A Plague Tale: Innocence

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

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: Steam, Epic, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (93% of 73,516 reviews); Metacritic 81 on PC; OpenCritic 82% recommend
Length: About 11 hours for the main story
Players: 1
Made by: Asobo Studio
Released: 2019

On PlayStation: one of the PlayStation horror games.

No. 7 of the soldier horror games · No. 18 of the village horror games · No. 5 of the plague horror games

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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, strong language.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a third-person stealth adventure set in France in 1348. As Amicia you protect your five-year-old brother Hugo from Inquisition soldiers and from swarms of rats that devour anything outside the light, using a sling, alchemy and fire. The main story takes about 11 hours.

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, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is also sold on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and as a cloud version on Nintendo Switch, released there in July 2021.

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. Hugo is five and panics if Amicia goes too far from him, but he can crawl through small gaps in walls to open a path. Along the way Amicia gathers materials and uses basic alchemy to upgrade her sling and make new kinds of ammunition, and the pair are joined by other children: Lucas, a young alchemist, and the orphaned thieves Mellie and Arthur.

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.

Puzzles become more involved in the later chapters, and some confrontations can no longer be avoided by sneaking. The main story takes about 11 hours, and around 16 hours if you set out to complete everything.

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, GOG, the Epic Games Store, 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, with Hugo clinging to her, holds up a burning torch amid a swarm of rats, among spiked barricades and ruined towers

Amicia whirls her sling in a dark cobbled street behind a soldier carrying a torch and a spear

Amicia and Hugo hurry across a battlefield strewn with dead soldiers as crows take flight

Amicia leads Hugo by the hand down a stone village street under a drifting column of smoke

Amicia holds a torch and shelters Hugo in a small circle of light in a vaulted crypt, surrounded by a carpet of rats

Armored soldiers with spears walk through tall grass at dusk past a burning windmill

Amicia carries Hugo in her arms along a sunlit stony path through grass

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.
Gather materials as you go: Amicia uses them to upgrade her sling and craft alchemical ammunition.

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, GOG and the Epic Games Store, on PlayStation 4 and 5, on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and as a cloud version on Nintendo Switch.

How long is A Plague Tale: Innocence?

The main story takes about 11 hours. Doing the side content as well takes about 13 hours, and finding everything takes about 16.

Is A Plague Tale: Innocence single-player?

Yes, it is a single-player game with no co-op or online modes.

Does A Plague Tale: Innocence have a sequel?

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