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A Plague Tale: Innocence


DisturbedSwan
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Started this off on Thursday, put around 10 hours into it so far.

 

I don’t want to spoil any of the story so I’ll keep details as vague as possible. But it’s safe to say  that the game really doesn’t pull any punches at the beginning.

 

You're put into Protagonist Amicia’s comfortable shoes almost straight away and after a brief tour around her parents Estate things start to slowly unravel. After the events at her homestead she ends up on the run with her estranged Brother Hugo. From here you travel around differing Medieval French environs trying to keep your brother safe and find a sanctuary to escape to horrors of the outside world along with meeting others who’re in just as desperate a situation as you are.

 

In in terms of gameplay, it’s very much a stealth game mixed with light puzzle elements and a little bit of ‘the floor is lava’ thrown in for good measure. The first few chapters were quite basic really with serviceable stealth you’ve seen in countless other games - hiding in bushes, throwing objects to distract the guards and all that jazz. Things do get a little more difficult with a variety of potions thrown in that you can use against Guards along with lots of fire puzzles with the rats which then intersect with then Guards at some points to make things a little more complicated. It’s still all stuff you’ve seen before though, there’s nothing new in it at all in gameplay terms aside from the rats. The rats are incredibly cool and are easily the most distinctive part of the game but with fire sources abundant they’re never all that threatening to get through.

 

The setting is incredible distinctive too. The grounded Medieval setting doesn’t get done an awful lot and there really aren’t too many comparisons to make, the only other games I can come up with is Vermintide and parts of The Witcher too. 

 

It it is a game that thrives on melancholy. Chapter after Chapter features tons of horrific scenes like a battlefield filled with dead soldiers or a hillside of dead pigs, it’s difficult to explain but it does well to create a constant feeling of misery, death and decay and it never really lets up, it is relentlessly miserable with only slight moments of brevity here and there.

 

I do like it so far and I am incredibly Intrigued to see where the story goes next but I don’t love it. The stealth gameplay is often frustrating, not knowing when you’ve been spotted by enemies or not and the check pointing is poor, often putting you back at the start of an area. The voice acting is a bit wooden and I haven’t exactly wholly warmed to the characters.

 

For a AA game from a somewhat unknown studio though it is pretty incredible what they’ve achieved with this. The Rats are a fantastic enemy that hasn’t really been done before, the graphics and lighting in particular is phenomenal and the setting feels incredibly fresh. It’s surprisingly long too, I thought it’d be finished at this far into the game but I’m not sure I’m even half way through.

 

Lots of pics: 

 

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Spoiler

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah. I was going to be a troll and leave it there but I changed my mind. It's really well written, the characters are immediately likeable and easy to get invested in. Gameplay has been a real surprise, mainly because I had no idea what it was going to be. I saw a half page preview for the game in Gamesmaster like 3 years ago and decided that was enough to know I would want to try it. 

 

The gameplay ties into the story really well and you can definitely see a progression in gameplay as Amicia grows as a person. It's not cheap like The TR reboot where you get one brief cutscene and then you're a merciless killing machine. You still feel vulnerable as a player even after she has begun to fight back. Saying that, it's not hard, the game just has great atmosphere. 

 

As for what you'll actually be doing. Mostly avoiding rats and goons. Avoiding the rats feels like a little puzzle to solve and avoiding goons involves throwing stones at helmets. A lot. It's deceptively simple and like I said, because it ties in so well with Amicia and her character, it feels very compelling. I did a boss fight which was cool and involved avoiding some brute while shooting off his armour, real David and Goliath vibes there. 

 

I've only put a few hours in because it's quite heavy and I like to be in the right frame of mind to really get absorbed in it, when I have played it though it's been great. 

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More in depth thoughts coming once I’ve finished it but it’s never really risen above a 7 for me.

 

It’s an incredibly original game and for that it should be applauded - we need more games like this and less looter shooters in my view - but the gameplay never really gets above rudimentary or serviceable which is a shame. Some of the checkpointing and insta-kill Stealth sections are godawful and very frustrating too but these sections are luckily not frequent enough to push the score down further.

 

There’s not really anything else like it. The setting, the enemies, the characters and the occultist plot, I can’t really put my finger on any other game exactly like it which is a rare thing nowadays.

 

It’s fucking long as well. I must have put at least 20 hours into it. For those into Trophies it’s an easy Platinum too - I think I’ll dive back in via Chapter Select after and mop up a few missed collectibles and stuff once I’ve clocked it.

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 4 months later...

I'll sort the title out later. 

 

A Plague Tale should be a game I don't like, it's wall to wall stealth, but it's clicked with me. It's not the greatest game ever but it's definitely one of the best I've played this year. 

 

The gameplay loop is really just a couple of core concepts repeated and expanded on. The thing the game is known for is rats, and that is a lot of the game, guiding yourself and your brother through a search of rats by creating distractions or setting fires that scare them off. It's surprising how well this holds up over the course of the game, the enemies stay the same but the tools at your disposal change to keep it fresh. 

 

There's also human enemies. Some of these you can take down with your slingshot, mostly though you're trying to sneak past them with distractions. 

 

It's a really nice looking game but the world is horrible, I'm not expecting many people to get a happy ending, unless a quick death constitutes a happy ending 

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Put this back on last night and there was an immediate difficulty spike. I'm heading to the University, and it's now started combining gameplay elements, which is well done but seems stark because it's right after a break from the game. I died a lot pissing around with a cart, and I've burnt through my items, which is a bit annoying, feels like I wasn't making my way through the correct way 

 

Hopefully the difficulty eases off a bit, I'm not really in this for the challenge and I know there's a lot fair few chapters left 

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I think before that (I don't remember that bit at least) but it does involve a cart 

 

Spoiler

You have to push a cart in to a ditch so you can climb up it. You have to use the rat distraction bombs. It's a very short section but it took me loads of attempts and I felt like I didn't do it right 

 

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Enjoyed this but it can be quite heavy going at points. The last boss took a few retries while I step by step worked out what it was asking of me, that's what games used to be like mind, it's now that we get the game pausing with tool tips and cutaways to the thing you need to hit. There were a couple of stealth sections I feel like I didn't do properly, particularly towards the end of the game, but I guess that's what the tool set is for 

 

I liked quite a few of the characters, it does a good job of getting you to route for them, no one is especially annoying. The story does kind of turn in to nonsense, but I'm always up for some evil religion 

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I don't want to brag but rather defend the game because I beat him on the first try. I feel like there were enough clues on how to approach him that didn't make the fight feel like some trial & error affair. Or at least it gives you enough options to avoid his attacks until you find the weak spot.

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  • 1 month later...

This is on Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC. 
 

Ive been plugging through it, I like the game and the atmosphere it creates but it’s heavy going, I can only play a chapter at a time before I turn it off cos I just can’t fave another hour of it. It’s just so dark and oppressive, not that I expect a game about plague to be anything else.

 

It’s fucking long too.

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  • 1 month later...

I started this yesterday through Game Pass. Reached chapter 5, so far I think it’s excellent. The kid is a fucking brat but he’s actually not bothering me too much which is a huge point for the devs. The atmosphere is expertly handled and the imagery is suitably disgusting. Looking forward to getting stuck in more. 

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Completed this morning. What a fantastic game. It does such a excellent job of depicting a very disturbing and horrible situation. The gameplay is simple but always interesting enough to keep you engaged and the last ability was great fun to use and really turns the tables. Great storytelling, pertect imagery, just a brilliant experience overall. Even the crafting wasn’t annoying. Highly recommended.

 

8/10

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