during the hundred year war between England and France. Her 5-year-old brother, Hugo, has been ill since birth, they have a mother named Beatrice who is an alchemist, She has sheltered Hugo in their estate while trying to devise a cure for Hugo's illness. Amicia likes hunting and enjoys the thrill of surviving in the nature. The entire village of Aquitaine is going through a plague attack and the French Inquisition Troops are in control of the entire Village.

After the sad demise of their father Robert, their mother Beatrice was taken by the Troops, and so Amicia had the responsibility to take care of her 5 year old brother Hugo. Hugo tends to feel uncomfortable as soon as he leaves the presence of her older sister and so is always with Amicia and does not leave her sight for the most part of the story.

This game is the perfect mix of a compelling story, exploration, action, and stealth. The swelling of music, and beautiful backdrops had me staying up late to continue the journey. I had to force myself to stop playing multiple times because it was past my bedtime.

I really loved how this game unfolded. The mystery and intrigue really maintained throughout the game and even as more information was shared with you, it still wasn’t quite clear where it was going which i really enjoyed.

The game has you traveling to various locations dodging traps, sneaking, and using your environment to create distractions. While there is some room for creativity, some sections require certain actions to be taken in order to progress which i personally did not mind.

I was expecting to hate the escorting a child aspect of the game, but it wasn’t bad at all. Hugo isn’t the most helpless and he can be pretty useful. There are moments where you travel alone, and even a segment where you navigate the world as Hugo, but excellent story progression helps with the character development of Hugo and Amicia and makes him a great companion to travel with.

I really liked how the game introduced new elements and skills as you progressed. You learn the behaviors of the rats and can use this to your advantage. There were resources like Cloth, Alcohol, Sulphur, Saltpeter, Resin, and Episanguis that Amicia carried around and found randomly throughout the map and had the option to use those to upgrade her slingshot which she often used to defend herself from the French Inquisition Troops and make a path for her to travel. For example, The Troops often had lamps with themselves to keep the rats away and keep themselves safe as rats hated light sources and stayed away from them. Amicia could use the slingshot to break the lamps so that the rats attack the troop and thereby creating a distraction and a safe path to travel. There were a lot of such small tricks that could be done to travel through the dangerous paths of the map .

The stakes get higher the closer to the end you get. More enemies appear in groups and you have to be quick if you’re going to engage in combat. I often chose sneaking over attacking and had to come up with plans to stay undercover and not get spotted by the Enemies.

The game isn’t without flaws. There were a couple of moments I had to restart because of bugs and glitches. A cart that I literally could not move anywhere except backwards and forwards. These were minor inconveniences and the checkpoints didn’t set me too far back.

This is the first time I’m considering going back into a game just to find the hidden curiosities, chests, and gifts. The world is immersive, the visuals are stunning, and while it is definitely in the horror genre, I wasn’t scared playing it. I enjoyed each and every second that i spent in this game and i wish the game never ended.