A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale reminds me of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Both games sort of came out of nowhere and are better than they really have a right to be. Both games have a little mechanical roughness and are fairly straightforward experiences, but they look better than some "Triple-A" games.
Where Hellblade was a journey of relative solitude dealing with psychological issues and straight-up combat, A Plague Tale has more focus on relationships and stealth. You play Amicia, daughter of a noble family in the 1300's with a plague of perhaps supernatural origins in the background and the Inquisition coming after her family for some reason. Through most of the game, she's accompanied by her younger brother Hugo and armed with a sling and a handful of alchemical concoctions with which to avoid soldiers and hordes of rats. There's a lot of sneaking around and working through environmental puzzles, the latter often to avoid said rats.
As the game progresses, the supernatural aspects ramp up a little bit and there are enemies that must be defeated rather than avoided, but it is still pretty low-key for fantasy. I'm not sure I'd say all the questions behind the story are full answered, but it's still a decent story for several hours. A lot of the charm comes from the interplay of family and friends between Amicia, who is young herself, and Hugo. There are a few other major characters that join in along the way, lending new voices. By and large, I feel the characters and their interactions are the strength of the game. Some of the combat-related sections felt like the weakness as I ended up having to replay a couple over and over before getting things together enough to finish them.
Overall, it was a charming experience, if not a happy one. Definitely worth a play at the half-off price I picked it up for.
Where Hellblade was a journey of relative solitude dealing with psychological issues and straight-up combat, A Plague Tale has more focus on relationships and stealth. You play Amicia, daughter of a noble family in the 1300's with a plague of perhaps supernatural origins in the background and the Inquisition coming after her family for some reason. Through most of the game, she's accompanied by her younger brother Hugo and armed with a sling and a handful of alchemical concoctions with which to avoid soldiers and hordes of rats. There's a lot of sneaking around and working through environmental puzzles, the latter often to avoid said rats.
As the game progresses, the supernatural aspects ramp up a little bit and there are enemies that must be defeated rather than avoided, but it is still pretty low-key for fantasy. I'm not sure I'd say all the questions behind the story are full answered, but it's still a decent story for several hours. A lot of the charm comes from the interplay of family and friends between Amicia, who is young herself, and Hugo. There are a few other major characters that join in along the way, lending new voices. By and large, I feel the characters and their interactions are the strength of the game. Some of the combat-related sections felt like the weakness as I ended up having to replay a couple over and over before getting things together enough to finish them.
Overall, it was a charming experience, if not a happy one. Definitely worth a play at the half-off price I picked it up for.
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