My Thoughts on A Plague Tale: Innocence [PC Version]

Rats, everywhere!

Ever heard of this game called ‘The Floor is Lava’? I’m pretty sure you have. In A Plague Tale: Innocence, some parts of the floor are lava, except that the lava is replaced by rats. Heaps and mounds of rats. Black, hairy rats, scurrying about and tripping over each other. Now we know why this game is called A Plague Tale.

As is evident, the story is set against a backdrop of a plague in the 14^th century, with Amicia DeRune, daughter of nobleman Robert DeRune and Beatrice DeRune, and her brother Hugo DeRune as the two central characters. Life seems to be going along just fine for Amicia when she has her first brush with the plague in mysterious and horrific circumstances, and things continue to get worse from there on. I am reluctant to divulge any bits of the story here as it is really interesting, combining elements of alchemy and lore, and is best experienced while playing the game itself.

The gameplay is a bit of stealth here, a bit of aggression there, some puzzle solving, and some chases. Moving around is simple and smooth, even with Hugo running along with his sister. Aiming isn’t anything complex either, with the crosshair being changed to a medieval style icon to complement the game’s theme. In the initial stages, it gave a sort of ‘checkpoint – checkpoint – boss battle – checkpoint – boss battle’feel, and I was ready to embrace it (even though the story was turning out to be cliched) mainly because the visuals were impressive, but soon my experience changed and the story, too.

There’s a level where Amicia and Hugo have to run away from a horde of people and at the end, face a strong, well built man, the “boss” of the level. This is the juncture where the game turns the tables and transitions into a different storyline which sets the foundation for the freshness of the rest of the plot. This is where we, as a player, actually realize what is happening and what we have become a part of. The game keeps on revealing one plot detail after another and keeps itself interesting, and we begin relating to Amicia and Hugo. This is in major part due to how the relationship dynamic between the two changes and how well it is shown throughout the game. Yeah, it does sound very mainstream that siblings who run off from their family develop a stronger bond over time, but the way this story device is blended in with the unnatural circumstances that the game takes place in fills the old, overused brother-sister relationship wine in a  new bottle, so to speak, and older wines do taste better if preserved well enough.

There are certain places, however, where I wasn’t sure what the game wanted me to do. There’s a certain art to completing a level in the perfect manner which provides immense satisfaction when executed well, and the player knows that that was, in fact, how the level was supposed to be played when they complete it. But at some points I could not fathom if I should employ stealth or aggression. This is not critical of the game in any way, mind you. On the other hand, it expanded my sense of freedom in the approach I could adopt to go through that stage. This helped build the sense of being in a sandbox.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the way characters are written, introduced and portrayed. I’m talking abut everything from their design, looks to the voice acting and the actual experience received upon interacting with them. New characters are introduced at regular intervals and they really make a lasting impression on the player, which is highly impressive considering the short duration that some characters appear for. This makes up for an incredibly effective cast and an immersive playing experience, where every event in the story affects the player as much as it affects Amicia and Hugo.

Its environments also seem pretty convincing as far as the time period is concerned, and undoubtedly, a great deal of attention has been paid to level designing, both from visual and gameplay points of view.

Saving the best for the last, I was totally blown away by how the rats in this game were animated. They looked so real! It’s quite understandable, though, since it would be highly uncharacteristic of a game having a plague as its backdrop not to feature rats, but in so meticulous detail and moreover, without affecting the game’s performance one bit. As a budding game developer, time and time again, I found myself wondering about how they managed to instantiate so many objects in the scene at the same time. Even my sister, when she saw the rats, literally flinched and withdrew from the screen as if they would jump out at her at any time. The rats were amazing, even they find an important place in the story instead of just masquerading as obstacles and inaccessible areas in levels.

Every little element is stitched and woven carefully so that it finds some significance, and nothing feels like it is forced into the game in order to buff it up as is so often the practice these days. A Plague Tale: Innocence is a journey through a portion of the lives of Amicia, Hugo and all the other characters and remains fresh in the player’s mind, truly making for a lasting experience.