9 / 10. A beautiful, medieval, supernatural fairy-tale, with an intriguing storyline and clever puzzles

A Plague Tale: Innocence is an action-horror stealth game by Asobo Studio and Focus Home Interactive.

The game is set in Aquitaine, France, in 1348 under the shadow of the bubonic plague outbreak and threat of the Inquisition. It’s a beautiful, medieval, supernatural fairy-tale with an intriguing storyline of survival and family.

The story follows Amicia de Rune and her young brother Hugo, who escape after their home is invaded and parents are killed by the Inquisition. Hugo has always been sick and their mother, Beatrice, an alchemist, had been searching for a cure. It becomes apparent the Inquisition are searching for Hugo …

On their journey, they encounter hordes of plague rats, ‘The Bite,’ who consume everything in their path. They find Hugo’s doctor who sends them to continue Beatrice’s work to help Hugo, and they find companions Lucas, Melie and Arthur along the way.

The French countryside setting looks gorgeous, the game design and storyline flow well and it felt like a unique experience. The character design is realistic, their faces and body movements are smooth and expressive.

You control Amicia from a third-person perspective, and, to a lesser extent, Hugo. Stealth is crucial and the major gameplay element, making for a tense experience. Enemies kill Amicia instantly if she is discovered, so patience is required to navigate areas. Amicia and her allies can only hurt others with a slingshot, which can be used to distract, stun or kill. The weapon system is simple to manage with good upgrades, the slingshot was effective and clocking a headshot was satisfying.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is filled with survival puzzles, such as, finding ways to distract the vast rat hordes to traverse new areas, or use the rats themselves as weapons, sending them into the path of enemy Inquisition soldiers. Torches and braziers become your friend, as fire is the only way to scare rats. The use of rats as the main enemy is ingenious and their sheer volume is scary.

I enjoyed the cryptic escape puzzles and sneaking without being caught – if you are caught its game over, one arrow or sword stab and its curtains for you. The autosave is frequent though, so this isn’t too annoying.

Amicia and Hugo’s relationship was cute and endearing, and you care about their fate. They help each other using their individual strengths, evolving throughout to a satisfying conclusion.

The final boss fight is annoying, but a great accomplishment once completed. The game took approximately 10 hours, the right length for this type if game.

I would welcome a sequel.

EDIT: Sequel purchased and ready to play soon!