A narrative driven single player adventure game that leans heavily on captivating your time and attention as a player with its story being told, but even more so, the characters and their development within that story. And seeing as that is an integral part of the whole, is that part any good? I'd say it is. It certainly delivers on what it sets out to do, by telling a emotional, grounded story about love and loss (of innocence) mixed in with some pretty dark gothic fantasy elements that kinda take over by the end. The premise is pretty barebones, though honestly it were the characters and how they developed the story that spoke to me the most and I actually wished they focussed more on that aspect of it all.
That said, I did find it to be a pretty rough experience going into the game as I was quickly reminded how limiting this medium can still be sometimes due to its interactive nature and even more so character and facial animation, or rather lack there off as lifeless faces deliver line after line through handpuppet like mouthmovement. A bit of an exaggeration but it really felt that it held back the emotional weight of certain scenes and moments for me in the game, especially in the opening hours of the game where everything is being set up, while the voice acting and line delivery being a more or less a hit and miss for me depending on the character. And because of that the game didn't quite manage to pull me in as much as I would've liked it to. Still, this is a high ask from a video game, not to mention a studio that I believe made Disney Pixar tie-in video games, and the A Plague Tale franchise can be proud of what they contributed to the genre.
To their further credit, what did pull me in was the world building. Not only do the environments (still) look phenomenally stunning, they often felt very alive, all telling their own story, in part through the dynamic sound design and serviced by an excellent soundtrack. For me, this lifted the game up a few notches and I believe this is where the real heart of the game lies as it creates such a unique atmosphere and with that experience that it sticks with you even after the credits have long scrolled down your screen.
So, what about the gameplay then? The other big part of the game. Well, that part is also good, though nothing outstanding in my oppinion. It is solid enough in that it serves the game's premise. Exploration is basically limited to intimately structured level design with some collectibles and pick-ups scattered around, funneling you through narrow street, halways and pathways to get from point A to point B in which you do a lot of sneaking around puzzle-like encounters while making sure you don't get caught as it results in an instant fail and reset to checkpoint. Well placed checkpoints mind you. This is broken up by a chase sequence here and there and the occasional forced confrontation. As mentioned, it fits the narrative structure well, even though it does tend to feel trial & error heavy from time to time. Especially in later, more challenging parts of the game where mistakes are easily made and relentlessly punished. It certainly didn't make bossfights any less frustrating, so be prepared to feel the possible rage.
The rats are obviously another big part of the game and the gameplay. Technically it's rather impressive to say the least, having thousands on screen at te same time. Seeing them on screen is a different story though as they often just looked like one big blubbery mass moving as one and not so much like a swarm of individual rats. As a gameplay mechanic however it serves the gameplay in a pretty interesting way, because what starts out as simply one more deadly threat to the player later starts to become a useful opportunity to take advantage when you start to unlock new abilities. I quite liked this subtle dynamic shift as the game went along and it made it feel like an actual feature instead of gimmicky tech being shown off.
From a technical standpoint the game looks great and runs great by the way, on my system at least. I had everything turned to the max and at no point did the game ever not feel smooth. Even when rats started filling up the screen. What I did find to be slightly disappointing was the lack of adjustable visual settings and the lack of ultrawide support and HDR support. Because of that I decided to play it on a 4K OLED tv instead and that was fine.
After finishing up A Plague Tale: Innocence after about 10 hours or so, the game, and most notably the game's characters and overal vibe, stuck with me in a positive way even though I found some aspects of it, like its gameplay, to be pretty average. But overall, if you are in to your story based, single player adventure games I can definitely recommend checking A Plague Tale: Innocence out. And seeing as it has gone on sale for as less as 3 dollars it should be a no-brainer when it is on sale again.
