A Plague Tale: Innocence isn’t just a game of hide & squeak

If you’re not a fan of rats, A Plague Tale: Innocence probably isn’t a game for you. Set in 14th century France, the Black Death is rolling across Europe, but A Plague Tale takes this to dark and fantastical heights. Swarms of thousands of chittering, squeaking rats bursting from the blackened ground and flooding toward you, eager to nibble your bones clean.

The game actually starts on a lovely autumnal day, as Amicia and her father head out into the forests surrounding their manor. They playfully talk about her becoming a knight, letting the teenage Amicia flex her skills with a sling, before DOG hares off into the thick woods on the scent of a boar. Their journey takes a dark turn, however, and the story rapidly spins into a tale that sees the unexpectedly French Inquisition raiding their home, slaughtering everyone they can find in their search for Amicia’s younger brother Hugo, and sending the two siblings on the run.

There’s a lot wrapped up in the early part of the story, from the way the rats nests transform the landscape and create grisly underground tunnels that wouldn’t be out of place in Stranger Things, to a sickness that afflicts Hugo and has kept him and his mother locked away in self-imposed quarantine for the first half decade of his life.

The fact that Amicia and Hugo have almost never met puts an unusual twist on the story, making them strangers, but also bonding them together. The growth of their relationship will be an important part of the story, even if I suspect Hugo and the de Rune family is basically the root of all evil. Amicia is almost always stern and commanding with Hugo, but with good reason: making too much noise and getting caught will get them both killed!

A Plague Tale is pleasantly rooted in its time period and the numerous threats that are ravaging Europe at this time. The Hundred Years’ War was still in its infancy, so there’s idle mention of English soldiers encroaching on French soil, there’s talk of a bad harvest the year before and hoping that this year’s will be better, and on and on. Sometimes it’s guilty of telling, not showing, but as Amicia and Hugo go on the run and head into a densely built town, we see the ravages of the plague and how the citizens are trying to deal with it.

As a young boy who’s been cut off from the outside world for much of his life, we also get to see Hugo’s childlike naivety coming through. Why have people been painting the doors to houses? They’re white crosses to show that sick people and the plague are inside. What’s that smell? It smells like a roasting pig at a fair! It isn’t, Hugo. It’s a “witch” being burnt at the stake.

The townspeople are quick to point fingers. There are these women being flayed and burnt alive, they see outsiders like Amicia and Hugo coming in (even if they’re just kids) and blame them, they talk about travelling musicians bringing the plague with them, in the vein of the pied piper. It forces you to grab Hugo’s hand once more and run for your lives through the tight streets, paths and alleyways of the town.

Asobo have done a nice job of breaking up and varying the action. You’ve got action sequences like running through the town, some light puzzling elements, stealth as you hide in thick grass and behind walls from the Inquisition, and then keeping the rat swarms at bay with waved torches and pools of light. The opening few hours of the game constantly shift back and forth, keeping things nice and fresh.

While we only got a glimpse of this at the end of our time with the demo, but crafting and alchemy will also come into play, letting you create firebombs to light braziers from afar and create safe paths through rat swarms. There’s certain to be more inventive throwables to craft

With just her sling to hand, combat is not really an option for Amicia, but on a handful of occasions, a deftly aimed, high-speed stone to an enemy’s noggin does come in handy. There’s no room for error on these occasions, with just a single step wrong or mistimed dodge doing for Amicia. Instead, the emphasis is very much on stealth and misdirecting soldiers with thrown rocks.

It might be harsh to hold it to such high standards, but you can see where this isn’t a Naughty Dog game. You feel it most in the animations; Amicia and Hugo are often moving through the world hand in hand – Hugo panics if left alone for too long – but there’s times where he effectively snaps from running freely to handholding, or the amusing way they both spin perfectly in sync when you change direction while hiding behind cover. That said, the game genuinely looks really good a lot of the time, and it’s another example of how empowering modern game engines are for developers.

I also have to say that Asobo have done a great job of making Hugo believably childlike, without then being too annoying. He’ll do the stupid things that you’d expect of a young boy, swinging wildly between playfulness, naivety and moodiness – I mean, his parents were just murdered and his older sister who he’s barely even met before lied to him about it and is being really strict – but it’s well judged so that he doesn’t grate too much and always does what you or the game wants and needs.

I was pleasantly surprised by A Plague Tale: Innocence. Amicia and Hugo’s flight through southern France might have swarms of rats nipping at their heels, but there’s a lot more to the gameplay and story here than first meets the eye.