A Plague Tale: Innocence

Rate it

Lead your little brother through plague-struck France, where the rats eat everything outside the light.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (93% of 73,129 reviews); Metacritic 81 on PC
Players: 1
Made by: Asobo Studio
Released: 2019

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store Xbox Nintendo eShop (Cloud Version)

What frightens Swarms of plague rats pour out of the ground and strip anyone outside the light to the bone, so every step is planned around torches, braziers and fire. Between them, Inquisition soldiers hunt the two children through villages of the dead, battlefields piled with corpses and dark crypts, and being seen usually means being killed.
Content: gore, violence, swarms of rats, children in danger, dead bodies.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a third-person stealth adventure set in France in 1348. As Amicia you protect your younger brother Hugo from Inquisition soldiers and from swarms of rats that devour anything that strays out of the light, using a sling, fire and light.

About A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Plague Tale: Innocence was made by the French studio Asobo Studio and published by Focus Entertainment. It came out on 14 May 2019 on PC, and is also sold on PlayStation and Xbox, with a cloud version on Nintendo Switch.

The year is 1348 and the plague is spreading through the Kingdom of France. Amicia and her younger brother Hugo are pursued by the Inquisition, and on the road the two have to come to know and trust each other. On the run, they cross villages emptied by disease, burning farmland and old battlefields, meeting other children who are trying to survive the same way.

The game is played in third person, mostly by sneaking. Soldiers patrol the roads and streets, and Amicia, a teenage girl with a sling, cannot fight them in the open. You keep to cover and shadow, slip past guards, and lead Hugo past danger. The sling and fire are your only real tools.

The horror comes from the rats. They arrive in seething swarms that cover the ground, and anyone who steps out of the light is pulled under. Fire and light are the only safe paths, and many scenes are about carrying a torch or finding the next pool of light before the swarm closes in. The game does not hold back on corpses, gore and the dead of the plague.

It is a story-led, linear game rather than a sandbox, closer to a stealth adventure with horror than to classic survival horror with a big map and inventory. It suits players who like the hide-and-sneak tension of Little Nightmares or The Last of Us and a dark historical setting. Its sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, continues the story.

How to play A Plague Tale: Innocence

Buy A Plague Tale: Innocence on Steam, the PlayStation Store or the Xbox store, or the cloud version on the Nintendo eShop, and install it.
Stay out of soldiers' sight lines by keeping to cover, and make noise elsewhere to draw guards away.
Keep to the light when rats are near: carry fire with you and never step into the dark where the swarm waits.
Lead Hugo through each area and use the sling only when you must.

Screenshots

Amicia holds a burning torch at the edge of a field covered by a swarm of rats, among spiked barricades and ruined towers

Amicia crouches with her sling in a dark street while a soldier carrying a torch walks past

Amicia and Hugo run hand in hand across a battlefield strewn with dead soldiers as crows fly up

Amicia leads Hugo by the hand down a stone village street

Tips

Treat any area with soldiers as a stealth puzzle: watch their routes before you move.
Before you step forward, check where the next pool of light is; the rats only hold back where there is fire or light.
Read the ground ahead: a dark patch is where the rats will come from.

Questions

Is A Plague Tale: Innocence a horror game?

It is a stealth adventure with strong horror: swarms of rats that devour people outside the light, soldiers hunting two children, and scenes full of the dead of the plague. It is more about tension and dread than jump scares.

Can you fight in A Plague Tale: Innocence?

Only a little. Amicia has a sling, but she is weak in an open fight, so most encounters are played by sneaking and using light against the rats.

What platforms is A Plague Tale: Innocence on?

It is sold on PC through Steam, on PlayStation and Xbox, and as a cloud version on Nintendo Switch.

Does A Plague Tale: Innocence have a sequel?

Yes, A Plague Tale: Requiem continues the story of Amicia and Hugo.