MY RATING: 1000 DEAD RATS
A PLAGUE TALE: INNOCENCE is a third-person stealth horror game developed by Asobo Studio and released by Focus Home Interactive in May 2019. It’s available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. I played the free trial this week.
In a creepy, supernatural version of 14th-century France, Amicia de Rune must save her younger brother Hugo from the Inquisition. As in Dishonored, there’s a plague with swarms of ravenous rats. Unlike Dishonored, however, her only weapon is a sling.
PLAGUE TALE is a series of survival puzzles involving the use of stealth, distraction, light, fire or using the rats against others, with very little combat. Lead designer Kevin Choteau told Variety that Asobo Studio wanted to make “an emotional character-focused game” like The Last of Us and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
The game seemed at turns tragic, boring, frustrating, confusing and ultimately unsatisfying, to me. The age and emotional maturity of the characters, coupled with the simplicity of the game mechanics, might be targeted at younger players, yet PLAGUE TALE is rated “M” for ages 17+ due to blood, gore, strong language and violence.
A sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence was confirmed in December 2019 as being under development by Asobo Studio, and is expected to be released in 2022. (Source: XboxSquad.fr)
~ J.L. Hilton
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