A Plague Tale: Innocence

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It was emotional, smart and well written. For a casual gamer, I was very pleased with it. I don't get very much time to play anymore (two hours in one sitting if I'm lucky) and was glad that this game was moving along nicely and wasn't going to be a huge time sink. It was challenging enough to keep me going but not enough to interrupt the story. I thought the story was very well done and the gameplay worked well for the most part. And then there was the ending. Honestly, I was never able to beat the final boss. It was just rediculous. A huge jump from the rest of the gameplay without any ramp up. It was like all the care the programmers wrote into the story was just thrown out the window and suddenly the game threw in a raid boss for you to solo. Fortunately I found a savegame on the internet just after the boss battle so I was able to see the epilogue. But that should never have been the case.

I was so looking forward to playing this game... but alas, plagued by some very stupid gameplay decisions and some truly awefull characters, this game can hardly be called good. There are some positives, like the absolutely gorgeous design of Amicia and it's PERFECT voice-over! Also the chemistry between her and her brother is really well done, even leading to some scenes with actual emotions. The graphics are ok, the sounds are quite good and the music is one other highlight! But man, there was never a worse story and "bad guy". Really terribly made, with cliches abound and even sacrificing and straying from gameplay elements just to "further the cause" (the genious teenage alchemist, the young blacksmith that single-handedly takes out ARMED guards or lifts a whole gate!, the useless mother (or other grown ups for that matter) which on the other hand is THE best alchemist ever....) So: no recommendation from me. I've seen part 2 is being made, so one can only hope they do a better job next time.

The game has interesting story. Some parts of it might sound familiar to you. A deadly pandemic is on rampage in medieval France. It's not just an ordinary Black Death, but killing rat armies. The game also bashes the church somewhat, as is modern in these times. Besides this, I think the story is good. Brutal, dark and horror. For instance, even though you are just two kids, citizens of one town will fear you because you may be infected. They will try to hunt you down. Although the game-play is fun at the beginning. it gets repetitive after a few missions. You control two siblings. Amelia, a teen girl who is a fighter, bearer of torches and protector of her younger sibling. Her younger brother, Hugo, can get into small places and through small holes in walls. Thanks to this, he can get to buildings and open them from the inside. You have to avoid dark places and walk only through illuminated light. You can carry torches which have a limited time before they go out. You can light static torches with them, which then burns forever. If you step into the dark, rats will eat you. Later in the game, you can control some of them, and it might easier things a bit, but the mechanic comes too late in the game and you won't enjoy it for long. I think that the voice over is one of the better parts of the game. Hugo, the brother, is too young to understand what is happening and is calmer of the pair. Amicia, his sister, understands maybe too much. She's near panicking mode most of the time and you can hear it in her voice. I didn't like it much. I wish I could play as Sean Bean instead. No, they didn't put him in the game, nor his voice. He's just in one trailer, so beware and don't make the same mistake i did- thinking he's in the game and insta-buying it. I wish there was a story mode so that I could focus solely on the story and the atmosphere, which combines medieval setting with horror. Instead, my experience was spoiled with the repetitive game-play.

This game has been a joy to play. It took me 17 hours on and off to get to the end--I took my time--and I enjoyed it the whole time. What this game offers is a cinematic adventure where you guide the characters through a story of loss of place and separation from loved ones against the backdrop of plague in 14th century France. Yet, while danger and despair threaten to curtail the adventure to an untimely end, both the characters you first get acquainted with and those that join later find strength in one another, breathing hope and resolve that drive the story to its conclusion. Presentation is the clear strength of A Plague Tale: Innocence. The graphics are beautiful, the environments are immersive, character models and motions are well done, the voice acting is good (I played with French voices), the sound is tense and frightening, the story is sad and shocking yet hopeful, the characters are endearing (Lucas was my favorite), the chapters and segments are fairly short and don't drag, and the story flows pretty well too with decent variation in plot development and which characters are followed. The gameplay is nothing to get excited about; it's just good enough. It isn't difficult. Aiming a sling is part of gameplay, but even those who are bad at shooters should not have trouble. The puzzles are simple and shouldn't have you consulting a guide. This isn't the kind of game you get for replay value or to sink 100s of hours in. You get it for the story and characters. I only had two gripes with this game. The first was that movement often felt slow. This happened a lot during scripted dialogue and certain map sections. Also, turning the camera when using an Xbox controller often felt slow too. My other gripe was autosaves. The game autosaves at checkpoints, and sometimes this locked me out of exploring side paths where there were items. I wish the game had the option to save manually and disable autosaves. So yeah, this was my favorite in 2022.

Put this one off for a long time. Mediocre at best. This is essentially a walking sim. The gameplay is so bare bones and the hand holding creates an experience that you are basically riding along. Visually it looks really good. In 2019 it was probably quite awesome. Unfortunately everything is curtained off. Amazing open areas? Nope. Limited paths/tunnels/hallways through the forest really hinder the visuals. For a game that looks so good it is too bad you can't actually explore or see much of it. You are essentially funneled through every area. The rats are hilariously goofy. There are thousands when they come out but they move around like rats from a South Park episode. Do a comparison, it is hilarious. I find the characters incredibly annoying. I figured Hugo's illness was brain damage. And the gameplay. This is dumbed down, walking sim stuff. I am fine with that but there needs to be a great story and interesting world and characters. This doesn't have that so you get: throwing stones to make noise, hit people in the head and some super basic stealth. The AI of the enemies is reminicsent of poor 1999 stealth games. They stand like scarecrows, staring at nothing. You simply avoid them and throw a few stones, then you get a chase sequence where you are funneled/held by the hand to escape to the next medicore area. I wasn't a fan of Hellblade either and this game reminds me of it. Nice visuals, super boring gameplay. If you want a really simple experience this is a good fit. If you are looking for gameplay I'd avoid it.